Acting Workshop!

As we mentioned in our last post, Patricia Helsel, a member of Michigan Tech's faculty, put on a fantastic acting workshops for all of the groups participating in Stage Revue.  Here are a few pictures from the night of the workshop!

Old tradition...revamped!

Stage Revue (skits) has been a tradition at Michigan Tech for decades now, dating all the way back to the first Winter Carnival in 1922! It started off as a small event where students entertained the audience by dressing up in animal costumes and has today turned into quite the production, requiring months and months of preparation! The groups participating in skits put in endless hours preparing their props, jokes, skit characters, and dance moves; entirely the right recipe for a great show!

This year, new concepts have been introduced to take Stage Revue to the next level. Groups this year will each have their own "stage manager" whom will call all the sound and lighting cues during the performance. Lester Brent, the Interim Production Manager at the Rozsa Center, taught the stage managers the ropes. In doing so, these stage managers and the Stage Revue committee were able to go on an awesome field trip in the Rozsa. If you are intrigued to take a field trip of the Rozsa Center and want to wear a sweet headset, consider being a stage manager in Stage Revue 2012!! Just be forewarned, there are no take backs in stage managing. Once you say light cue 1 go, the spotlight is on!

Just as a sneak peak into the acting capabilities of skit participants this year, last night in the time frame of about one hour, the Stage Revue committee was able to witness skit participants bring to life dozens of different characters such as an animated crab and a rolling pin afraid of being dizzy. Don't worry, no Stage Revue secrets were just revealed! But it is through improv workshops like the one hosted by Patricia Helsel last night that will help the skit participants prepare for the big event!  A big thanks to Trish for all of her words of advice, and for making last night just purely entertaining. Through "acting" workshops like these and by allowing each group to call their own cues, we expect Stage Revue to be better than ever!

By coming to watch Stage Revue, not only are you guaranteed a night full of entertainment, but you also get a say in what group is declared the Stage Revue winner. In the past, the winner is determined only by a panel of judges. This year, we will still have a panel of judges. However, half of the overall score will come from the judges and the second half will come from the audience! So be sure to show up to the Rozsa on February 10th (5 or 9 pm) to enjoy the skits and to support your peers/classmates/favorite group! Get your tickets now before they sell out!

Stage Revues Past!

Want to see some of the craziness from past Stage Revue performances?  Take a look!

These images are from 2006-2008 Winter Carnivals.  The themes for those years were:
2006: Cartoon Art for the Young at Heart
2007: Ancient Worlds Come to Play in Snowy Drifts of Modern Day
2008: Frightful Creatures with Chilling Features

So, what is Stage Revue?

Stage Revue is one of many fantastic events that happens annually in Houghton, MI at Michigan Technological University's Winter Carnival.  Various campus groups and organizations present a skit on the Winter Carnival 2011 theme: "Thousands of Pages Unfold in the Bitter Cold". Auditions are held prior this event where the groups are judged based on good taste, originality of production, entertainment value, and the theme applicability. The best eight skits will be chosen for this performance and it is guaranteed night full of laughs! The host this year will be Mission IMPROVable, who has performed along side members of Saturday Night Live, MadTV, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Stage Revue contains college humor and the late show (9 pm) in particular is recommended for an adult audience.  

This year's final performances for Stage Revue will be on Thursday, February 10th at 5 PM and 9 PM in the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts.

The Eight Finalist Groups that will be performing this year are:

Delta Zeta

Air Force ROTC

Phi Kappa Tau

Sigma Phi Epsilon

Theta Chi Epsilon

Douglas Houghton Hall (DHH)

Delta Phi Epsilon

Alpha Xi Zeta

Each performance has 6 judges, but this year the scoring will come half from the judges and half from the audience! 

So come join us at Stage Revue for a good laugh and to support your friends, classmates, or organizations! We hope to see you!