STROLLERS: Sweet Victory

Although past legal issues did not follow them to Yankton, neither did the expected audience numbers for the 2009 Strollers show.

The show took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Dakota Theatre in downtown Yankton. Two winning trophies were given this year and the Independent cast received first place. Second place was given to the cast of Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta and Beta Theta Pi.

Strollers President senior Steve Cotton said the total attendance for the show’s three nights was about 1,015 in the 590-seat Dakota Theatre. Last year, he said the total attendance for the two nights of the show was about 1,800 to 2,200 in the 2,000-seat Slagle Hall. He said even though the attendance for Friday night was lower than expected, he was pleased with the crowd size, given the circumstances.

Local law enforcement did not encounter complications from the Strollers show. Sergeant Tony Melaragno with the South Dakota Highway Patrol said extra patrolmen were on Highway 50 between Vermillion and Yankton the three nights of the show, but they did not see any traffic violations from the travelers on the highway those nights.

“We like to think our extra enforcement made an impact. We just wanted no one to get hurt and no property damage. We didn’t have any problems at all,” Melaragno said.

Jerry Hisek, assistant chief of police with the Yankton Police Department, said his department also had no trouble with the Strollers show and nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

Cotton said the security team he hired was in place during the show’s performances and aside from a few warnings to noisy audience members, the team didn’t report any serious disruptions.

Chuck Lambertz, executive director of the Lewis and Clark Theatre Company at the Dakota Theatre, said he enjoyed the Strollers show as much as the audience and he would welcome the Strollers to the theater anytime.    

“It was a fun week. We’re very pleased. If it came up again, you bet, we’d be happy to have (the Strollers) back,” Lambertz said.

Cotton said the total dollar amount from the ticket and merchandise sales has not yet been calculated, but whatever the amount is, it will all be used for various expenditures.

“There’s always quite a bit of money there, but it’s all got to go back out to pay the people that we incurred debts with. There’s never a ton of profit, especially this year with the down crowds, but I think we’ll be all right,” Cotton said.

Revenue from the show will help pay for tuxedo rentals, the casts’ budgets, the venue rental and other expenses, Cotton said.

School buses were provided as an alternative mode of transportation by B-J School Buses Inc. in Scotland, S.D. and paid for by USD’s President James Abbott’s office. Acting Dean of Students Kirsten Compary said the five buses that ran Friday and Saturday night cost the president’s office about $2,600. Compary rode the buses herself on Friday and Saturday and said the rides went well, even though about half of the students that signed up for the rides did not show up.

“The cost was what was expected. The buses weren’t as utilized as we’d hoped for, but students that wanted safe transportation to and from the show used them. The president was interested in making sure students got to go to the show in safety,” Compary said. 

Senior Brit Ronning said she thought the free buses were beneficial to the students and to the show and helped students travel to Yankton.

“I think without the buses, they would have (complained). But with the buses, I really don’t think it’s a big deal at all,” Ronning said.

Sophomore Kyle Schoenfelder, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, rode one of the buses to the show and said it was very convenient for students that wanted to see the show, but did not want to drive to Yankton.

“I think it was pretty generous of President Abbott to spend money on the buses. It kept students safe and made sure no one did anything stupid,” Schoenfelder said.     

Director of the Independent cast junior Sarah Permann said the show has been in the works since November and the cast is proud of its performance and is glad their hard work paid off.  She said this year is the Independent’s first win since 2002.

“To come back from some pretty bad shows in the past to winning just feels amazing. There are no words at all to describe how we all feel,” Permann said.

The win for the Independents this year, Permann said, will make them better contenders for the years to come and will also make this performance a model for a winning show.

“I think by winning this year, it kind of made everyone realize that (the Independents) can win and gave us a little more respect. I think other directors will really look back and say ‘What did they do to win and what can we do to win?’” Permann said.

Sophomore David Hernandez, director of the Phi Delta Theta, Pi Kappa Alpha and Alpha Phi cast, said winning trophies isn’t what Strollers is about and the fun part for him is meeting new people.

“I really love the people. I just really like how you spend so much time with these people that you form a really good friendship in a short amount of time,” Hernandez said. 

Independent sophomore Tara McNeely said she joined Strollers because she loves performing and meeting new people. After her experience this year, she said she is eager to continue performing in Strollers for as long as she can.

“I met so many new people and I’m going hang out with them today and tomorrow and every single day. Now that we’ve won, it’s amazing. It was the best day of my life,” McNeely said.

Wagner resident Carol Kaberna said she, along with some of her friends, traveled an hour to see the show on Thursday night to try something different. Kaberna said she has been to several Strollers shows in the past and she thinks the cleaned-up show is more enjoyable and necessary if the show wants to attract the general public.

Kaberna also said she enjoyed the show and the Independent cast’s performance. She said Strollers is a part of USD and should be allowed to perform for many years to come.

“I think it’s a tradition and with some guidelines, I don’t see why they can’t let the show continue,” Kaberna said.

The show struck a positive chord with Schoenfelder and he said the casts performed well considering the location change.

“Since it wasn’t in Slagle, it felt weird, but I think they did a really good job with the different stage,” Schoenfelder said.

Overall, Cotton said he thought the show flowed very well and the only things he would change are the smaller venue and the limited number of tickets available.

“Everything, as far as the show is concerned, went off without a hitch. I think the casts are all pleased and everyone who saw the show are pleased with it,” Cotton said.

Reach reporter Deanna Johnson at Deanna.Johnson@usd.edu.

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