“I’d be a boron if I didn’t buy you a drink,” says a member of Wittenberg’s stand-up group, Pocket Lint, as she leans into the unsuspecting volunteer from the audience. As the joke lands, the volunteer buries her head into her hands while the student walks triumphantly back to the lineup.
This weekend was the cause of buzz all around campus as student families conglomerated to Wittenberg for the coveted Family Weekend. On Saturday, Wittenberg’s finest groups for the extracurricular performing arts gathered in Post 95 to put on a show for the students and their families.
It began as a quiet evening at crowded tables. Family members squeezed together into chairs in close vicinity and sipped on Wittenberg lattes, teas and one miscellaneous Gatorade. There was talking from the parents, but it was always as if a librarian from their past is waiting to hush them over their shoulders.
The clock struck 8 p.m. and the night’s events begin with Wittenberg’s all-female acappella group Just Eve. As they filed onto the stage, friends and family members let out a few loose “Whoo’s!”
The audience is given a set of four songs. The women payed very special attention to balance and tune throughout their performance making for a very pleasant crowd experience. As they moved into a new song, the girls erupt into a cacophony of snaps to help them keep beat and to add an extra je ne sais quoi.
In the audience, family members tapped their free thumbs against their cheeks and many tapped their feet to the catchy music. Proud friends’ phones flew up to snap and fill Instagram stories when the girls end their set with Lady Gaga’s familiar “Million Reasons.”
As hearts and souls filled the final solos to the brim, Just Eve’s set ends with the true music of the whistles, shouts and vigorous clapping from the women’s families.
But, the shouting doesn’t seem to end as Pocket Lint makes its appearance on stage next. As a member introduces the group, he explains “We are going to be yelling for the next twenty minutes!” and the crowd already falls into their hands.
What ensued is the fantastic organized chaos of any Pocket Lint show.
They began with the familiar game of “Half Life,” which includes a story of about a minute in length, which is then played out in half the time, and then half the time, and then half the time etc…In this case, a story about the construction of a house became a three-second frantic line of one student yelling “CUT IT!” in reference to a two-by-four.
The group then moved to “Pickup Lines,” which required two volunteers from the audience. In the true spirit of Family Weekend, a member shouts out “Preferably somebody’s parents.” Two parents made their way on stage and immediately looked filled with regret as they take their seats. What followed were a series of cheesy and ultimately risqué pickup lines, including a shocker for the audience about Bambi’s mother.
To finish out the evening, Wittmen Crew, Wittenberg’s all-male acappella group clambered on stage to give the audience a set of four songs.
They begin with Portugal. The Man’s “Feel it Still.” Taking the solo on this one was Elijah Runk, ‘19, who performed comfortably to the warmed up crowd.
The chemistry of the group was unbeatable as they seemed to take control of the room with funny exchanges and even a performance of The Year’s Most Memed Song: “Africa” by Toto.
The audience joined in a clap along to finish out the set and as the beatboxer gives out a final “shhhhhhhhhhh,” the audience bursts into applause. Once again proud friends and family shouted out and whistled to their loved ones and Post 95 was filled afresh with a sparkling energy. People have rumored, even as they leave, you could Feel it Still.
