Evanston Township High School’s theater department is putting on its 66th production of YAMO, an entirely student-created sketch comedy show.
This year’s theme for the show is “Stage Fright.”
Timothy Herbert, ETHS theater teacher and YAMO director, sees YAMO as a key part of Evanston’s fall traditions.
Herbert says when he talks to ETHS alumni, all they want to talk about is YAMO. And the show is popular beyond the alumni community — tickets for the show sold out a week before performances began.
“It’s kind of been a legacy for us,” he said.
Communication freshman Casey Bond, a former ETHS student who served as a writer and director for his senior YAMO show, said that students spend the first two weeks of the summer creating the show’s plot and brainstorming with all the writers and directors of the show.
Writing materials for auditions, however, starts much earlier. Bond said this process begins in May of the school year before the show.
The cast is divided into four companies — Acting, Impulse, Dance and Unexpected — each of which has its own director.
Bond, who acted in YAMO during his sophomore and junior years, wanted to make sure his company felt like they were included in the theater community that could sometimes be “cliquey.”
Gracie Puricelli, a junior at ETHS, is part of this year’s Dance company and is doing one skit with Unexpected. Puricelli decided to audition again for YAMO after participating last year because she enjoyed being part of its encouraging community.
“We have our little miniature families,” she said.
The impact the show has on student actors and directors goes beyond just being a fun experience: it also influences their future endeavors.
Being a director and writer for the show gave Bond the confidence to try out aspects of theater besides acting. During his first year at Northwestern, he hopes to join a comedy group.
“I never considered myself somebody who could write or direct, and now that’s something that I would totally want to try again,” Bond said.
Some students, however, have criticized the show for lacking diversity in the cast.
“For two years in a row, I’ve been the only Black person on YAMO Dance,” Purcelli said.
She added that no other Black people auditioned for the Dance company this year.
Puricelli views this as an opportunity to do more outreach, and she hopes to encourage more students from all backgrounds to audition for the show.
Herbert echoed this sentiment, saying the ETHS theater department’s goal is to find and feature new voices.
As the show works toward this goal, Puricelli emphasized the influence being part of the 66th production of YAMO has on her.
“It’s an honor because any form of art that’s digital or there’s copies of, it’s special, but it’s not one of a kind,” Puricelli said. “YAMO is special.”
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
