Abigail Meredith, Assistant Arts Editor
Deep Fried Follies was just as enjoyable as the deep fried Oreos people crave at the State Fair.
Campus Activities Board hosted “Deep Fried Follies” at 8 p.m. Oct. 29. This year’s freshmen talent show was a mix of creative and entertaining acts, with a steady rhythm of solid skits and enjoyable live music. It started out with a clever skit and ended with an energetic musical number by students dressed as nuns. The entire show was entertaining without being overwhelming or aggressive, leaving the audience happy and wanting more.
Sydnie Randolph, a sophomore family and community service major in the stage band, talked about what made Freshman Follies unique.
“Freshman Follies is for freshman only, and as upperclassmen, it’s our opportunity to appreciate them and their talents,” Randolph said. “The difference between Biggie and Follies is that Biggie is upperclassmen only and Follies is freshman only.”
Gage Johnson, a senior Bible major and one of the show’s directors, discussed the benefits of having a freshmen-only show.
“Freshmen, for the most part, don’t have this idea ingrained of what a show should look like,” Johnson said. “They audition with what their actual talent is instead of trying to fit a mold.”
Karis Johnson, a senior Psychology Pre-counseling major and the other director, agreed. “They’re not trying to be something they’re not,” she said.
“Follies is usually a little more eclectic. Biggie and Spring Affair tend to have very similar acts,” Johnson said. “They’ll have big bands with a bunch of different types of instruments. With Follies we get a lot of different smaller acts. Like we’ll get a dancer or a solo with a guitar, which is very different from other shows.”
The unique acts of Deep Fried Follies confirmed this, with three solos, one of which was a modern dance piece, and another included singing in two languages. The other three group performances did not blend together either, and the audience responded positively throughout.
The Johnsons went on to discuss what it took to pull off such an eclectic show.
“We are the creative heads of the show,” Gage said. “We probably put in about 20 hours of skit writing, as well as practicing skits and recording videos. So that probably took the most work. And then we’ve been getting the set and everything ready.”
Karis elaborated on what exactly that entailed.
“We talk through ideas with set design and intermission,” Karis said. “Intermission will decorate the lobby and get food. So we bounce ideas off of them. We approve and help make sure things are gathered together. We’ve had to make sure rooms are reserved for us to practice or paint in. We’re the link for a lot of things.”
Karis went on to point out how hard the students worked to pull off this production.
“The groups have been working every night this week on set design, and intermission has been working a lot to get decorations. Not to mention that at the beginning of the process we start with two full nights of auditions. So that takes about four hours a day. It’s a lot of stuff with a lot of different moving parts.”
Sydnie Randolph discussed what being a part of CAB, the Campus Activities Board, entailed.
“Two weeks before is when it really starts coming together,” Randolph said. “We vote on a theme as an organization. There’s usually three different themes and whichever theme we vote on is the theme for the show. It’s really when the ball starts rolling.”
Randolph discussed one of the struggles she faced as part of the stage band.
“It’s kind of difficult to meet for practice since we’re all college students and busy,” Randolph said. “All our practices have been in Raley at 10 o’ clock at night. But it’s fun because you’re making music with your friends.”
Karis and Gage agreed that being a part of Freshman Follies was worth the work.
“Everything is coming together and that is rewarding for me,” Karis said. “Seeing that we put a lot of work into it and it will come out good.”
Gage talked about why they wanted to be a part of Freshman Follies specifically.
“We both joined CAB our sophomore year after seeing shows,” he said. “We both really wanted to be involved in the undertaking. It really helps them (freshmen) find an identity as a class.”
Karis agreed, pointing out that participating in organizations helps transitioning into college easier and makes time here on Bison Hill more memorable.
“That’s why we wanted to direct Follies. The freshman have been here for a couple months, they see all the upperclassmen being involved in events and orgainzations, but they themselves aren’t quite to the point yet where they feel like they can be a part of it. But they go to Follies and they see it and think ‘oh those are my classmates onstage, that’s my roommate in that act,’”Karis concluded.
“It really welcomes freshmen to the school.”
thebisonnews.com 
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