In strengthening community among students within the College of Music and Dramatic Arts, the University Theatre Alliance club presents the first Assassins game of the school year to encourage competitiveness and recreation amidst the chaos of post-midterm stress.
The UTA fosters student involvement through multiple mediums, such as book clubs, informational meetings and workshops. While the club does hold a focus on emboldening networking opportunities within these activities, it is also a chance for students to take a breath of fresh air from the stress of classes and their overall workload.
Junior theatre major and UTA President Hunter Sparacino said that he started as an undergraduate student representative in the club before making his way up to the president position. He mentioned that Assassins used to be a club tradition years ago, and he decided to bring it back this past semester because of how it allows people from different artistic backgrounds to come together.
“Everything is so interconnected, yet we’re all so busy doing different things on a day-to-day basis,” explained Sparacino. “To have a kind of event like Assassins where we’re all playing this kind of game together, I think it just gives a good general sense of community.”
Assassins is quite explanatory in its name; everyone is an assassin. Typically, all players start out with a water gun, and the game host tells each person who their target is. For as long as the game lasts, players must spend that time either watching their backs or hunting their target. If a player manages to hit their target, they are given a new one to find; if one is hit with the water gun, they are eliminated.
To get even more attuned with the Halloween season, Sparacino placed an infected-like twist on the typical Assassins game. Two players start out as the zombies, wearing a green bandana around their arm, and the remaining players are the survivors, adorning a red bandana instead. With this twist, no one is eliminated–rather, they just switch teams once infected.
Another new feature to the game will be the addition of a cure for any zombies, whether they are the original two or the slain survivors. The cure will be hidden around spots in the MDA building, and whichever team has the most players by the end of the week wins.
Sparacino goes even further to build community within the MDA space. By hosting games like Assassins and other engaging extracurricular activities, UTA allows for students to go beyond the more general and already offered ideas of the College of MDA, like improv or musical theatre.
“We can make things happen in general. So overall, it’s important to me because it’s an outlet for people to have fun and to do things that they want to do that aren’t available in other places,” said Sparacino. “And with that comes what I mentioned before, the kind of community building and just general unity that I would like to see in the MDA.”
Senior Ethan Hood, the treasurer of the UTA, believes that the club opens up opportunities to meet other members of the theatre community at LSU. This applies to Assassins as well, according to Hood.
Hood’s favorite part of UTA’s Assassins is being sneaky because it is hard to do so in such a tight-knit community. He said that the cohabitation of everyone made it even more difficult to get the drop on people.
He believes that the UTA is also important for anyone who is just stepping into the theater space and they don’t know where to start.
“I think theatre is a good medium to watch art and participate in it,” Hood said. “And so I say come to a book club meeting and see what you’re interested in.”
Hood is not alone in his belief that the UTA is a good introduction to theatre as a whole.
“UTA itself feels like the concept of it is acting as a central hub for sort of the whole community in a way, especially for new people,” said Hunter Nastasi, senior arts administration major and secretary of UTA. “It feels like a really great way to introduce new people to the entire stratosphere of theatre.”
Nastasi participated in UTA’s Assassins this past semester, and he emphasized the intensity of the game. He explained how when stepping into the MDA building (the “danger zone”) he had to be on his toes; he would constantly look behind his back while also searching for his own target.
Despite the constant anxiety and having to watch his back every second, Nastasi said it was fun to have something to do in between classes. It gave him something to look forward to when coming to school, and the mystery of not knowing who to trust only added to the excitement.
“Last time we played, my friend DJ was one of my targets. And, like, I remember I had to basically chase them around the entire building at one point just to get them,” said Nastasi.
Nastasi goes on to talk about how games within the UTA, such as Assassins, promote more people to hang out with each other, and he thinks it is a great way to start networking and for someone trying to become more known with the LSU theater circle.
Going beyond this great sense of community building, Nastasi wants people to know one more thing.
“I will win this year. I swear.”
