Skule Nite
Skule Nite is a musical revue / comedy / sketch show run entirely by Engineering students at the University of Toronto. It is put on annually at Hart House, and is a professional-level production done entirely by volunteers.
History
The origins of Skule™ Nite can be traced back to the early years of the 20th century. At that time, there was no show as such, but frequently students and professors would perform short skits and musical ensembles at social events during the year. In 1920, the Engineering Society appointed a Stunt Night Committee to bring together all these scattered dramatic efforts into one show. There was so much interest in this idea that it was decided Massey Hall should be rented for the performance. At 8:30pm, on Wednesday, March 2, 1921, a entitled “Ngynyrs in SPaSms” was performed there with overwhelming success. The show contained eleven skits, ranging from "the Toronto Dislocation Commission" to "the Adventures of Chloreen". The show was accompanied by a student band called the "Toike Oikestra". The show was such a success that it was repeated verbatim the following year, with attendance of over 2000.
In 1923, the show was moved to Hart House. At the time, Hart House was only open to male students due to the stipulation of its founder, the Massey Foundation. However, Hart House could be opened to both genders for special events, so in order to “bring the lady friends into the House to enjoy all the facilities that it had to offer,” the Engineering Society organized "Faculty Night", a comprehensive showcase of displays and events put on by engineering students and departments of which the theatrical presentation was only a small part. At the same time, a new format of Skule Nite, combining a variety of theatrical reviews and displays, competitions and dancing, was established, and continued as such for over twenty years. In 1940′s, as the show evolved into the extravagant evening of theatre known today, so much time and effort was being put into production of the theatrical portion of Skule Nite that no time or support was left for the other events. The 'Revue', as it was referred at the time, became Skule Nite.
At the close of World War II, during which Skule Nite had been cancelled once (in 1942) and displaced to the Royal Ontario Museum (in 1944), the show was moved to the fall and for the first time began to have an entire year of production behind it. Every aspect of the show was ramped up and the professionalism of the acting, singing, dancing and effects escalated. This trend continued for twenty years, until attendance at Skule Nite began to drop off in the mid-1960's. As a result, in 1968 the Engineering Society decided to put on a Broadway musical, "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off", in place of Skule Nite. The show flopped and EngSoc was left stuck in debt from the production costs, leading to the cancellation of Skule Nite for the foreseeable future.
Four years later in 1973, as a tribute to the hundredth anniversary of the faculty and the fiftieth anniversary of the show, Skule™ Nite was resurrected, originally intended to be one time only. The success of that show, however, supported by an enthusiastic coterie of enthusiasts of the theatre, has resulted in a unbroken run of theatrical delights since that time. In 2000, the production moved to current format of 5 shows in 4 days.
Skule Nite Directors and Producers
| Year | Director | Producer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-2011 | Mason Lau | Chem 0T8 | Katerina Daginis | Chem 1T1 |
| Chris Tuff (Assistant Director) | Chem 1T0 | |||
| 2009-2010 | Daniel Marquez | Indy 0T8+1 | Katerina Daginis | Chem 1T1 |
