With the first semester of the year coming to a close, a favorite Campo tradition has been noticeably absent. Campo Night Live (CNL), a decade long tradition modelled after the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, has been postponed for the time being, with a hope of a performance in the spring semester.
While production has yet to begin, senior and veteran drama student Cassidy Mintz is optimistic about CNL’s prospects for the spring: “The only thing that we are really lacking right now is a teacher advisor.” Mintz, who is one of the co-directors of CNL this year, added, “We’re really just on a hunt for any and everybody that would be willing to supervise some of our rehearsals.”
With former drama teacher Chris McNevin taking a step down from the role, and current drama teacher Melissa Martinez unable to supervise rehearsals, students are missing a key component of hosting their performance.
Senior and co-director Molly O’Riordan was disheartened by not being able to fully continue the tradition. “We had a lot of people this year who came up to us and wanted to be in [CNL]…it’s just unfortunate.”
While ideas of a spring performance have been discussed, O’Riordan still has reservations. “They’ve told us that we can push it off to spring, but it seems a little bit difficult, judging how the musical will be in full force.” Alongside the annual Campo musical, O’Riordan mentions how Campo’s “band will be doing all of their major performances…so we won’t have stage time.”
“[While] there’s not a lot of support, there’s a lot of people who want to do it,” reflected senior and co-director Emma Hudak. For a tradition that’s lasted well over a decade, current members are feeling disappointed at the lack of urgency from school administrators and faculty.
Overall, logistics seems to be the biggest challenge, but compared to the students’ willingness to put in the hard work and successfully keep the program running, there will still be high expectations ahead. “There’s a lot of community that comes from the production,” said Hudak. “When I was a freshman, it was really special for me, because I found a community.”
*The staff at The Campo Claw will update this story with new information as the progress of CNL changes. Any questions can be directed towards [email protected].
