Life > August 30, 2007

By Katherine Williams | Staff writer

Every student knows that it must be the time of year for the annual “Welcome to Wake” Lilting Banshees comedy show when the campus is covered in yellow posters, spreading their often crude, yet hilarious, punch lines around campus.

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The Banshees perform a Choose Your Own Adventure skit that involved a choreographed dance during a frat party. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

Sitting in the darkened Brendle Recital Hall waiting for the show to begin, I couldn’t help but marvel at the numerous strides the troupe has made since its start 16 years ago with a group of fewer than 10 members.

According to the troupe’s director senior Mike Baireuther, the Banshees’ first shows drew only around 200 people per performance.

Yet as I turned around and looked back at the crowd that filled the hall to the brim for the 9 p.m. show, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

Apparently, the signs, that started around two to three years ago according to Baireuther, had worked.

One of the highlights of the Banshees’ performances is always the slideshow that runs before the live show actually begins, and this year was no exception.

The jokes and jibes, sometimes crude, sometimes lighthearted and sometimes flat-out disgusting, were very reflective of the following skits.

Covering everything from bad RTA pick-up lines to broad ethnic stereotypes to the food at the Pit, the material was blatantly un-PC, pushing the envelope at every possible opportunity.

The troupe put on an entertaining performance, although missing the mark at times, pushing the limits of the audience’s comfort zone at several points throughout the show.

In fact, it was this uncompromising steamrolling of social norms that once again made the show work.

From the Pit to alcohol issues to campus Wi-Fi to Coach Grobe, nothing was sacred, ensuring everyone was ridiculed and sparing no one from the acute “self-referential humor,” as Banshee troupe member sophomore Anna O’Brien called it, that the performances draw a significant amount of their material from.

The troupe accepted the riotous laughter and applause from the audience without missing a beat throughout the show and also displayed the wide breadth of its material in the variety of skits that were executed throughout the performance.

From a slightly uncomfortable one about a Kindergarten water gun toy development group to a “kitty grenade” commentary on the war in Iraq, the troupe departed more often from the typical Greek life and general university jokes than in years past, venturing out into a broader scope of social and political issues.

Talking to Baireuther, assistant director junior Jessica Morris and O’Brien after the show, I was able to get just a quick glimpse into the general atmosphere of the group – fun-loving, hilarious and supportive.

Although some of the founding and earlier troupe members had significant amounts of experience in theater and aspirations to one day make it a career, many of the members now participate simply as a hobby, and many have little or no comedy experience.

The most important thing for students interested in auditioning for the three to five open spots this year, according to Baireuther, is that they fit in with the personality of the troupe, although experience is always welcomed.

Now more than ever, with 16 years on campus and a troupe ranging around a solid 15 to 20 members, the Lilting Banshees are fast becoming a campus icon.

With their outrageous sketches full of everything from subtle criticism to jaw-dropping parodies, the performances continue to shock and entertain students every year, and will continue for many more years to come.

The Lilting Banshees are looking for new members and they will be holding open auditions on Sept. 4.