| Mason Lau (Assistant Director) | Chem 0T8 | Alvin Ho | Elec 0T9+PEY | |
| 2008-2009 | Kian Marandi | Mech 0T7+2 | Rossana Rodriguez | Indy 1T0+1 |
| Steven Szeto | Indy 0T9 | |||
| 2007-2008 | Jordan Silverman | Mech 0T7 | Steven Szeto | Indy 0T9 |
| 2006-2007 | Chris Peressotti | NΨ 0T1 | Don McAuslan | ? |
| Carolyn Hicks | Civ 0T7+PEY | |||
| 2005-2006 | Leona Smith | MSE 0T? | ? | ? |
| 2004-2005 | Jon Hoss | NΨ 0T4+PEY | Matthew Szeto | Comp 0T3+1 |
| 2003-2004 | Jane Lam | Chem 0T2 | Carrie Smith | NΨ 0T3+PEY |
| Chris Langley (Assistant Director) | NΨ 0T2 | Matthew Szeto | Comp 0T3+1 | |
| 2002-2003 | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 2001-2002 | Mike Wood | ? | Tiffany Conroy | ? |
| 2000-2001 | Chris Langley | NΨ 9T8 | Glenn Hauck | ? |
| 1999-2000 | Aryn Pyke | Elec ?T? | Wilfred Lam | NΨ 0T0 |
| 1998-1999 | Kern Lewin | NΨ 9T7 | Xavier Galvez | Comp 9T9+PEY |
| 1997-1998 | Trevor Mills | NΨ 9T8+PEY | Kristin Hofstee | NΨ 9T8 |
| 1996-1997 | Alex Hatzivassilis | ? | Trevor Mills | NΨ 9T8+PEY |
Skule Nite Cast, Crew, Tech, Miscellaneous
| Year | Cast | Stage Manager | Floor Manager, Stage Crew | Musical Director, Band | Master Carpenters | Building/Painting/ Props/Costumes | Tech | Choreography | Vocal Directors | Videography, Programme/Web | Writers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-2011 | Amanda Bell, Velora Chan, Celine Ko, Scott Orr, Peter Raimondo, Carla Pereira, Daniella Ruggiero, Navid Nourian, Sean Sit, Jonny Sun, Sandra Sousa, Scott Whitty, Nicole Tavares, Chris Sun, Daphne Wong | Peter Goshulak | Peter Wills, Che McWaters, Patrick Oatway, Andrew Barolet, Ryan Mintz, Chunkei Tang, Gordon Tattle | Mark Jeffrey, Alex Ariza, Sal Alberti, Shona Robinson, Jenn Chaskavich, Henry Shi, Richard Medal, Laura Van Staveren, Adam Rosenfield, Emily Golem, Andrew Oldham, Marc Tyndel, Kevin Lam, Ryan Alafriz, Raymond McTaggart, Luke Graves | Marc Dallen, Kevin Vanderwoude | Master Carpenters, stage crew, Tiffany Chan, Garry Carr, Samantha Yang, Anastasia Wickeler, Cyrus Lau, Andrew Jerabek, Adam Fontana, Alessandro Zavatti, Athena Theyers, Kaya Sabag, Melody Schwartz-Narbonne, Catherine Smith, Huda Idrees, Vanessa DiBattista, Laura Serafini, Jessica Lau, Felix Pang | Alex Martins, Misha Stecyk, Ian Liness, Adam Fontana, Ian Parker, Pete Scourboutakos, Melody Schwartz-Narbonne, Laurie Charpentier, Minha Nguyen, Amit Rakhra, Rob Netopilik, Jordan Newnan | Elissa Caccavella, Christopher Sun, Kevin Vidal | Amanda Bell, Peter Raimondo | Rishi Maharaj, Billy Wong, Jonny Sun, Ivan Zdravkovic, Wayne Lin | Jonny Sun, Kevin Vidal, Amanda Bell, Scott Whitty, Peter Raimondo, Mason Lau, Chris Tuff, The Fossils, The Cast |
| 2009-2010 | Amanda Bell, Scott Whitty, Kevin Vidal, Peter Raimondo, Jonny Sun, Chris Sun, Joel Musial, Elissa Caccavella, Nina Mason, Nina Noghrehkar, Hasan Alkabeer, Patricia Nikolski, Chris Tuff, Nga Nguyen, Gabrielle Chapman, Alessandra __ | Riley Monsour | Franz LaZerte, Kevin Vanderwoude, Peter Goshulak, Frank Pagano, Denizcan Karadadas, Addie Denison, Sandra Sousa, Navid Nourian, Nitla Cooke, Zoriana Workun | David Ruggiero, BAND | Marc Dallen, Riley Monsour | Garry Carr, Tiffany Chan, Anastasia Wickeler, Vanessa DiBattista, | Alex Martins, David Clease, Misha Stecyk, Ian Liness, Adam Fontana, John Matienzo, | Elissa Caccavella, Kevin Vidal | David Lee, J-M Erlendson | ? | ? |
| 2008-2009 | Hasan Alkabeer, J-M Erlendson, Mason Lau, Dan Marquez, Velibor Misic, Peter Raimondo, Danial Shidvash, Jonathan Sun, Kevin Vidal, Amanda Bell, Gete Berhe, Elissa Caccavella, Cristina Caruso, Carina Cautillo, Nina Mason, Patricia Nikolski, Nina Noghrehkar, Sarah Ranco |