Four professors will host One Willard Way, a variety show built around comedy and music, this Saturday. Professor of education Connie Finney, who organized the show, said that she hopes One Willard Way will “showcase some of the talent on campus, especially among faculty, staff, and community members.” Department chair and professor of communication Douglas Gaerte, a participant, said “We’ve had fun doing it. For those of us who live here, we have lives outside of the classroom and it’s fun to do some creative kinds of things.”
Finney said there are a variety of acts lined up for the show on Saturday. Gaerte will act as an MC, giving “comical advertisements for local businesses,” according to Finney. Finney also said she plans to perform a storytelling act, “Conversations with Laura.” Paul and Debbie Young will perform a song from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” and a student readers’ theater group will dramatize a scene from “General Hospital,” a TV medical drama. Additionally, Laurie Smalley will play the folk harp and professor of visual communication, Dave Huth, will display some of his photos of amphibians.
Finney also said that there will be a game show to engage the audience, called “Hymn Sing Dutch Blitz.” She said, “There will be a line from a well-known hymn, but the line will not be as well-known, and the contestants will have to be the first to slap down their Dutch Blitz card and guess the hymn.” Laurie Smalley, a teacher at Houghton Academy, said Hymn Sing Dutch Blitz is the portion of the show she is most looking forward to. After a hymn is guessed correctly, Smalley will play the first stanza on her harp.
A production of One Willard Way also took place last semester during homecoming weekend and “had a great crowd,” according to Gaerte. For Saturday’s show, Gaerte said the participants have tried to “incorporate things that are similar [to the last show]” and he continued, “even if you went last fall at homecoming, you should come to this one because there will be fresh material.” Finney said she hopes to establish the variety show to occur at least once a semester, and she also noted in the future she envisions the show being livestreamed so that alumni and other online viewers can participate. In addition to the performance this Saturday, One Willard Way will take place on the Saturday of graduation weekend in May. This week’s hour long variety show will be at 3 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Recital Hall (CFA) and is free to attend.