For someone who isn’t directly involved with the world of Northwestern theater, the Theatre and Interpretation Center is an odd place. Enter from the west side and you’re surrounded by narrow hallways, the bare, gray concrete floor and the exposed pipes hanging from the ceiling. But from the inanimate structure comes the lively sounds of theater – singing, projected speech and music.

On a Saturday afternoon it’s the metal-sole clap of tap shoes rhythmically hitting the concrete floor outside of the building’s ballroom – preparation for one of the sketches in Waa-Mu’s upcoming 75th anniversary show, Jubilee!, which premieres this weekend at Cahn Auditorium. (The name stands for Womens Athletic Association and the Mens Union, the first two groups to put on the show in 1929).

Sitting on the floor of the ballroom is Communication senior Liz Kimball, one of the show’s co-chairs. She sat down with PLAY during a break in rehearsal to talk about why her life’s been all about Waa-Mu for the past year, and why she’s ready for more than just a nap after the show wraps.

PLAY: You’re one of Waa-Mu’s three co-chairs. What’s the job like?

Liz Kimball: Our job is very much a conglomeration of a bunch of different duties. There’s no position like this in the normal production that’s produced in the real world, because Waa-Mu is a really cool combination of students and faculty working together. There’s a faculty director, and it’s sponsored by the school, but because it’s all student-written and there’s a lot of student choreographers one of our jobs is to serve as a liaison between the student work and the faculty work. So, we have a student executive board – people in charge of publicity, music, choreography and sketch writing – and we run that board and organize those people to work with the professional designers we hire and the director (theatre professor Dominic Massimi). Then the other half is working with Dominic to create the show.

PLAY: What is your schedule like?

LK: Literally you wake up as early as you possibly can, check your e-mail because there’s usually about 75 e-mails a day related to Waa-Mu because it’s the 75th anniversary. There’s so much more going on – the production of the souvenir book, organizing the gala and contacting alumni – aside from just the conception of it. I do Waa-Mu e-mails and phone calls all the time I’m not in class, go to my full schedule of classes, meet with the other co-chairs and Dominic, go to rehearsal for four hours, and meet for two hours every night after rehearsal to take care of a host of things that I have to do.

PLAY: So how long has this been going on for you? You were named co-chair a while ago.

LK: Yeah, last spring. This summer we did a good amount of the show, but starting in the fall – aside from the time I’m in class – I’ve pretty much devoted my life to the show.

PLAY: A lot of really famous people have performed in Waa-Mu in the past – Warren Beatty, Ann Margaret, Paul Lynde. Does any one person stand out to you this year?

LK: The cast is terrific – I can’t name names about who I think is going to be famous. You can’t predict that. Everyone has his or her own talent. It’s a terrific cast; everyone has the potential.

PLAY: Does the fact that it’s the 75th anniversary show affect how busy you are?

LK: I just think there’s a lot more to do than in years past. The role of the Waa-Mu co-chair has always been an incredibly stressful – wonderfully stressful – job. This year I think it’s twice the amount of work because of all of the other activities surrounding the show. It’s not just the show. This year it’s a million other things.

PLAY: Usually Waa-Mu is written by students. That’s different this year.

LK: Other years all of the material is generated by the student writers. This year they created material and we selected it as usual, but we’re only using some of it for the show. Only parts of the show have work from the student composers and sketch writers. We also pulled from shows dating from 1929 – the first show – throughout the 75 years.

PLAY: The show plays for the next two weeks. What are you going to do after it’s done?

LK: Detoxing. Hopefully hibernating by myself for as long as possible.

– Steve Aquino