As Uni’s X-Week draws to a close, excitement for the concluding festivities of Big Show grows. As most students know, X-Week is a fundraising event which occurs once a year, near the end of the 2nd semester. Every year, a different charity is chosen by the Executive Student Council, with this year’s funds going towards C-U at Home. The primary contributor of these proceeds is Big Show, which takes place on the final two days of the week. 

Big Show is one of Uni’s most unique fine arts events. In the words of Fing, the head of the theater department, “Big Show is the student production that is done by Student Council, it’s not a fine arts production.” Unlike other shows throughout the year, Big Show is entirely run by the student body. Each year, a student director is chosen to organize and oversee the production of Big Show. The event is a great opportunity for students to collaborate and come together in creating an entertaining production. 

Big Show has always been a highly anticipated event, but this year’s production is even more delightful than shows from prior years. When it was originally started, Big Show was open to acts and performances from all mediums of art. However, in the past few years, Big Show had drifted away from this diverse performance design and become focused on sketch comedy. Fortunately, this year’s Big Show finally returned to its inclusive roots with the implementation of a wide array of new features. 

The reformation of the production is thanks to this year’s student director, Stella Youse. Stella recognized that Big Show was primarily comedy sketches and decided that she wanted to make a few changes for this year’s show. Stella said that she “wanted to be as inclusive with students as I can be” and aimed to “add some other talents involved with [the show]”. Stella found students who were interested in performing and gave them the opportunity to display their talents on the Big Show stage. 

Students who were accustomed to the old Big Show format have no reason to fear, because sketch comedy is still a major part of the production. Stella has arranged this year’s show as “half talent show, half comedy sketches”. Stella took up many responsibilities by accepting the director position, such as creating art for posters, organizing the show program, and distributing acts, but she let Doren Hsiao-Wecksler and Serenity Lilly handle the sketch comedy aspects of the show. This year’s show still includes 8 comedy sketch segments led by a number of students.

All of these new elements were brought together to synthesize a harmonious mixture of music, singing, dancing, and sketch comedy. These new implementations make one of Uni’s best shows even better. Looking ahead to the future, this year’s diversified Big Show sets a wonderful precedent for future productions.