Junior Allen Kramer and the SING! band rehearse with the Jazz dance crew on Monday, March 3.
Soph-Frosh Script
After revision by Coordinator of Student Affairs (COSA) Lisa Weinwurm and the three SING! coordinators, the Soph-Frosh script was “a shell of what it used to be,” according to sophomore and scriptwriter Wes Schierenbeck.
He described changes such as “Gaymo the Clown” becoming “Robert the Clown” and the word “Uranus” becoming “Venus.” A passage trivializing the differences between Russians and Ukrainians was also removed. He said the revisions altered the ending, removed certain passages and forbade a character from dying.
Schierenbeck said that previous SING!s had not been as censored. “An hour long [show] of dick jokes and I can’t even have a character die?” he said, referring to Soph-Frosh SING! 2005, which had a main character named Dick and featured much sexual humor. The characters in Soph-Frosh SING! 2006 traveled to hell. Russian characters in Soph-Frosh SING! 2007 were drunks throughout the piece.
The COSA and the coordinators review SING! scripts each year, censoring parts that may be considered offensive. Weinwurm said aspects of Schierenbeck’s script were “very provocative and racist.” She said, “There are certain things that are appropriate, and certain things that are not.”
According to Weinwurm, the performances should be appropriate for the entire audience, including siblings and parents. “You never know how people are going to analyze these things,” she said.
Edits are made by the slate, which comprises of the respective SING!’s producers and directors. “Everyone brought a separate perspective,” she said.
In reviewing the scripts, precedents were not taken into account, resulting in some things that were cut that would have been left in past years. “Whatever happened in the past is in the past. We can’t even compare it,” Weinwurm said.
The producers of Soph-Frosh SING! declined to comment.
SING! Tix
For the first time since its inception in 2004, Singtix.com—the Web site of the official SING! ticket vendor—will not be in service.
Senior and Student Union (SU) Chief of Information Technology Serge Lobatch attributed the problem to a lack of students’ identification information available to program the Web site, limited training he received last year and the earlier dates of this year’s performances.
“The information we needed was not given to us,” Lobatch said. He said Assistant Principal Technology Edward Wong was unable to provide him with the data he requested.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Wong said. “The information was available.”
Lobatch’s predecessor, George Tsivin (’07), resigned in protest of the removal of an SU member. According to Lobatch, Tsivin was unable to properly teach him the code.
“George Tsivin agreed to return and administer Singtix because he did not teach me,” Lobatch said.
“Once someone graduates, it’s a lot harder to get in touch with them.”
In the absence of Singtix, tickets were sold in the SU suite. Students lined up after school and paid with checks.
The future of SING! Tix is unclear. “I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen [next year], but I’m 95 percent sure that it’s not going to be what we’ve had in the past,” Lobatch said. “And I’m 95 percent sure it’s not what we had this year.”
Senior SING! Dance Injuries
Following two falls suffered by dancers practicing for Senior SING!, dance moves that could be potentially dangerous were removed.
Senior Sylvia Ko fell while performing hip hop and fractured her skull. She is currently in the hospital.
“We could tell immediately that something was wrong,” Senior SING! Hip Hop co-director Gianfranco Parico said. That particular move was immediately removed from the routine.
Senior Emma Gorin also fell and received a minor injury while dancing swing. The administration removed the more dangerous moves from that dance as well.
“[The dance] is not as exciting, but it’s safer,” Gorin said.
New Haven Price Increase
Ticket prices for Wednesday’s performance of SING! have increased from 10 to 15 dollars.
According to Student Union (SU) President Jamila Ma, the SU had been unsure what last year’s price had been.
“We did remember that New Haven sold out last year,” SU Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth So said.
According to So, the SU decided to make the price 15 dollars “because people would have most likely been willing to pay for it and it was still cheaper than Friday or Saturday.”
All profits from SING! go to the SU. “It’s going back to the students in the end anyway, so why not?” Ma said of the price increase.