‘Late Night’ kicks off Finals Week
Drew Donahoo, ESU Media Relations
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Talented ESU comics and other performers will be the featured players for an evening during Emporia State University’s finals week this semester, courtesy of the Union Activities Council.
UAC will sponsor Late Night, ESU’s annual finals week program, at 9 p.m. Monday in the Memorial Union’s Webb Lecture Hall. The theme for this year’s event, a product of UAC’s Featured Events committee, is Monday Night Live, a play on Saturday Night Live, the perennial favorite sketch comedy show on NBC.
Chelsea Brown, sophomore health promotion major from Shawnee, is the chair of featured events this year. She promises the event will be a great time for all ESU students.
“There are going to be so many different activities for students at Late Night that the fun will be endless!”
Erin Lynam, sophomore business administration student from Lindsborg and vice-chair of featured events agrees: “With all of the events we have planned, students will never be bored.”
“There will be a great variety of activities — Zoiks!, Peter Boie, and caricaturists will be on hand to provide great entertainment for the students,” said Brown.
Zoiks!, ESU’s comedy improvisation troupe, will provide entertainment throughout the evening with a variety of SNL-inspired sketches. Though Zoiks! is best known for its improv comedy, the group also specializes in sketch comedy and will be featuring that strength at Late Night.
“Zoiks will be performing a selection of never-before-seen sketches that we wrote and directed for this show. They are in keeping with the Monday Night Live theme, full of zany characters and lots of physical comedy,” Harrison George, junior sociology major from Wichita and third-year Zoiks! member, said. “In addition to the sketches, we will be playing a few of our classic improv games that we are known for.”
Peter Boie is a nationally-known magician and is very popular on the college circuit. Boie promotes himself as the “Magician for Non-Believers.” Boie has been a finalist in the Society of American Magicians’ national stage contest and has been invited to perform in front of the thousands of college student programming board members at conferences hosted by the National Association for Campus Activities.
“We actually found Peter on YouTube first and were interested in him,” said Brown. “Then a few council members went to NACA in October and saw him there. We all agreed that he would be perfect for Late Night.”
“Not only will there be great performances but amazing prizes as well,” Lynam declared. Students will have the opportunity to win high-dollar items such as a Nintendo Wii bundle, a Kodak digital camera, an iPod Touch, a 19-inch flat screen television, and a gas card.
Students can enter to win these prizes by donating canned goods. Students who choose to donate will receive one ticket per one canned food item or five packs of Ramen noodles. “This is a great way for students to help others and win some cool stuff,” said Lynam.
Artists from Alpha Rho Theta, ESU’s art club, will be on hand to draw caricatures of students. Taryn Trousdale, senior Art major from Andover, said that Alpha Rho Theta focuses on community art events and serves a social outlet and networking organization for artists both on campus and off. Of the caricatures, Trousdale said, “they will be like the ones you can get at amusement parks and such — drawn with Sharpie on cardstock paper.” UAC is covering the cost of the supplies for the caricatures, so students will be able to take home mementos from the evening for free.
“And if that’s not enough, there will be more free food than you could even imagine,” said Brown. Indeed, there will be quite a smorgasbord of New York-themed foods available for students free of charge. “We like having food at Late Night because students are always running low on money at the end of the semester, so one free meal is definitely awesome.”
According to Blythe Eddy, associate director of the Memorial Union and advisor to UAC, Union Activities Council has hosted Late Night for over ten years. Lauren Padgett, senior communication major from Kansas City and UAC president, promises that this will be the best Late Night event the campus has seen.
“In my previous positions on UAC, I was involved with the Featured Events committee and helped plan a couple Late Nights. Chelsea and Erin have been doing a great job getting this event ready to go. I know everyone who comes will have a blast,” Padgett said.
Late Night is cosponsored by the Memorial Union, Sodexo, the MU Bookstore, Zoiks!, Alpha Rho Theta and Union Activities Council. ESU’s finals week begins Monday and runs through Dec. 19.