MAKING HISTORY, INFORMING THE FUTURE
PAST PRESENT Boalt’s Got Talent Students present variety show for the first time in more than a decade
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uite inadvertently, Boalt’s newest students revived one of the school’s most amusing traditions: the variety show. Each fall, the Admissions Office issues a report about the new firstyear class that highlights the students’ varied backgrounds (see page 6). When Travis Wimsett ’14 and some friends read it, a light bulb went on. “We were marveling at all the talent within the class and how many people had done incredible things before coming to law school,” he says. “It seemed a shame that there
was no forum for people to showcase those talents if they wanted to. From there, the idea was born.” Or reborn. On March 13, Boalt delivered its first variety show in more than a decade, before a full house of about 300 people at Booth Auditorium. The show featured 20 acts ranging from music and dance to short film and comedy. “It took many different people stepping into many different roles for this to work,” Wimsett says. “I don’t have a theater background. I can’t sing or act or anything of that nature. My friends say my best talent is instigating, and luckily that’s
Shadows in the night Masha Gershenovich ’14 and her dance partner Arthur Sheyn strike a striking pose.
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what this show needed.” Organizers received administration support from Associate Dean Kathleen Vanden Heuvel ’86 and Archivist Bill Benemann—both of whom were “especially enthusiastic and lent their advice based on talent shows of yore,” says Wimsett. Students handled stage management, program design, event marketing, and—the toughest part—recruiting. “We were careful to brand it a variety show and not a talent show because we didn’t want people to think some amazing degree of talent was required,” Wimsett says. “Our
Bagpipe wiz Sylvia DeTar ’14 wows the capacity crowd.
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