The Keenan Revue will be held in the Stepan Center on Feb. 10 - 12, marking its return to Notre Dame's campus from its previous venue, Saint Mary's O'Laughlin Auditorium.
"Last year, we found out through The Observer that we couldn't use the venue anymore," producer Chase Riddle, a junior, said. "They said it wasn't keeping with their mission statement. We went on a wild goose chase to find something comparable [in size]."
Riddle said they searched for a place starting immediately after last year's Revue, looking at options on and off campus. They finalized the use of the Stepan Center this fall.
"We wanted to bring it back to Notre Dame," director Grayson Duren, a junior, said.
Riddle said this year's Revue is titled "Keenan Revue: Too Big For Saint Mary's," and ticket distribution begins today at 4 p.m. at the gate three of the Joyce Center.
Each student can bring two student IDs and get two tickets per student ID, Burley said. There will be 1,300 tickets per show, with three showings. Keenan residents will also receive tickets.
Riddle said the Revue has been growing less offensive.
"What surprises me is we were going into past scripts, and they were vulgar," he said. "In our two years [working with the Revue], it's been much cleaner."
Duren said the jokes have become more clever.
"We've been moving away from vulgarity because they've been censoring skits," Nick Burley, Keenan Hall co-president and junior, said. "…The best thing you can do is find a balance between the two. Witty skits are just okay. Vulgar ones are hit or miss. Skits that strike the balance are the best."
Duren said the Revue has 26 to 28 segments, including two speeches, four songs performed by the band and 20 to 22 skits.
Keenan residents create the skits and bring them to the Revue staff on tryout days, Duren said. After a few initial rounds, the remaining skits are brought before Keenan rector Fr. Dan Nolan.
"If it's someone's idea, they'll be in [the skit]," Burley said. "It's neat. You usually see a skit all the way through the creative process to onstage."
The skits are put into a script, which is then censored by the rector, Riddle said.
"[In 2009] there was one skit cut," Riddle said. "No full skits were cut this year."
The musicians are all Keenan residents too.
"There is a good array of music this year," Riddle said. "Everyone is going to be happy about the two ‘exotic dancer' songs."
The participants will be rehearsing through the week, Riddle said.
Duren said the dancers take collections during the Revue for Keenan's Hall Scholarship, which the rector distributes the funds to hall residents. Alumni donations fund approximately 80 percent of the Revue, which cannot be paid for completely by Student Activities Office funding, Riddle said.
