While Spring Sing provides for some students a chance to get public with their art, trading their wares in front of a massive audience, some aspects of the show are more close to home for the rest of us.
Take Company, for example. What was once designated a filler used to kill time between stage setups is now an integral element of the show itself. While still entertaining the crowd as stagehands adjust from full-stage band to solo guitarist/singer setups, these comedic interludes have become a part of Spring Sing that make the event, occurring this Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, so unique to UCLA.
That is where the “close to home” comes in. Starting early in the year, Company members look to their own lives ““ and the school trends around them ““ to come up with their material.
“We start practicing early in the winter, and we list anything that’s gone on over the year at UCLA ““ whether something has changed or is annoying ““ and we try to make each other laugh from there,” said Jim Brandon, a Company member and fourth-year communication studies student.
It is usually clear what sort of topics need to be incorporated into the sketches ““ some events and elements of college life are just too big and too universal to pass on.
“There are certain things we just have to hit, like the USC game, of course. There are other things that are just part of college life, so we have to do them ““ like Facebook,” said Lauren Sill, a Company member and fourth-year psychology student.
Yet sometimes finding ideas is not quite so easy.
“I’ve been forced to think about everything here to come up with material ““ you can only make so many squirrel jokes. Sometimes we find ourselves wandering Bruin Walk, looking at the signs for some inspiration,” Sill said.
And sometimes, the best way to break out of this sort of creative block is to look at one’s own life with an outside eye. With all the varied communities at UCLA, and all the opportunities for caricature, there’s a good chance we’re all part of something worth a laugh. Not only do Company members keep an eye on the public events of the year, but some of them do a little field work too.
“We do research ““ jokes play when they’re true. People don’t realize how much time you spend thinking about this stuff. Sometimes I’ll be out and trying to have a conversation, but I justend up thinking about how to work it into a sketch,” Sill said.
However these ideas come about, developing them and sharing them is the fun part. Students usually write up the material themselves or in writing groups and bring it in to get developed. But for Company, things take on less the feel of a writing workshop and more the feel of friends hanging out.
“Our meetings are mostly (about) administrative things, like figuring out how to order the sketches for the show and how things need to be cut to meet time constraints. We work on the material by hanging out and improvising,” Sill said.
But Company members aren’t the only ones preparing for Spring Sing. Sean Pawling, a singer/guitarist and fourth-year music student, will take his performance at this year’s show as an opportunity to work a bit of abstraction into his music.
“My song is sort of a dialogue in one guy’s head. The first part is about how he really likes some girl, but things are awkward. But then the song settles down into a relaxed rhythm and a second voice comes in, telling the guy to relax. I try to overlap the melody from the beginning and elements later in the song to show the two voices coming together,” Pawling said.
Symbolic twist or no, this is the biggest venue he has faced thus far, as a solo artist at least. But intimidation doesn’t seem to be a problem.
“I love being on stage ““ it’s really exciting to have so many people there, and the sound of the crowd is great. Sometimes it’s easier to play for a thousand people than just one in a room because of how the stage is set up,” Pawling said.
Like many UCLA students who find themselves participating in Spring Sing, Pawling was impressed by the event early on. And, like many Company members, he’s long had an eye on getting involved and doing his part to help develop the event.
“I saw my RA perform freshman year, and I knew this was something I wanted to do. It inspired me to get my music involved, and I thought I could raise the level,” Pawling said.
Raising the comedic level is something Company spends months on before the event.
“Basically, we try to make each other laugh for three months. That’s how we work out ideas ““ and it’s great when an idea works. It’s so gratifying to see the other kids laughing,” Brandon said.
A college sense of humor, however, doesn’t always fly at Spring Sing. While trying to make each other laugh may be the best way to develop material, it’s not always the best way to placate the censors. So members of Company are always weighing, on one hand, the comedic needs of students and the events they demand to be covered, and, on the other hand, the fact that some humor might be construed as insensitive. This is summed up in the maxim, “Don’t piss off the alumni.”
Ultimately, though, all the work pays off.
“Sometimes it’s tough, but I think it’s more genuinely rewarding to come up with something that’s funny without being offensive,” Sill said. “It takes more work and creativity, but being forced to be subtle and make allusions is a good challenge.”