Allen Bales Theatre will open its doors Saturday for the final Guerrilla Theatre of the year as members of Alpha Psi Omega and the audience say goodbye to departing seniors and next year’s hosts are revealed.
The doors open at 10:30 p.m., and there is a $1 suggested donation to get in. It is recommended that audience members arrive early because each Guerrilla this year has been sold out and people have been turned away.
Glenn Halcomb, president of APO and current co-host of Guerrilla, said he is expecting it to be a great show, though he does not know any specifics about the acts as the seniors have kept them secret.
“The audience should expect a lot of tears and a lot of kissing the stage,” he said.
Saturday will mark the last time the 14 departing seniors will perform on this stage.
“They are all so good,” said Searcy Sledge, a freshman majoring in technical theater, who has attended nearly every performance this year. “The new people are good too, but it will just be different. They all put so much passion behind it.”
That passion, Halcomb said, is one of his favorite parts of performing in Guerrilla.
“I care about it so much because it’s such an opportunity for us as artists to present something so personal to an audience, and we don’t get to do that often,” he said.
Having a passion like his plays a big role in getting elected president and vice president of APO and hosting the show. All of the candidates have different things to offer but they are all talented and qualified, Halcomb said.
After APO holds elections this week, the new hosts will be revealed during intermission and immediately take over the show, giving the audience a taste of what the future holds for Guerrilla Theatre.
Halcomb said it will be hard for them to really see how the new hosts will run the show until next year because they usually plan the shows over the summer.
Larry Bowen, associate director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, said the audience should expect a big change, because the new hosts bring something different to the table every year.
Bowen has been going to Guerrilla for about 15 years and said it has grown an incredible amount since he first started going.
Though some years have been better than others, it all depends on the hosts and the acts that are selected, he said.
Bowen said Halcomb has done a great job as co-host, and he has high hopes for the future Guerrilla Theatre because of the talent he has seen this year.
“Every year you see new people, and you just know they are going to be great,” he said.
While the final Guerrilla of the school year is focused on looking towards the future, for the departing seniors and their friends, it is more meaningful than that. It is a time to say goodbye to their theater, their audience and their APO family.
“Their work in Guerrilla and APO has been such an inspiration,” said John Paul Snead, a freshman in APO.
Snead expects Saturday’s performance to be amazing because it is something very personal for all of the seniors to share with members of APO and the audience.
