A big and enthusiastic crowd packed the auditorium on Feb.18th to watch the Harrison Trimble Teachers Variety Show. The was the third of four special events organized by the HTHS 50th Anniversary Committee to commemorate the school’s 50 year milestone. Present were HTHS alumni of all ages – I wouldn’t be surprised if there were Trojans grads on hand to represent all the decades that spanned those 50 years.
Early on we were advised to ‘forget that these people are teaching your kids,’ a jab at the cast featuring many current HTHS staff members. The joke was not lost on me, a proud dad of two HTHS students. My only knowledge of the “TVS” came from listening to them talk about it. The show is performed by the HTHS staff every year for the enjoyment of the students. I know it to be so popular that students would line up well in advance to snag good seats. My daughter tells the grisly tale of how she lost a toenail racing for the front row (wrong day to wear sandals!) This would be my first time to experience the madness for myself, so I laced up my steel-toed boots and sprinted up the aisle.
The Teachers Variety Show is a series of skits, inspired by TV variety shows of yesteryear. You get a broad mix of entertainment; vaudeville style comedy, musical parodies, and classic Saturday Night Live characters recreated on stage. You never know what you’re going to get when the curtain goes up. The performers included many past and present teachers and staff at HTHS, some retirees and some that have gone on to teach at other schools (to quote the announcer) “not nearly as awesome as Trimble!”
The show kicked off with a great opening act, an homage to the Lord of the Dance. It borrowed much of the magic and the style of the worldwide hit production; the other-worldly music, the mysterious costumes, lads with flutes and lasses with candles! Of course The Lord of the Dance is known for its beautiful, graceful dancing…and here too there was dancing (notice ‘beautiful’ and ‘graceful’ have been omitted). I dare anyone not to laugh (except for Michael Flatley, of course!) Click to watch a clip of the opening act.
Within the walls of Trimble the acts that followed are well known standards. My daughter, Grad of 2011, picks out most after only a word or two. I was impressed with the quality of the entertainment, both the comedy numbers and the musical performance by the HTHS house band, “The Pedagogues”.
The audience lapped it all up, cheering especially for Hans and Frans, the two muscle-bound half-brothers that take turns ridiculing the various “girlie-men” in the audience. There were many outstanding performers; two that come to mind are “superstar” Stacey Duff as the irrepressible brat at the Catholic school, and Angus Gourley as Stuart, the annoying lad that gives his doctor fits when he goes for his needle.
What dawned on me as I sat there was what a cherished institution the Teachers Variety Show is. As part of the show the MC’s would comment on each act, saying a few things about its history and when it was first performed. I learned that the TVS has been around a long time! The special anniversary edition promised to re-enact the most popular and endearing skits from throughout the show’s history. People in the audience could recognize the acts from when they went to Trimble. Sometimes as soon as they heard the title they knew what was in store. If the sketch called for audience participation, they knew to cheer or boo or yell something, in perfect timing with the actors on stage!
The turnout on this night, and the enthusiasm of the people in the seats, speaks to the impact the Teachers Variety Show has made on Trimble’s students. What an impression this naughty spectacle makes on kids, to see their teachers up on stage working so hard to make them laugh. “Wow, my teachers aren’t afraid to stand up in front of everyone and make fools of themselves!” It must have done wonders to take the pressure off being a teenager. It would make them feel better about themselves and about being a part of HTHS. What a great way to bring them into the fold, to initiate them and make them feel like they belong. Heck, I cracked up watching Judy Vautour as “The Farmer’s Daughter” and now I feel like a Trojan too!
At the end of the show I’m reminded of that line again -“try to forget they’re teaching your kids!” It implies we shouldn’t trust these folks with the serious job of EDUCATION. But I’m left with the exact opposite conclusion. I’m blown away by the creativity, talent, sharp wits and joyful energy I see on stage. Anyone that can bring some of that into the classroom, I applaud.
For me the show is another piece to a puzzle that first caught my attention back when I first stepped in the school. I was a parent of a grade 8 child about to make that scary leap into high school, and I walked away from that “Welcome To HTHS” night saying, “Wow, this place is awesome!”
Trimble has great school spirit, and it’s obviously been that way for a long time, but where does it come from? Does Trojan Spirit come from the building itself, now proudly 50 years old? Heck no, the spirit comes from the people of HTHS. It comes from the staff, and also from the students and from the parents and from the past Trojans too. And one way you get infected is at the annual institution known as the Teachers Variety Show. So when they line up this year the Grade 9’s might think they’re just here to share a laugh, but actually they’re here to be converted into lifelong Trojans.
Friends of the Trojans 