Acappellafest Overcomes Late-start Rule, Sells Out

Boston College's a cappella groups performed in the annual Acappellafest in front of a packed Robsham Theater on Oct. 15, despite the new mandate that weekend shows taking place in Robsham begin no earlier than 9 p.m.

The rule, which was put into effect this semester, requires that all one-night shows taking place in Robsham Theater on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night begin at 9 p.m or later. This start time is consistent with Nights on the Heights events, which usually start at 9 p.m. as a way to provide alternative late night programs for students.

"We did have concerns, especially because we recognize that this is an attempt to change the drinking culture," said Kelsey Kilponen, director of publicity for the Dynamics and A&S '12. "Until the culture changes, people might not go to our shows if [the shows] coincide with the times they can go out and party."

Karl Bell, assistant director of the Student Programs Office (SPO), was somewhat surprised by this interpretation. "I disagree with that," he said. "It's an effort to increase late night programming. Our hope is to create events with a high demand and help students round out their college experience."

Nevertheless, 9 p.m. on a Friday or Saturday night often is, as Bell said, "prime drinking time." Performance groups expressed concern that attendance for shows would drop significantly because students who might normally attend a show and then go out later in the night would, when forced to choose between one or the other, opt to go out.

But for Acappellafest, the new rule seemed to have no effect on attendance this year. "Despite this time change, we had an incredible turnout," Kilponen said. "They actually had to turn people away at the door because there wasn't any space left." Robsham Theater was filled to its capacity of 591 people, and even though performers were asked to give up their seats to allow for more space for audience members, Bell estimates that about 60 people were turned away.

Though the restriction caused little stir for this particular event, it is likely that it will strike a sour note within the BC community sooner or later.

"There are difficulties on the horizon," Bell said. "We anticipate that as other organizations are alerted, they will want to change the time." He and Kilponen both mentioned that parents, BC faculty, and members of the surrounding neighborhood community who would like to attend weekend shows might not be able to because of the inconvenience a later start time might carry.

Kilponen pointed out another group that will now have to work harder as a result of the new rule: the performers themselves. "The later the shows, the more exhausting it is for us who are giving the show and putting on this performance for everyone else," he said. "It's kind of more of a hassle for us than it is for audience members."

Bell indicated that because this is the first time BC has implemented a restriction of this kind on events, the new rule's effectiveness would be evaluated later on this year.

The BC Heightsmen and Dynamics invited a cappella groups from various Boston-area colleges and universities to participate in a joint performance last Saturday and was allowed to begin at 6:30 p.m. because it was held in Devlin 008, not Robsham, and was therefore exempt from the 9 p.m start rule.