By Alex Ghanem, Crew ’15, Co-Internal Social Chair and Jimmy Lengyel, Cast ’16, External Social Chair
When we are not in class, studying, or working tirelessly to put on consistently high-caliber productions, Mask and Wig likes to be social. We try to stay active within the Penn community by socializing with other groups, while also building brotherhood within our company. Let two of our three social chairs explain how we go about this in this week’s blog post!
Alex Ghanem, Crew ’15, Co-Internal Social Chair
Social events internally are all about bonding, and in Wig that is vitally important. Putting together a production takes intensive teamwork. Without real bonds, working as a group would not nearly be as fun. We started off last semester with our annual BYO at a restaurant in Chinatown. Free Show rehearsals and NSO preparations were starting to pick up, and it was a fun time to catch up on our summers and begin anew. We also have enjoyed supporting several other on-campus groups at their performances, particularly our female counterparts, Bloomers. In addition, this year we tried something new – a Family Weekend BBQ. By inviting our family members to this event, we were able to let them meet the other members of the company with whom we spend so much time. It was a great success and something we will hopefully continue in the future.
Besides planned internal social events, the most significant way by which Wiggers bond is through the treasured social listserv. Sending an email on it grants you instantaneous friends. People are always throwing the ol’ pigskin around, seeing movies with one another, and, of course, chowing down on half-priced burgers on Copa Wednesdays. An awesome aspect of the ‘serv is letting others know about productions and events organized by other clubs you are involved in. We band together and support each other, creating more of that fraternal feeling we value. Wig is family, and internal social is the glue that holds us together.
Jimmy Lengyel, Cast ’16, External Social Chair
Mask and Wig isn’t one of the scenes that people generally rush to when looking for the biggest, baddest party. But during this school year, Wig has carved out a nice niche of the occasional mass rager with mixers and special events sprinkled throughout the calendar. This year, the Club’s external social scene has enjoyed numerous events with sororities such as ZTA and SK, as well as a terrific mixer with our sisters in Bloomers. I believe our events serve a bigger purpose than that of the average fraternity mantra of “eat, drink, sleep, repeat”; we utilize mixers not only to have a good time and meet other people from social groups on campus, but also to promote Wig and the good nature of the men in our company.
This has been proven to work over time, as exemplified by none other than the ever-expanding Fall Show After-Party. Our company has enjoyed positive growth over the last few years due to the hard work laid by the classes before us. Over the last two years, our Fall Show After-Party has pulled a sizable crowd and fostered a great celebration of the tremendous effort of the Mask and Wig Company’s fall productions. This year topped all of our other events. At one of our off-campus houses, via word of mouth and in-show announcements, hundreds of students packed into the house and backyard to enjoy music and other festivities. It was a hectic night, but one that will be remembered as one of our favorite social events of the year.
Now we turn our gaze forward and continue to foster these relationships with groups on-campus throughout the spring, all capped off by Spring Fling and end-of-the-year celebrations. We hope to have secured our place in students’ social lives so that when they look back at their college nights and activities (apart from academics), they will say there is certainly only one Mask and Wig Club.
