From zombie hordes to workplace romance and psychedelic-induced adventures, Fantasy and Fandoms had it all.
“Each of the main characters gets sorted into a different faculty,” Heather Stonehouse, Chief Writer at the theatre company said “We wanted to link all of the stories together.”
The Faculty, Alumni, Staff, and Students (FASS) theatre company premiered it’s Winter Show “Fantasy & Fandoms” in the Hagey Hall Humanities Theatre on March 14 with a comedy show sporting a massive cast from throughout UW. The variety show touched every corner of UW’s deep and diverse culture.
The show opened with a short parody of the Harry Potter Sorting Hat scene, where the main characters we introduced to the audience, then continued to jump knee-deep into the the individual storylines of each faculty.
These different stories referenced all sorts of well known books and movies such as Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, and Inception, as well as touching on many different aspects of UW culture like a storyline based on of the school-wide “Humans vs Zombies” event.
The writers make an effort to keep the stories related to campus culture, like in the storyline which followed two students who joined a simple co-op ony to create ridiculous startup which gets shut down as they discover the giant underground culture of dating apps at the school.
“We wanted to make fun of silly co-op jobs, co-op culture is really big at UW,” Stonehouse said “And most students are using dating apps… We know you’re doing this.”
The team behind all this at FASS is an amateur theatre company that has steadily produced yearly plays similar to this years Fantasy and Fandoms since its opening variety show in 1962.
“It’s one of the oldest clubs in the University,” Nahleen Antika, Assistant Director said.
The company is always looking for new members, and offers a many roles that volunteers can take part in. FASS produces its entire show from scratch, making their own costumes, props, set design, and writing their own stories. There’s a place for everybody on the team, whether their skills lie in writing, tech, acting, music, or organization.
“Everyone gets involved, everyone’s welcome,” Antika said.
Although the time has passed to watch the 2019 Winter Show, there’s still plenty of time to get involved with next years show.
For more information about the FASS theatre company and how to get involved visit fass.uwaterloo.ca.
