Faculty Follies Returns
Lights, camera and action!
Students entered the Assembly Hall last Friday expecting another speaker or club presentation. Instead, teachers re-enacted Exeter students’ Snapchat and Instagram use in a makeshift “common room,” as part of the traditional Faculty Follies assembly.
After a faculty-produced video featuring the dance talents of various instructors, the infamous band Döömgrinder’s booming rock and roll music swept throughout the audience. The group, lead by Classics Instructor Nicholas Unger, distracted all assembly attendees from their workloads.
Faculty Follies is an assembly event typically hosted biannually, featuring faculty members onstage in skits, videos and performances. As the word “follies” suggests, Mr. Unger described Faculty Follies as an event where “faculty make fools of themselves and bring joy to students.” However, due to a hiatus of the event over the course of the two years past, this event was quite a special surprise.
The Faculty Follies assembly has a rich history that goes back decades. “I can tell you that Faculty Follies happened when I was a student here, in the late ’80s, and I still remember it vividly because the principal at the time, Kendra Stearns O’Donnell, lip synced to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper,” Unger said. “It goes back at least that far, if not further back.”
For the 2019 Faculty Follies, the faculty assembled various original songs, comical video scenes, skit performances and music.
This year, after a brief introduction by English Instructor Tyler Caldwell, the video displayed faculty lip syncing to popular songs. This film included History Instructor Alexa Caldwell, who adopted the role of Amazon’s Alexa and Principal Rawson, who lip synced to the song Roar by Katy Perry dressed in a lion bodysuit.
Caldwell assumed the role of creating and editing the video and explained how he collaborated with other faculty to plan the performance and event. “It is so fun to have the opportunity to interact with other faculty during the creation of the project,” he said. “Especially when we have to try to find a spot on campus where there won’t be any students so the follies will remain a surprise.”
Afterward, faculty performed a humorous skit about students and social media as an opportunity to emphasize the importance of sleep and balance in their schedules, featuring Science Instructor James DiCarlo on the banjo.
Following the skit, Instructors in Spanish Diego Ardura and Pedro Perez-Andreau serenaded the audience with tunes from a ukulele. Soon after, the serene performance was interrupted by an explosive rock concert by Döömgrinder, featuring Unger violently smashing the aforementioned ukulele on a cinder block, marking his reincarnation as Döömgrinder lead Victor Von Doom once again.
Unger described his character as the lead of Döömgrinder. “It’s a pretty well-established character; I’ve done this at least four other times,” he said. “My first time was fifteen years ago. My character’s name is Victor Von Doom, and we’re a death metal band with faux German accents, so it’s kind of a parody of heavy metal bands that are ridiculous and have big hair and funny accents and do crazy things.”
Andreau-Perez praised how both faculty and students alike could enjoy the community-wide energy from the assembly. “Perhaps we should be singing and dancing more,” he said, “I love the time I can spend with my colleagues being a little silly, laughing, and trying to get ready for the students. It is so much fun!”
Physics Instructors Tatiana Waterman, who was part of the skit and video, shared how Faculty Follies was a great tool for bringing students together. “I have stage fright, but this is one good cause for which I am willing to be uncomfortable,” she said. “It breaks a barrier of sorts between faculty and students, without crossing boundary lines.”
Upper Joe Laufer explained that the assembly was an entertaining variation to typical assemblies. “Faculty Follies is a nice break from the usual very intellectual, very rigorous academic assembly,” Laufer said.
Lower Tommy Seidel loved when senior Sam Kim jumped on stage with Döömgrinder and began to play alongside them. “Sam Kim is a living legend now,” Seidel said. “The part where he came up was very hype.”
Overall, the Faculty Follies assembly event served as a nice moment for the school community to bond together, and for students and faculty members to share laughter together, Caldwell reflected. “Seeing the students’ reaction to Faculty Follies—their laughter, their surprise, their excitement—is an incredible experience and a delight for the faculty.”
Lower Chieko Imamura concluded by appreciating the willingness of the faculty to perform and reach out to the students. “It’s a really great thing to remind Exeter students that teachers are not always those people who just give a lot of work.”