As an proud alumni of the University of Alabama cast of Alpha Psi Omega, I was bless to have been in the company of many talented people in the field of music, dance, and acting. And Guerrilla theatre was where I had the opportunity to witness 80% of it. For those of you who may be wondering what is Guerrilla theatre, it is a monthly variety show that is post on by The Gamma Gamma cast of Alpha Psi Omega. How it works is you have ten acts, all of whom have ten minutes to perform their sets. the act ranges from musical numbers, comedy skits, poetry, I’ve seen just about everything that can legally be done on stage at Guerrilla theatre. Guerrilla theatre also serves as a launching pad for my venture into Stand-Up comedy, which you’ll see plenty of later. However, these blogs are dedicated to the fellow thespians, singers, poets, musicians and dancers i had the privilege to share the Allen-Bales theater with. These acts are the ones that stick out as the one that have inspired my own ambitions and that thoroughly entertained me. The Inaugural performance I’ve chosen to highlight is one that is special to me personally. It comes from the very first Guerrilla I attended, which was also my first year at Alabama. I remember sneaking in through the back since the show has sold out (as the normally do). Lucky for me I didn’t get caught or ejected. I gradually maneuvered my way to the middle of the house just in time for the last act before intermission.
I’ve never seen the Full Monty, which is where these two songs performed are from, or do I know the plot or the original scores, etc. All i know is that when these seven beautiful women took the middle of the stages and began pantomiming applying makeup in the mirror, I was immediately intrigued. From there they processed to put on one hell of a show. From the tag-teaming vocals to the sexy choreography, the Showstoppers lived up to their. this also marked my first time seeing Gia Asperas and Renee Reinecke, whom despite having one line each managed to leave a lasting impression.
Following that performance, the girls left the stage, and five guys took the stage. They immediately began catcalling the women who’d just vacated to stage. The two that stuck out the most of Thaddeus Fitzpatrick and Bobby Becher, who give us side-splitting takes on what they perceive as “The Goods” in a woman. When one of there buddies, asked the question of the women’s perspective, it’s not look before we learn that they are by no means impressed. They are turned of by their age, height, weight and the alleged “pimples on their asses”. It is then that we all learn the lesson that women can be just as superficial and shallow as men. This performance, as amusing as it was, actually hit home to me personally. A few days, before that I’d met this girl on the Crimson Ride that I’d been eyeing from across the aisles. “Why do you keep staring at me? she asked in clear disgusted. It had only been a year or so ago that it had sunk in that I had Asperger’s syndrome, and that winning over a girls was not one of my strong suites. I was really bugging about why women go through all that trouble to make themselves appealing, only to shoot down the men who make passes at them. Going as far as passing them of as creepers. when in reality said person may just be having hard time conveying his true feeling due to factors like having an autism spectrum disorder. But it was the Showstoppers epic performance that finally got the creative juices flowing in my system. After the show I approached the then APO president about the idea of Ghostwriting scenes for the performers. After this I wrote a story and stage scene that was largely influenced by the “Goods”. While the script has yet to be staged as of this writing, it did ultimately help land spot in “Unscripted” The Theatre of the Oppressed. A program where we tackled social issues and stereotypes through improvisation. As far as Guerrillas were concerned, it was the only one I attended prior to my pledge ship the following year.
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