Performing groups from all around Illinois will travel to Champaign to perform in the second annual stand-up comedy show C-U Improv Festival this weekend. Zoo Improv will host the show this Friday and Saturday at Class Act Interactive Education and Events, 114 S. Neil St.

Improvisation, or improv, is a type of comedy originated in Chicago in which players create stories without any prior plot memorization, line, script or set. The characters, occupations, scenes and locations are often decided by the audience. So are the relationships between players.

“Actors create everything as they go together within a scene,” said Aubry Wechtel, a founding member of Zoo Improv.

Among the 12 groups that will present shows in the festival are Storybox Theatre, pHrenzy, BASSPROV and the University student group Spicy Clamato and DeBono. C-U Theatresports, one of the improv groups in the festival, held a rehearsal Wednesday night.

Theatresports is a type of short-form improv in which two teams compete against each other. The audience then gives points to each team to decide the winner of the show.

Aubrey and James Witchtel have devoted themselves to improvisation for six years. They’re both players in C-U Theatresports and also one of the hosts of the festival.

“I think the big difference is the venue. This is a theatre,“ Aubrey Wechtel said. “Last year we were at the bar. We have been working to make it more ‘theatre-y.’“

The first festival was held in March, when six groups gathered for the one-night show. According to Aubrey Wechtel, there were 85 audience members came to the previous festival.

James Wechtel said the second festival will be almost twice as large as the first one in terms of duration of the festival and the number of groups performing.

“We’ve tried to get bigger and better,” James Wechtel said.

Aubrey Wechtel added that it’s exciting to build awareness for improv as an art form in its short history of 30 to 40 years.

“Improv itself is great because it encourages spontaneous creativity, and it encourage us to be okay with being human and silly,“ she said.

Natalie Ellie, owner and creative director of Class Act, a theatre company, is providing a stage for the festival. She is also a player for Theatresports. She said the festival is good both for the Champaign-Urbana and improv communities.

“It’s to help the community see how much great work is going on right here in their city,” Ellie said.

James Wechtel said he feels this festival is special because of the amount of effort he has put into hosting the festival. He added that they are offering their hospitality to the participating teams.

“It’s the difference between going to somebody else’s birthday party and inviting everyone you love to your own home,” James Wechtel said. “What I love about improv is that you’re starting with only human brains, very little material and creating on the spot. (It’s) the most creative process that I’m ever aware of.”