Kellogg World Alumni Magazine, Summer 2001Kellogg School of Management
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© Nathan Mandell
   

Special K leaves audiences laughing
Sketch comedy revue treats alums, prospective students to Kellogg culture

Call it b-school Broadway.

Kellogg's 22nd annual sketch comedy revue, Special K, brought down the house again this May, with sold-out shows in Evanston and San Francisco. As in previous years, Kellogg students produced an engaging batch of clever send-ups of life at Kellogg. This year's performance -- titled "Who Let the Dean Out?" in honor of Dean Donald Jacobs' retirement -- featured a 12-piece band and full technical staff. More than two dozen students ascended the McCormick Auditorium stage over Reunion Weekend in a surprisingly professional production that took light-hearted jabs at Evanston ("Our Town"), Kaf� Kellogg fare ("K Rations") and a pipe-smoking Harvard case writer ("Infatuation LLC (A)").

The song-and-dance repertoire was especially impressive considering that these performers were also busy earning their MBAs. With no time off from classes to perfect the 21 skits that ran about two hours, actors fired up their laptops and cracked their textbooks during rehearsals while waiting their turn to strut their theatrical stuff.

Special K  
© Nathan Mandell  
   

Audience favorites this year included "Face in the Crowd," which poked fun at students who failed to submit photographs for the school's photo directory and as a result were instead represented by the school's official seal. "If you don't send a photo, you get the logo!" a second-year student explained to a new Kelloggian. "K Rations" took no prisoners in its critique of cafeteria food at Kellogg. Based on a Britney Spears tune, the skit was a well-choreographed romp bemoaning the fate of students whose schedules allow no time for such luxuries as off-campus dining.

Another skit took the Beatles' Paperback Writer" as its inspiration. "Infatuation LLC (A)" spun the romantic saga of a Kellogg student who found herself transported by the academic rigor of a Harvard case writer.

The climax of the performance paid tribute to Dean Jacobs. "Who Let the Dean Out?" considered the possible roles Jacobs might assume in retirement. Suggestions included running for political office, joining the NASA space program or "taking Walter Matthau's place in Grumpy Old Men 3."

Special K
© Nathan Mandell

-- MG

©2001 Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University