Once again, SPOT is coming to the Wesley Chapel stage. Tomorrow at 10 p.m., students, faculty, and staff will take the stage to show off their talents and welcome laughs.
The hosts for this year’s spring show will be juniors Mason Sebian and Silas Philbrik. Their key focus, they report is to provide a heavy dose of humor. “We wanted to bring back the ‘classic’ SPOT feel and tie in as much humor as possible. Life’s too short to take everything too seriously all the time,” Sebian commented. He mentioned that the point of the show will be to take a break from everyday stresses and set aside time to “just be ridiculous.”
Similar to past SPOTs, the acts will consist of both videos and live acts. Sebian mentioned, however, that when judging auditions for this performance, they were intentional about finding acts from a variety of sources. “As far as acts go, we have a combination of videos and live acts mostly following our theme,” he said. “We tried to include ‘representatives’ from all parts of campus, including sports teams, Res Life, as well as faculty and staff.”
He also included a cryptic warning, saying that faculty and staff “have some surprises waiting for them.”
The theme this year is “On the SPOT,” punning on an old term for improv. “Since we were going for the light-hearted feel, we needed some inspiration and stumbled over the old show Whose Line is it Anyway? We pretty much laughed until we cried and couldn’t breathe. I was wheezing…it was wonderful,” Sebian reflected.
For those who are unfamiliar with the show, IMDb sums it up as “an American version of the popular British improvisational comedy show. Host Drew Carey, taking suggestions from the audience, assigns roles and scenarios to the comedian contestants, who must then improvise a skit on the spot.” Further lending itself to use as a SPOT theme, the show typically showcased visiting celebrities, similarly to how Sebian and Philbrick will highlight the talents of their peers.
When asked to reflect on what he was excited for when hosting SPOT, Sebian answered, “Honestly what I’m most looking forward to is the opportunity to allow myself to just be goofy with Silas. We bring out the inner 4-year-old troublemakers in each other and it has been an absolute blast incorporating that into some of our skits and style of hosting.” He added that there may be some form of “uncomfortable-awkwardness” as they go all out with their material, commenting, “I live for those moments and they’re ten times more enjoyable when it’s in front of people.”
Overall, the SPOT hosts expect a fun and funny show. “We figure we’d give everyone a break from their normal stressed-out lives and just be ridiculous-—which we do pretty well both individually and as a team!” Sebian explained. He remarked on how much he appreciated working with his long-time friend on the project and the chance to act ridiculous for the audience’s entertainment. “I love this dude like a brother and being able to be absolutely ridiculous with such a close friend – probably making fools of ourselves at times- will be one of the most important memories I’ll have during my time here at Houghton.”