I’m not exaggerating when I say I was scared to death when I first stepped onto campus for my first days of freshman year. I was afraid that nothing could match what I had during the past four years—I was so involved in my community and had such a tight-knit group of friends.
Specifically, when I came to college, I was afraid I wouldn’t find a group that could be my creative outlet. All throughout my childhood, I was a part of a theatre company at a children’s theatre in my community, and it was my second home. Leaving the Children’s Theatre of Western Springs was extremely hard—I was convinced that I would never find a group like that again because it was such a special, unique group.
Boy, was I wrong. A couple of weeks after getting settled into my life as a college student, I decided to go to the activities fair to see if I could find a group that could maybe replace the vacancy leaving my theatre company had left.
I was doubtful.
At the fair, there were some clubs that looked interesting, but none that really sparked my interest. That is, until I stumbled upon a group called the Lilting Banshees Comedy Troupe. I had heard about the Banshees before and had always considered auditioning when I came to Wake.
Long story short, I auditioned for the Banshees and ended up making it in—although I really never thought I would. Auditioning for this troupe has been the best decision I’ve ever made since coming to Wake Forest. I have found my new “creative outlet,” a place where I can truly be myself while creating content and jokes to make our Wake Forest peers laugh.
Basically, what we do in Banshees is write sketch comedy, much like what SNL does, in order to put on two to four shows a year. We meet three times a week to pitch ideas and write sketches, and it’s a blast. Everyone in the troupe brings something different to the table, and that translates into the diverse comedy that we put up on stage every semester for our peers.
Laughing and making jokes with my Banshees is my favorite thing—it keeps me going during a stressful week. As my philosophy text book said, “When we laugh at the same thing, that is a very special occasion. That we do it together is the satisfaction of a deep human longing, the realization of a desperate hope. It is the hope that we are enough like one another to sense one another, to be able to live together” (Ted Cohen, "Jokes are Conditional").
I truly believe my college experience would not be the same without the Banshees. Sure, I’m involved in other things on campus, but nothing compares to the family that you instantly become a part of on your first day of being a Banshee.
If you want to see this family at work and see the jokes we write, come see our show: Pants Down X at 8 or 10 p.m. on April 13th in Brendle Recital Hall!
