Variety show entertains students during Welcome Weekend events
By Tasia Endo
Saturday night, the Santa Clara performing arts department danced, sang and acted in a panoply of performances in SCU Presents, a production that was part of Welcome Weekend and designed to introduce freshmen to the department.
The crowd was filled with people cheering for friends who were about to perform, transforming the audience of the Mayer Theatre to be more like the rowdy stands in the Leavey Center.
Despite not following typical theatrical decorum, the crowd's vociferousness added energy to the production.
"We love every class to come and support the department," said the director of SCU Presents, Laura Brown. "(SCU Presents) is a great way to showcase our talents."
The scores of students who participated in SCU Presents provided an eclectic sampling of what the department has to offer to the rest of Santa Clara.
Greeters at the entrance to the theater polled audience members for movie quotes and song lyrics, which later fueled the comedic performance of Santa Clara's Improv Troupe like an on-stage version of Mad Libs.
Flashy turns on and off a raised platform complemented a modern tap routine with nine dancers. Various show tune numbers and dramatic scenes displayed the department's singing and acting talents.
Junior Scotty Arnold sang the crowd-pleasing and ironically titled "Sensitive Song" from the musical "Cops."
The crude lyrics added an explicit and entertaining flair to the variety show, keeping the audience amused as they walked out the doors still singing, "stinky, stanky, skanky whore."
While the acts alone offered insight into the array of talents and genres encompassed by the theater department, the emcees, sophomore Kristin Schmitz and senior Adrian Valente, kept the show light-heartedly entertaining and focused on welcoming the new freshmen to Santa Clara.
Sponsored by the Theater and Dance Department Honor Society, Alpha Psi Omega, this annual production has been part of the Welcome Weekend program for freshmen in many different forms.
"It's been going on as long as I've been here," said Brown, a senior. "But when I was a freshman, it was a completely different show. There used to be skits about Santa Clara and about freshmen year, (showing freshmen) this is what Santa Clara is going to be like."
In the current format, SCU Presents takes on a dual purpose: welcoming freshmen to campus and advertising the broad talents of the department and its future productions.
"It was really interesting to see the way the theater works - the way they incorporate different aspects, not just acting," said freshman Jill Murphy about the show. "I will definitely go to all of the events."
Saturday's sizeable audience was possible thanks to a location change for the event.
In previous years, the production was performed in the Recital Hall of the Music & Dance Building, but after an overwhelming turnout last year, resulting in the turning away of as many as 100 people, the larger Mayer Theater has become the new venue.
This year's performance still managed to fill the house, with about 400 people in attendance.
Though the number of freshmen attendees was fractional to their total class size, SCU Presents provided these new additions their first venture into the arts at Santa Clara.
"We're part of the campus and the community and we want people to get involved," said Brown.
Characterized by diverse talents alongside enthusiastic support of their peers, the theater department set the stage for the upcoming year filled with further entertaining and artistic performances.
Contact Tasia Endo at tendo@scu.edu.