Queen's Players
Encyclopedia
The Queen's Players is a sketch comedy
/improvisation
/rock and roll
troupe that performs at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
in Clark Hall pub, Alfie's pub, and Time To Laugh Comedy Club. It produces three productions every year: one in the fall, one in the winter, and one show in the spring. The shows are cast by and with Queen's University students in a selective process each term.
The winter and fall shows differ from the summer show in various ways. The shows produced in the winter and fall semesters consist of a cast of 10 or 12 students, an even number of male and female characters (usually celebrities), and are each ten or twelve scenes long, following a continuous plot. The summer show is in the form of a sketch comedy show with a smaller cast ranging from seven to nine performers performing various scenes written by the actors themselves. Both formats of the show alternate each scene with a rousing rock, rap, or pop song sung by one of the players and performed by the show's live band.
The first manifestation of the Queen's Players was as the Queen's Drama Guild, established in 1900. Prominent members of the Guild included Lorne Greene
and Robertson Davies
. It was not until the 1980s that the troupe adopted the format that now makes them so popular on the Queen's campus. The shows draw characters from popular culture and has them descend upon the Queen's Campus. Each show is given a witty, often bawdy title that reflects some of the key characters in the show. Furthermore, the shows are marked by their often low-brow, ultra-sexual humour. Most of the audience and the show's cast drink heavily throughout the night; part of the show's appeal is pushing the limits, and the tolerance, of the performers.
The vocal abilities of the Queen's Players and the musical prowess of the band make it a consistent success. The show has proved itself to be the most popular show on campus, often selling each of its eight performances within the morning tickets go on sale. Queen's students have also been known to camp outside Destinations, where the tickets are sold, for several hours or even the night before tickets go on sale.
Every term there are two awards given: The Order of The Gouda, to the cheesiest performer, and The Orca, awarded to the band member who wails the hardest.
Profits from Queen's Players shows go towards local charitable causes, last year raising over $20,000.
Other noteworthy alumni of the QP include Ashleigh Banfield
, Andrew Johnston (comedian), Andy Poole
, Elena Juatco, and the Arrogant Worms.
Recent productions include:
- Gump, Rice, Three Times a Lady Di (Winter 2005)
- I'm Sorry Blanket Jackson, I am for Rita McNeill (Spring 2005)
- The Passion of the Ice: Cruisified (Fall 2005)
- Celebrity Jeopardy (Winter 2006)
- The Chronicles of Sharon, Lois and Batman (Spring 2006)
- As The Wayne's World Turns (Fall 2006)
- McBeal or No Deal (Winter 2007)
- Sesame Street Fighter (Spring 2007)
- An Inconvenient Truth About Clark and Dog (Fall 2007)
- Dial Whoopi For Murder (Winter 2008)
- Jesus Christ Super Star Wars (Spring 2008)
- A Shot at McLovin' With Tila Tequila (Fall 2008)
- Friday: The 13th Nightmare Before Christmas (Winter 2009)
- Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Night Live (Spring 2009)
- Miley... Why So Cyrus? (Fall 2009)
- Bill Nye-lence of the Lamb Chop (Winter 2010)
- Brocean's Eleven (Spring 2010)
- 2012: The Oprah-calypse (Fall 2010)
- One Night In Perez (Winter 2011)
- Enter Pacman (Summer 2011)
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
/improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
/rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
troupe that performs at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
in Clark Hall pub, Alfie's pub, and Time To Laugh Comedy Club. It produces three productions every year: one in the fall, one in the winter, and one show in the spring. The shows are cast by and with Queen's University students in a selective process each term.
The winter and fall shows differ from the summer show in various ways. The shows produced in the winter and fall semesters consist of a cast of 10 or 12 students, an even number of male and female characters (usually celebrities), and are each ten or twelve scenes long, following a continuous plot. The summer show is in the form of a sketch comedy show with a smaller cast ranging from seven to nine performers performing various scenes written by the actors themselves. Both formats of the show alternate each scene with a rousing rock, rap, or pop song sung by one of the players and performed by the show's live band.
The first manifestation of the Queen's Players was as the Queen's Drama Guild, established in 1900. Prominent members of the Guild included Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene , was the stage name of Lyon Himan Green, OC, a Canadian actor.His television roles include Ben Cartwright on the western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the science fiction movie and subsequent TV Series Battlestar Galactica...
and Robertson Davies
Robertson Davies
William Robertson Davies, CC, OOnt, FRSC, FRSL was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself...
. It was not until the 1980s that the troupe adopted the format that now makes them so popular on the Queen's campus. The shows draw characters from popular culture and has them descend upon the Queen's Campus. Each show is given a witty, often bawdy title that reflects some of the key characters in the show. Furthermore, the shows are marked by their often low-brow, ultra-sexual humour. Most of the audience and the show's cast drink heavily throughout the night; part of the show's appeal is pushing the limits, and the tolerance, of the performers.
The vocal abilities of the Queen's Players and the musical prowess of the band make it a consistent success. The show has proved itself to be the most popular show on campus, often selling each of its eight performances within the morning tickets go on sale. Queen's students have also been known to camp outside Destinations, where the tickets are sold, for several hours or even the night before tickets go on sale.
Every term there are two awards given: The Order of The Gouda, to the cheesiest performer, and The Orca, awarded to the band member who wails the hardest.
Profits from Queen's Players shows go towards local charitable causes, last year raising over $20,000.
Other noteworthy alumni of the QP include Ashleigh Banfield
Ashleigh Banfield
Ashleigh Banfield is a Canadian-American journalist who as of 2010 hosts Disorder in the Court, Open Court and Hollywood Heat on Tru TV , where she reports on domestic and pop culture issues...
, Andrew Johnston (comedian), Andy Poole
Andy Poole
Andy Poole is an award winning radio presenter/producer and jazz musician who was born in Montreal, Quebec and raised in Kingston, Ontario. While studying at Queen's University, he appeared frequently in campus productions, including the Queen's Players...
, Elena Juatco, and the Arrogant Worms.
Recent productions include:
- Gump, Rice, Three Times a Lady Di (Winter 2005)
- I'm Sorry Blanket Jackson, I am for Rita McNeill (Spring 2005)
- The Passion of the Ice: Cruisified (Fall 2005)
- Celebrity Jeopardy (Winter 2006)
- The Chronicles of Sharon, Lois and Batman (Spring 2006)
- As The Wayne's World Turns (Fall 2006)
- McBeal or No Deal (Winter 2007)
- Sesame Street Fighter (Spring 2007)
- An Inconvenient Truth About Clark and Dog (Fall 2007)
- Dial Whoopi For Murder (Winter 2008)
- Jesus Christ Super Star Wars (Spring 2008)
- A Shot at McLovin' With Tila Tequila (Fall 2008)
- Friday: The 13th Nightmare Before Christmas (Winter 2009)
- Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Night Live (Spring 2009)
- Miley... Why So Cyrus? (Fall 2009)
- Bill Nye-lence of the Lamb Chop (Winter 2010)
- Brocean's Eleven (Spring 2010)
- 2012: The Oprah-calypse (Fall 2010)
- One Night In Perez (Winter 2011)
- Enter Pacman (Summer 2011)