Once every two years, Irvington’s Valhalla Theatre fills with students, school staff, and community members for a night of skits, performances, and live music. This biennial tradition, Faculty Follies, is a variety show put on by Irvington staff to raise funds for senior scholarships, and, like the humor and chaos that have characterized it in the past, this year’s show was no different.
Every year’s show has a theme that the participating staff members vote on. This year’s theme was ‘Error 404, Talent Not Found.’ Mr. Mintey, who worked on the creative aspects of the show, participated in skits and put the band together, explained, “Really, it’s like, you can do whatever you want in the show, whether it’s good, bad, or ugly, because it’s called ‘Talent Not Found.’ There are zero expectations.”
This year’s show took place on May 14 and 15, from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. As audience members got settled in, the Follies Band opened with a rendition of “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters,” with Mr. Mintey as the vocalist, Ms. Buehler on the piano, Mr. Anayz on the drums, and Mr. Brown and Sundus Pathan (12) playing the guitar.
Prerecorded video skits played throughout the night, ranging from a music video put together by the visual and performing arts teachers to a montage of school staff smashing their old technology at the back of campus. Other highlights of this year’s show included “Math Sitaare,” a dance performed by Irvington math teachers, and an “Evil Spelling Bee” game show.
Mr. Willer, who served as the show’s emcee, also oversaw the show’s technical aspects and was involved in the main planning team. He first got involved with Faculty Follies in 2008. “It’s changed a lot since then,” he reflected.
Mr. Willer noted that it has been more difficult to get school staff to come together to work on skits and organize the production in light of everyone’s busy schedules, and other events on campus, such as AP testing. “But I’m also really impressed by how our first-year teachers have risen to the occasion and participated, even if they don’t have past experience doing it. They’ve had such great attitudes and have done an amazing job,” he said.
Faculty Follies is a group effort by the participating staff who come together to organize it. Ms. Buehler, who helped coordinate the show’s backstage and recruit participating teachers, said, It is definitely a time commitment. We have a lot of veteran teachers who are always in Follies, and we couldn’t do without them.” They also made efforts to include teachers who were not able to make the show in the videos, so that they still had the chance to participate.
It’s also a chance for staff to show off their talent and come together for a common cause. “The process from start to finish is a little hectic, but it’s a lot of fun because it’s hanging out with your coworkers, just doing stupid, silly stuff,” Mr. Mintey said. “As teachers, we get to be ourselves a little more, more so than what the kids usually see.”
During the second half, departing theatre teacher Mr. Ballin performed the song “We’ll Meet Again,” inviting the audience to sing along. “This is for everyone who’s leaving this year, including me,” he told the crowd.
As the performances wrapped up, the band concluded with a rendition of “99 Red Balloons,” and all the participating staff members were invited back on the stage to take their final bow. The outpour of support from school staff and their students demonstrated another memorable Faculty Follies performance for Irvington’s history books.
