(Not pictured: Elaine Diamond)
Humorology, also known as Humo, is an annual event at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Each year fraternities and sororities are paired together to write, produce, compose, choreograph and direct their own mini-musical. The casts work together to raise money for The Boys and Girls Club of Dane County and an organization voted on each year by the previous members involved in Humorology. This year the second organization is the Untied Cerebral Palsy of Greater Dane County. The Humo process begins early in the school year when the directors come together to put their entire show together. Soon after, those who want to be involved begin rehearsing and learning the entire first act. Once it hits December the casts bring it all together to complete and perfect the first act of their show, as the beginning of December is auditions. The week before auditions is “Hell Week” where the casts work late into early hours of the morning to finalize their preparations for their audition day. This year, 10 casts auditioned to get into the final Humorology performance in April and only seven got in. After an incredible semester of hard work and dedication, the Pi Beta Phi, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Psi Upsilon cast have been accepted into the final show. Here is what the directors had to say about this year’s Humorology experience:
Meet this year’s directors:
Elaine Diamond (Pi Beta Phi)
Emily Handley (Pi Beta Phi)
Emily Morris (Pi Beta Phi)
Nikki Novoselsky (Pi Beta Phi)
Adam Connolly (Psi Upsilon)
Cole Altman (Pi Kappa Alpha)
Ronnie Pisano (Pi Kappa Alpha)
Sean O’Neal (Pi Kappa Alpha)
What’s your favorite part about Humo?
Emily Morris: My favorite part about Humo is being able to watch the cast grow from the first (usually horrendous looking) run through into the audition ready performance. Watching people work together to reach the same goal is extremely rewarding! Also, being able to perform on stage is super fun. Gotta love that adrenaline.
Nikki: So it's incredibly difficult to pick one favorite thing about Humo because it's a culmination of everything I love: making so many new close friends, getting to sing, dance and act on stage, and raising money for a good cause.
Ronnie: My favorite part about Humo is all of the friendships you make. Humo provides a unique opportunity to meet a whole bunch of new people and create friendships that will last at least all of college, if not the rest of your life. At the end of the day, I love making friends and spending time with all of these friends.
What’s the hardest part about Humo and preparing for the show?
Elaine: The hardest part of Humo is keeping the cast on task as directors. Trying to get a group of college kids to stay focused on a musical until 2 a.m. can prove to be kind of tough.
Emily Handley: I think the hardest part about Humo is keeping the right mindset through the whole year. I know the whole cast probably hates me for yelling at them to straighten their arms or have better faces, but in the end, we are doing it for a great cause and to put on an unbelievable show #forthekids
Sean: The hardest part about Humo is having to come up with an idea for a show because once you have an idea for a show it’s much easier to just run with ideas.
Adam: Getting the cast to stop talking all the time. You’d think when you’re with the same people for eight hours at a time (in Hell Week) you’d run out of things to talk about.
Now that you’ve made it into the show, what are you most looking forward to?
Emily Handley: COSTUMES! And for another two week hell week at the end of the year.
Cole: For me I'm looking forward to the fundraising side of Humorology. It's so much fun actually doing all the Humo stuff but the fundraising is my niche and what I enjoy doing the most. Getting the chance to connect with the Madison community and display to them the good the Greek community can do is a cool feeling.
Sean: The part I’m looking forward to the most is getting to be on that stage and perform the show for people because we put in so much work. It’s nice to see all of the hard work really come together.
Adam: Performing on the big stage. You can’t understand the adrenaline rush until you’ve experienced it yourself
How would you describe what a Humo Face is?
Emily Morris: A Humo face is the biggest, most painful, cracked out face you will ever make in your life. If your face doesn't hurt after one scene then you're doing it wrong.
Elaine: A Humo face looks like you just won a million dollars.
Ronnie: A Humo face is the face that you would have during the happiest, saddest, angriest, etc. moment of your life plus more.
Sean: A Humo face is essentially any facial expression pushed to an extreme. If you don’t feel ridiculous making the face you’re probably not doing it right.
What’s your dream Humo role?
Elaine: My dream Humo role would probably be Tina from Bob's Burgers because she is basically my spirit animal.
