Erik Ebsen

Never heard of Capers? It’s an SDSU production that takes great moments from popular culture and plays off them, imparting new twists that SDSU students can appreciate. In short, Capers is one great big parody.

The yearly show includes skits, dance routines and music, put together entirely by students. They write, choreograph, design set props and manage the sound and lights. Alpha Psi Omega, the theatre fraternity on campus, directs the project. While a serious amount of work goes into the production, serious is the last word audience members think of when watching it.

“If you value your life, come and see it ? This is the best year ever,” said electrical engineering technology major Ryan Haggerty. “It’s a deep, philosophical experience and a journey of self discovery.”

This year’s theme is “Capers Gives the Golden Jack” and the show parodies television awards shows, popular music, movies and celebrities. Innuendos and just-dirty-enough language abound. Appearances include a short, furry-footed fellow bearing a ring, and a certain well-known pair of magicians widely known for including tigers in their act.

Students will also get renditions of familiar names from around campus, such as SDSU’s current president, Peggy Miller. UPD gets a poke or two as well.

APO wants students to understand that Capers is a show for everybody, by everybody. Fraternity President Carrie Brinker calls Capers “a good way to get to know people outside your major.”

Capers’ atmosphere seems to draw people from all over campus. In fact, most of the 152 students involved in Capers aren’t even theatre students. Freshman business economics major Marcel Thielke is a native of Berlin, Germany. Marcel attended his junior year of high school in Rutland, about thirty miles southwest of Brookings there, he heard of SDSU. Later, he discovered Capers.

“I saw the DVD (of Capers) in Germany, and I was like; I want to be in this.” In a city the size of Berlin, Marcel says he was only “one of many,” but here he feels more an individual.

The show kicks off 8 p.m. on February 1 and will continue until Feb. 4. Saturday will also feature a 2 p.m. matinee. Tickets for Capers can be purchased at the Doner auditorium ticket office in the administration building.

#1.884750:1677501625.jpg:capers03_tc.jpg:Nolan Hays boogies with partner during a Capers performance.:Ty Carlson