BWW Blog: Honoring a Holiday Tradition on Zoom

Each year the Xavier Theatre program has an end of the semester/holiday party. At this party, the seniors perform a parody of the Twelve Days of Christmas that relates to the program and their experiences as a class in particular. I remember my freshman year, seeing the first performance of this and looking forward to getting to do this with my class in 3 years. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we were not able to have our Christmas party, but that was not going to stop us from making the Twelve Days of Xavier Theatre performance from happening. I cannot take credit for the idea or the planning of this event, but I can be grateful to my friends (big shoutout to Kelsey) who made it happen.

Honestly, part of the fun was coming up with what each verse would be. There were a couple of ideas that did not end up making the cut but are too funny not to be shared. One idea was "8 pairs of crocs", which would have been a direct reference to a senior named Steven, whose brand is owning numerous pairs of crocs. Although those who know him would've gotten a laugh out of this, it didn't exactly cater to a wider audience. Plus, this joke was a trivia question during a senior Kahoot night we did earlier in the semester. Another verse we considered was referencing all of the students who were majors at one point but have since dropped and moved on to different things. This idea was ultimately scrapped because it kind of made us sad, but it also could come off as mean, as the only way we could make it fit the correct number of syllables was by phrasing it as "forgotten students". We did eventually get a final set of lyrics and met on Zoom to film.

To preface, these performances are so low stakes and are never perfect, that's what makes them so fun! There is always someone off or behind and we expected ours to be no different. Because here's the thing about filming on Zoom, people lag and people have bad connections and whatnot, so we were bound to have this video be chaotic. But like I said, that's what gives it character and makes the experience enjoyable. I got the chance to laugh with my friends while performing something, and that's what really counts. Also, chaos is kind of the theme for 2020, so our video fits the vibe of the year perfectly.

I'm not sure if this video will get posted for the public or if it's just something for our program to enjoy, but I at least wanted to share my fun behind the scenes experience. I'm so glad it was even able to happen. I've said it once and I'll say it again, theatre people can and will adapt. I hope everyone can honor their own holiday traditions this year, even if they have to do them a little differently.