The annual Keenan Revue will be held this weekend at Stepan Center, and senior producer Brian Ward said this year's lineup is better and more hilarious than ever.
Ward, who organized the Revue alongside senior director Tyler Gregory, said Keenan Hall's trademark show is "truly the No. 1 event on campus." To avoid any past censorship issues from resurfacing, Gregory said they worked with the Office of Student Affairs to collaborate beforehand.
"We have made extra efforts this year to make sure we will not have problems," Gregory said. "We met with Amy Geist, the assistant director of the Office of Student Affairs, and went over all the content to make sure it is appropriate."
The theme of this year's show is "Much Revue About Nothing," a reference to the Shakespeare play "Much Ado About Nothing," Ward said.
"The actual Shakespeare play is all about issues coming to light," Ward said. "We are doing the same thing with Notre Dame and bringing issues on campus to light in a funny way."
The show is staffed completely by Keenan residents and has been in the works since October, according to Ward. Auditions took place at the beginning of the semester for the lineup of comedy skits and various musical acts that Ward described as similar to Saturday Night Live. Typically, the three performances draw about 4,500 audience members in total.
"The audition process took place all on one Saturday," Ward said. "We auditioned all the skits, and then had review meeting and picked 25 for the actual show."
In addition, Ward and Gregory issued a constitution to all participants that provided guidelines on the appropriate level of humor and also held a panel that reviewed all the skits' content specifically to ensure it was appropriate.
Ward and Gregory said the content might surprise some audience members but won't disappoint anyone.
"People are expecting there to be a lot of Manti jokes, but that is not something we focused on this year," Ward said. "We actually included a lot of self-defacing humor, so we are able to poke fun at other things. We also have a ton of talented musicians in the show."
Ward said the show takes thousands of dollars to put on because professional lighting technicians and stage crew are hired to work the performances. Keenan alumni donate money to run the show every year.
"Everyone should come out and see the greatest show on campus," Ward said. "We sold out our tickets in 45 minutes, but if anyone wants to go and does not have a ticket, stop by at show time and we may have an extra for you."
