"The Joker is dead. Long live the..." began each of the three skits in the 6th semi-annual Bare Bodkin 24 Hour Theater Festival this weekend. Anyone who desired to participate showed up at Aidekman Arts Center on Friday night at 8 p.m. There, the participants were split into three teams. Every contestant jotted down a possible opening line for the skits, and from these, one was picked out of a hat.
The teams then dispersed to create their 20 minute skits, complete with scripts, costumes, and props, all within 24 hours. The final products were put on before an audience and panel of celebrity judges on Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Lane Hall.
As you can imagine, the task of creating something out of virtually nothing is daunting indeed. Yet the teams wasted no time and got right to work, finding ideas in the strangest of ways. Erica Finkel, a junior member of Team Ernest Doesn't Go to the Beach, said that her team played Catchphrase and completed a sentence, each member saying one word, in order to brainstorm for their sketch.
This year, the festival was a little different than in the past. According to Bare Bodkin's executive director Ashley Berman, not only was there a location change from the Alumni Lounge to Lane Hall, but there were many "new people, not just the veterans."
The best part of partaking in this event for freshman Emily Rosen, member of Team A Whore Named Randi, was this same sort of closeness with teammates "being tired together, making each other laugh, and not knowing if your jokes are funny to other people."
The competitors would soon find out if they were in fact funny to others; the contest was judged by a celebrity panel of judges consisting of seniors Homecoming King John Quashie, Mr. Jumbo Seth Lapierre, TCU President Jeff Katzin, director of Torn Ticket II's production of "Hair" Jessica Fisch and random audience member Laura Semine. Host senior Aristotle Kousakis began the events, choosing the first team by audience vote.
The event kicked off with Team A Whore Named Randi. The sketch centered on that obnoxious guy who everyone seems to hate, but who still manages to snag a girlfriend. The girlfriend's friends detest this character, who has given himself the moniker "The Joker."
The team employed a dinner party, complete with a concealed pregnancy, a death induced by a man's own arachnophobia, questionable Pictionary skills and a spontaneous choreographed dance routine to Faith Hill's "This Kiss," as the setting for the omnipresent line, here, as a toast to getting rid of the unbearable quips of the Joker. The final straw was the following line, "The Joker - more like the choker." With these words, the Joker persona was discarded forever.
The next team did not let the energy from Team A Whore Named Randi lag. Team Possibilities set the stage for a classic tale of infidelity and unplanned pregnancy. The team wrote their own lyrics to the music of Broadway hit "Wicked," with Julie Hanlon singing: "might be his, might not. That's the central question of our plot."
A slightly effeminate boyfriend is shocked to learn that his girlfriend is not only nine months pregnant, but also had a one-night stand with a local Latin lover, Esteban, while he was out seeing "Brokeback Mountain" with the guys. The couple, Esteban, and Esteban's chest hair go on the "Sally Jessy Donatello" talk show to determine the baby's paternity through the questionable method of a "Who's my baby's daddy" dance-off. After a fetus' interpretive dance and birth, the piece ended with the line, "We had a baby in America, not a crappy place like Canada."
The final sketch by Team Ernest Doesn't Go to the Beach, took the line to the heavens. Zeus - having lost Mt. Olympus to Barry Kauffman in a poker game - is working at Circuit City, and is angered when he hears the Steve Miller Band's "The Joker." The gods who were kicked off Mt. Olympus included a pill-popping Hera, a drunken Bacchus, a bookworm-ish Athena, and a heated Ares. They plot to buy back Mt. Olympus on eBay, but unfortunately lose to the Hamburglar, who hopes to wed Wendy, and create his own burger chain, "F*ck you Ronald." The gods realize the only way to rescue Mt. Olympus is to send in the temptress Aphrodite. After several sexually charged fast food innuendos, Aphrodite wins the deed to Mt. Olympus, realizing there are certain jobs which can truly save the world.
After deliberation by the jurors Team Possibilities took first place, followed by Team A Whore Named Randi in second, and Team Ernest Doesn't Go to the Beach in third. Several superlative awards were given out, such as the ongoing Telly Kousakis and Jenn Gerson Memorial Commemorative Award for Best Awkward Sexual Moment to Greg Smith and Brian Ruben.
The best part of this festival is, of course, not about the glory of winning. "It's a great way to get involved in theater because no experience is necessary, and it's only a 24 hour commitment," Berman said. The event proved to have a little something for everyone, while demonstrating Tufts students' talent for improvisation and comedy.
