Recess, GW’s student comedy troupe, will round out the end of AIDS Awareness Week Friday with a 14-hour nonstop “Improv-a-thon” to raise money for AIDS research.

The “Improv-a-thon” will include sketch comedy, improvised routines and a video, which the 10 performers made. The show will be held from noon to 6 p.m. on the Quad before moving to Downstage Lisner from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The 10-year-old GW troupe is known for making light of serious topics through improvisational and sketch comedy. They said their performance for AIDS Awareness Week will be no exception.

“We don’t think we’re going to stop AIDS, but at least we can put a dent in Syphilis-B,” freshman Recess member Sam Sklaver said.

Recess also is known for getting its message across in unconventional ways. Even its methods of soliciting audience donations will be out of the ordinary in this performance. The group will use a discarded toilet to collect money for AIDS research.

“We’re atoning for our sins,” freshman Don Pitz said in reference to the group’s philanthropic effort. “It’s a penance of sorts.”

Audience members will get a chance to participate throughout the show. With a repertoire of more than 75 routines and improvisational formats, Recess fans will get to choose games, themes and genres they want the group to act out on stage.

Though they did not perform during AIDS Awareness Week last year, Recess members already are planning to perform for the event next year. The group is planning another performance April 30 in which it will present some of its more popular routines from the past, along with some new material.

Recess members said they hope Friday’s show will be an escape from the inevitable paranoia, excitement and overcrowding that the upcoming NATO 50th Anniversary Summit will create.

“We might not be as good-looking as the representatives from NATO, but we might be funnier, and at least we don’t lie,” sophomore Recess member Dorothy Robinson said.

“We haven’t bombed any civilians in over a year,” Pitz said.