CSULB student troupe turns improv into a training ground for saying 'no'

Donovan Dueck sat in the audience, watching a tense dramatization of a toxic relationship, when he left his seat and stepped into the role of someone breaking off a failed romance.

The CSULB student had no script. When a performer, acting as a desperate partner, threatened self-harm if he did not stay, Dueck had to trust his gut and find the presence of mind to insist the relationship was over and walk away.

It was all fictional, but in that moment, the emotions felt genuine.

"I was very aware that this could be real," said Dueck, a first-year public relations student.

"I was not expecting it, but it's also how it happens in real life," he also said. "You don't expect to hear threats."

This is how interACT, a Cal State Long Beach performance troupe, wields theater and improv against violence and bigotry. During interACT's fall 2025 Anti-Violence Event on campus, Dueck was one of several students who put themselves in the middle of emotionally charged scenarios designed to help audience members recognize, avoid and escape dangerous situations.

"What we're here to do today is prevent you from getting into a relationship that escalates to the point where there is violence," interACT managing director Kelly Janke said to the audience.

Students join interACT by enrolling in the Ensemble Performance class, offered through the Communication Studies Department. The course prepares students to model and teach, via performance, verbal and nonverbal techniques that audience members can employ to stand up for themselves and others.

"InterACT performances are a communication pedagogy, helping students move from a passive observer into an active bystander, and communicate in real-time," Janke said. "Like in any interACT performance, communication is not merely something we say; it is something we enact physically, socially, and culturally."

Although this requires confronting stressful subject matter, Dueck said he was glad to have participated in an interACT event.

"I think it's common for people to feel like they don't know how to defend themselves or set boundaries," he said. "A lot of people could benefit from this."

InterACT students Matias Ramirez and Abigail Watson perform during an November 2025 Violence Prevention Event convened to help audience members be safe over the course of their dating lives.

Performance as rehearsal for real life

InterACT performances are crafted to inspire audiences to act against such ills as racism, homophobia, hazing, sexual assault, stalking and intimate partner violence. The troupe has a 25-year history of performing at The Beach, other campuses and military bases.

This fall's Violence Prevention Event at CSULB dramatized a toxic relationship. Between scenes, Janke paused the action to facilitate conversations about protecting oneself by spotting red flags, being unafraid to make a scene in public, using "no" as a complete sentence and otherwise refusing an unwanted pursuer. These breaks also provided times for audience members like Dueck to replay scenes and demonstrate assertive communication.

"It's kind of like practice," said Katelynn Morales, a fourth-year communication studies student and interACT member. "It's giving them the practice to be OK with setting a boundary."

InterACT aligns with Morales' interest in working in a field where interpersonal communication is central. She is interested in mediation and the prospect of serving as a community college instructor, teaching first-generation students like herself.

"I get to feel like I'm making a difference in the world," Morales said.

Educating with drama

InterACT has collaborated with Not Alone @ The Beach, another College of Liberal Arts program with a commitment to preventing violence. Not Alone at the Beach provides crisis intervention services for sexual misconduct survivors and runs the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Training program, which prepare student leaders to intervene when a peer is at risk of abuse.

Terrance Sylvas, a fourth-year communications studies student who has acted in musical theater and plays, is interested in acting professionally. He foresees that InterACT can enhance interpersonal skills that would be valuable in professions connected to the performing arts, such as working for a talent agency, a casting department or a marketing team. He is also committed to interACT's mission of informing audiences.

"The hope is making sure that they're educated, and not just watching this performance," he said. "I really want people to take it seriously and value what's being said."

Kelly Janke, faculty member of managing director of interACT, helps the audience stay engaged during a performance designed to impart lessons on effectively communicating personal boundaries.