After a year of preparation, over 300 University of Wisconsin students are gearing up today to dance, sing and act their way through three days of shows in the annual Humorology production, which debuts tonight in the Memorial Union Theater.
Drawing inspiration from this year’s theme “Livin’ the Dream,” six separate student casts comprised mostly of members of Greek organizations will perform entirely original comedy skits, competing for highly esteemed bragging rights while raising money for both the Chris Farley Foundation and One Heartland.
The show includes three nights of performances, with the first installment occurring at 7:30 p.m tonight. Performances will also take place Friday and Saturday.
According to Chair Ali Kolb, organizers tried hard to come up with a theme students could incorporate into their performances but at the same time allowed plenty of room to interpret and take in their own unique directions.
“Some groups use the theme more than others,” Executive Director Patrick Caflisch said. “Some skits are performed like it is a dream, while others use it as kind of a catchphrase.”
He added “Livin’ the Dream” seems to have as many different meanings as people involved in the production.
According to Kolb, “the show will be like the best dream of their life” for many audience members.
Humo, as the show is often called, also aims to make dreams a reality for youth worldwide by donating all proceeds to charity.
“The kids that we support through our philanthropic donations will live the dream this summer at Camp Heartland,” Humorology Philanthropy Chair Megan Meiklejohn said.
In addition to providing opportunities for disadvantaged youth through philanthropic donations, Kolb said Humo also provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity for participating students to display and discover talents they might not have even known they had.
“I think it’s awesome that people like me can be up there on stage with the lights and the music in this professional-like show,” Kolb said.
“No one should pass up the opportunity to see a bunch of frat boys prancing around on stage in tights, singing and dancing,” Meiklejohn said. “You’ll see some of these guys out at the bars on Friday night, and they’ll be these big men, and then you seem them prancing around on stage and just loving it. You really have to persuade them at the beginning of the year, but at the end of the year they love it; they’re almost more into it than the girls.”
In addition to “prancing frat boys,” audience members will likely recognize many different pop culture references, according to Caflisch, with characters from popular movies and TV shows, as well as songs people will recognize from the radio
“There should be something for everyone to enjoy,” Caflisch added.
Humo is the largest student organization on campus and is completely independent from the university.
“It’s all done by students and it’s made from absolutely nothing,” Kolb said.
Tickets are $15 for students.
