Queen's Players

The Queen's Players is a sketch comedy/improvisation/rock and roll troupe that performs at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. It produces three productions every year: one in the fall, one in the winter, and one show in the summer. The shows are cast by and with Queen's University students in a selective process each term.

Seasonal shows

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 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.

History

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 its current format. 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, and often includes low-brow, ultra-sexual humour.

Other noteworthy alumni of the QP include Laura Bertram, Ashleigh Banfield, Andrew Johnston, Andy Poole, Carly Heffernan, Elena Juatco, and the Arrogant Worms.

Reception

The show has proved itself to be the most popular show on campus, often selling out each of its eight performances within the morning tickets go on sale. When the show was still at Clark Hall Pub, Queen's students were known to camp outside Destinations (Now Tricolour) for several hours or even the night before tickets go on sale.

The Queen's Players band is referred to as "The Bod Squad," "Twisted Mister," or "RadioSled," mainly because of the glowing and impressive collective physique shown to audience members as guitar players declare "Tarps Off" before the last act of the show. At this point, all members of the band take their shirts off. A recent development in this is the phrase "Shibi," which loosely translates to "Tarps off-Beers in."

Awards

Every term there are 3 awards given: The Order of The Diarrhea, to the production team member that really knows their sh*t, 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.

Recent productions
  • 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)
  • Never Say Neverland Ranch (Fall 2011)
  • 'Til Death Star Do Us Part (Winter 2012)
  • HBOMG (Summer 2012)
  • 00-Bama: Quantum of SOLUS (Fall 2012)
  • The Wood, The Chad, And The Fugly (Winter 2013)
  • Criss Angels and Demons (Summer 2013)
  • Call of Judy: Modern Daycare (Fall 2013)
  • Willy Wonka and the Methly-Hallows (Winter 2014)
  • Carpe Dora: iSeas the Day (Fall 2014)
  • LandLorde of the Rings: The Princess Towers (Winter 2015)
  • Lil' Bo Pimp My Rhyme (Summer 2015)
  • The Big Bad Wolf of Deck the Hall Street (Fall 2015)
  • The Incredible Sound of Wet Hot America (Winter 2016)
  • Crack To The Future: The Wolfe Island Fieri (Summer 2016)
  • Orange Is The New Outback (Fall 2016)
  • Scooby Doo! Wherefore Art Thou? (Winter 2017)
  • Networks and Chill: Vimeo Killed The Radio Star (Summer 2017)
  • Superbad High and the Unbreakable New Groove (Fall 2017)
  • Pageants of the Caribbean: Curse of the Yellow Brick Road (Winter 2018)
  • Poonanji: Welcome to the GameStop (Summer 2018)
  • Beachelor in Paradise: Lost on the Long iLand Shore (Fall 2018)
  • Mars One Hundred and Four Days of Summer Neighcation (Winter 2019)
  • Something's Offscars: I'd Like to Spank the Academy (Summer 2019)
  • Heaven and Ellen: Live From New York It's One Less Lonely Gorl (Fall 2019)
  • The Tonight Showhemian Rhapsody: An EVEin' Wif The Big Fab Woolf (Winter 2020)

References
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