Leading this year’s show are seven hosts and hostesses: senior music major Stephanie Batsel, senior church music major Paul Huenefeld, sophomore music major Joseph Hurst, junior musical theater major Alison Johnson, junior musical theater major Alexis Pace, junior biology major Ryan Strebeck and junior biology major Kiley Wright. These performers say they are working hard to put on a show that will be sure to live up to past shows.
“I’ve done Tiger Tunes with Campus Ministries for the past two years, and I loved every minute I was able to be part of,” Pace said. “I knew I wanted to be a hostess before I graduated and I figured why not try my junior year. There were so many amazing people at the auditions; I honestly didn’t think I would make it.”
As the first exams of the fall approach, the Tiger Tunes hosts and hostesses start to feel the pressures of keeping up their grades while fine-tuning their dances on stage.
“The depth of my over-commitment is only just now setting in,” Batsel said. “I was doing just fine for the first few weeks, but now that the first round of exams are coming around, the extracurriculars are back in full swing and our rehearsals are only getting longer, I’m absolutely feeling spread thin.”
While balancing school work with stage work can cause problems, the hosts and hostesses are still finding participation in the show enjoyable.
“My favorite parts of practicing for Tunes are the moments when the most outrageous dance move or the most beautiful harmony just click,” Batsel said. “It’s fun to see your work pay off.”
Busy schedules, little sleep and long hours of practice can bring strangers together, and that seems to sum up the hard work these performers have put in all semester.
“The best part of Tunes practice is the people,” Johnson said. “Everyone gets along so well and we all love being together.”
The themes for this year’s Tiger Tunes show include Beta Beta as Zookeepers, Campus Ministries as Professors, Chi Delta as Truckers, Chi Rho Phi as Lunch Room Days, Freshmen as Oregon Trail, EEE as Outer Space, Eta Alpha Omega as Newscasters, Kappi Chi as Nerds, and Tri Chi as Real Housewives of Clark County.
This year’s Tunes hosts and hostesses are in the final stretch now that September is half over. The only thing that does not seem to speed up around campus at this time of year are the long hours of practice. But after that, a great show comes from the hosts and hostesses, the clubs and the organizations that put so much work into it.
Picture by Nicole McPhate.