Nikki: My dream Humo role would be a part where I can belt out a song at the top of my lungs and have some attitude while I'm at it. (Side note: I've weirdly always wanted to be Sandy from Grease because she has this innocent persona and then turns into the ultimate badass while simultaneously getting to belt out hopelessly devoted. She's got a little bit of everything and that's awesome)
During “Hell Week” we had rehearsal from 6 PM – 2 AM, what would you say your favorite part about the week was?
Emily Morris: My favorite part about hell week was going to the dance studio and watching us improve just after one day! It's unreal what hell week can do for your show.
Emily Handley: My favorite part about hell week, besides the 2 a.m. slap happiness obviously, would be when we auditioned. Everybody in the cast was extremely excited and I could tell that our hard work was going to pay off. When we performed, it was the best time that we have ever executed the show and I felt that people finally understood why practicing until 2 a.m. was necessary.
Cole: I can begin by telling you having someone back into my car wasn't my favorite part of the week. The best part of hell week is putting Fetty Wap on at 1:30 a.m. and seeing everyone jump up and start jamming out. The best part of hell week for me doesn't have to do with the show but just seeing how willing and respectful the cast is to us directors and the hell we put them through.
Adam: The dance party during the breaks in practice. 679 is turnt.
If you had to be stranded on an island with one of the other Humo directors who would it be and why?
Emily Morris: If I had to be stranded on an island with one of the directors it would be Emily Handley. We both have the same no-nonsense attitude and we'd be very resourceful when trying to get off the god-for saken island.
Emily Handley: The only person i could realistically be stranded on an island with would be Emily Morris. The rest of the directors, more specifically Cole and Nikki, would try to be optimistic and make the best out of the experience. The others would probably just drink out of coconuts and sleep, but Morris and I would be the only ones who would actually be successful at getting off the island. We don’t mess around.
Nikki: If I was stranded on an island with one of the other Humo directors I would choose to be stuck with Cole because I think we are very similar. We would definitely try to make it fun and be positive instead of freaking out that we are stuck. We would probably make up engaging activities and make a whole album together while we are out there too. It would actually probably be really entertaining.
Cole: Nikki. Her optimism is incredible and her ability to find the best of each and every individual is something most people will never be able to do. She also likes to dream big and with the realistic view that I'm never leaving the island, she will, at least, bring me a sense of hope and get me to believe we could actually find a way off the island.
Ronnie: It would have to be Cole. I live with the kid and have been friends with him since Freshman year so that choice was easy. If I could bring one more though I would bring Nikki since she is always so positive and she would constantly be positive on the Island even if we were going to die.
Elaine: I think it would be Emily Morris, because she was a Girl Scout and would know some good survival skills. Also because I love her!
Sean: I would pick Nikki because she would come up with a million of activities to try to stay happy on the deserted island.
Tell me what it was like the moment you found out your cast got into the final show?
Emily Morris: I think I cried six times when I found out we made the show. I was just so incredibly happy for our cast because WE ALL put in so much work. Our energy at the audition felt so amazing and it was just the most un-real, joyous feeling to know that all our hard work paid off!
Nikki: The moment I found out we got into the final show I think I went into shock and then cried tears of joy because all of our hours of hard work 100 percent paid off. I couldn't have been prouder of every single person in the cast and I was just so purely happy that the judges saw what we envisioned and are allowing us to perform it for everyone in April! I can't wait!
Ronnie: It was great when we found out we made the final show. I was so happy that we got to share it with the whole cast and show that all of our hard work during "heaven week" paid off. It was also like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders because of how nerve racking it was waiting to find out.
Cole: Sense of relief. Us directors have been working on this show since the moment last years final show ended - getting paired up, writing the script, songs, fundraising and everything in between. When we found out we made the final show I was able to take a deep breath and just thank everyone in the cast for making it happen because we directors can only do as much as our cast allows us to.
Sean: The moment I found out we made the show it felt like a mountain had been lifted off of my shoulders and I was simply relieved.
Adam: A wave of relief. I was so proud of our cast for sticking through it with us and only killing us directors in their minds. We can now relax and enjoy the effort we had put into for the entire semester and especially the last week.
Come see this year’s show at the Memorial Union Theatre from April 7-9, 2016!
