Welcome back, Wildcats! Fall term has just begun, but preparations for The 87th Waa-Mu Show are already in full swing. We’ve been off to quite a busy start, and we can’t wait to share some exciting updates with you about what we’ve been up to this quarter, and what we have coming up in the near future.
The beginning of the year saw a lot of new and exciting programming for us. Through appearances at events such as the Student Activities Fair, School of Communication Picnic, and Student Theatre Info Night, we were able to raise awareness and garner interest for The Waa-Mu Show among new students. Additionally, we were able to co-host a community barbeque on The Lakefill with our good friends at The Dolphin Show. Our aim for the beginning of the year is always to welcome as many new students as possible into not only the Waa-Mu family, but the larger Northwestern family. We continue to strive to make Waa-Mu as welcoming, warm, and inclusive a place as possible for new students.
Homecoming weekend was another busy but successful adventure for Waa-Mu! We were lucky enough to attend the Student-Alumni Reception on Deering Meadow and perform some Waa-Mu classics at the 50th Reunion ceremony. Additionally, we hosted a Waa-Mu Open House in Norris, where we welcomed alumni and celebrated the long and cherished history of Waa-Mu. It’s always so special to participate in homecoming festivities and sing To The Memories with new and old alumni alike!
We are thrilled to be in our first year offering a Fall musical theatre writing class! This year’s class has been organized as a Student Organized Seminar –meaning students have the opportunity to learn about songwriting and book writing and receive course credit. This class, called Intro to Musical Theatre Writing is led by our fabulous team of Head Writers and a handful of incredible guest lecturers, has been a huge success so far. We’re so excited to see what the future holds for this unique program.
Also, we have new members for this year’s Waa-2! Waa-2 offers an incredibly exciting, performance-oriented way for freshmen to join the Waa-Mu family, and we are so thrilled to welcome these incredibly talented individuals to the team. Keep an eye out, as we’re sure you can expect great things from them during their four years here, both with Waa-Mu and otherwise!
Looking forward, we’re thrilled to be holding interviews for new executive board team members this week. Bringing on new members to our executive team is such an important part of our process, as these new members very quickly become integral parts not only of our board, but of the larger Waa-Mu community. This is a low-key and inclusive process, so everyone who comes to chat with us is guaranteed a spot. This allows us to welcome so many new faces! We can’t wait to see what these individuals bring to our team.
Further down the line, we have applications to the winter writing class. Creating the Musical is the heartbeat of our creative process. We’re hoping to slightly downsize the class size this year (from a whopping 80) which will allow the individuals in the room to more actively and significantly contribute without being overwhelmed. The application process will include some form of submission of materials and an opportunity to have those materials performed. Stay tuned for more details!
Lastly, we are always looking forward to our annual Holiday Party. We love celebrating the holidays with the Waa-Mu family and hearing that delightful Waa-2 holiday medley.
This isn’t the last you’ll hear from us – we are excited to introduce a series of AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) videos, where students, alumni, and community members have the opportunity to anonymously submit questions for the Co-Chairs, which we’ll answer in short videos! To submit a question to the Co-Chairs, Click Here! We hope students will take this opportunity to learn more about Waa-Mu and our goals for this year.
That’s all for now! Stay tuned for more updates.
Much love,
Andrew, Kaja, Max, and Sarah
The 87th Annual Waa-Mu Show Co-Chairs