By Samantha Stuefer – As a play-off of December’s big movie release, the directors and emcees of this year’s Joy Night capitalized on the the pop culture event of Star Wars for their theme Joy Night: 2016: The Links Awaken. The annual talent show put on a variety of acts to please all generations.
“Amazingly, young and old, both really get even the old movies and the new, so it worked in our favor,” Joy Night director and English teacher Jack Bisbee said.
The show even featured Math Teacher Pat Janike in a full-sized Tauntaun costume.
The student response on Friday night in particular was great. “They got the jokes, they were laughing applauding,they were into the show, supporting their friends, and so we were really pleased,” Bisbee said.
In addition to a host of choir groups and individual soloists, there were also some crowd favorites, like the Karen band Piece of Links, that did a really nice job, Ground Zero featured some alumni,and obviously Solid Gold Fury pumped up the crowd at the end, Bisbee said.
One of the soloists, Josephine Rosegrant sang the Adele song Someone Like You a capella and really amazed the crowd. “I remember [Mr.] Heibel was backstage and he asked, ‘Who is this?’ He was just astonished by how powerful her voice was.
“I think our MCs did a wonderful job,” he added. “We had a smaller MC group this year, they had a lot more responsibility to write than ever before, and so they came up with some good ideas and we helped mold them into the comedy that is being an MC at joynite.”
Other staff involved in the production included emcee directors Andrew Bargen, Lindse Herting, and Chris Turley. Bisbee also acknowledged the help of Molly Thomas, Justin Holbein, Ben Koch, and Donna Anderson for getting the back-of-house set up and running smoothly.
“I’m very proud of the show,” Bisbee said. “The kids did a great job, and the staff love seeing it too.”
Next year the student body might get more of a say when it comes to the theme of Joy Night.
This year’s emcees asked Bisbee if they might get student feedback for the decision. Bisbee responded, “You know, that’s a fantastic idea.”
Clockwise from Above: Ground Zero (Justin Lopez, Joshua Lopez, Hung Do, Tony Nguyen, Micah Oman, Miguel Gerrereo). Lauren Lesiak and Cara Higgins. Pat Janike and Harper Lundine Wilmoth. Baile Folklóriko (Brandon Reyes, Ernesto Maldonado, Christian Scott, Jaqueline Martínez, Ana Vázquez, Alejandra Fernández, Cristy La González). Josephine Rosegrant. Will Grades. Mummers (Micah Oman, Dylan Nyhoff, Dustin Mosko, Brynne Biles, Alaina Conner, Jackson Mikkleson, Carolyn Curns, Camille Harrah, Chloe Orr, Jerry Radcliffe, Nash Jack). The Ukuladies. Bella Schmidt.
Photos by Samantha Stuefer
