User:Losorantino/sandbox/Bloomers Comedy

Bloomers is the all-women sketch comedy and musical parody troupe at the University of Pennsylvania. Founded in 1978, it was the first female collegiate comedy group in the country, and the first women’s performing arts group in the Ivy League. Bloomers prides itself on being a space for creative minds, and many of its alumnae have gone on to have successful careers in comedy, writing, performing, and producing.

History
The idea for Bloomers came from Penn freshman Joan Harrison ‘81 in the fall of 1977, after she and some friends performed spontaneous comedy in their dormitory hallway. Penn’s undergraduate population was then only around 38% female, and had two exclusively male performing groups--Mask and Wig and the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club. Harrison named the group Bloomers, in honor of Amelia Jenks Bloomer, the suffragette who liberated women from cumbersome bustle skirts by wearing pantaloons—or bloomers. The group quickly picked up speed, recruiting women from across the University and holding weekly writing meetings—open to members and non-members alike—in Houston Hall.

In March 1979 Bloomers premiered its first production, Fruit of the Bloomers, in the Christian Association Auditorium (what is now The Arch). The entire team—cast, tech crew, band and production staff—were all women. Bloomers parodied cultural trends, archetypes at Penn, and took on gender issues of the day through original comedy bits and big musical numbers. The all-female band performed original music before each act and in the musical numbers.

Ten years later, Bloomers increased its output to two original shows a year, and began performing in New York and at alumni events at the Penn Club of New York City. Today, Bloomers continues to attract women to Penn who are interested in comedy, and in its 40 years has launched many writing, performing and producing careers, including Saturday Night Live cast member Vanessa Bayer. However, Bloomers prides itself on being a community for Penn women from all walks of life—Bloomers hail from all parts of the University, including the Engineering School, the Wharton School, and the Nursing school. Bloomers alumnae are called “Girdles”.

Organization
Today Bloomers is split into six sections: Cast, Writing, Tech, Costumes, Band, and Business. To attract new members, early every Fall semester Bloomers performs a free show, and later holds auditions for all sections. Writing and Cast generate the show material during the first few weeks of each semester. As Cast begins rehearsals, Tech designs and builds a set, Costumes designs and pulls costumes for all sketches, Business works to advertise the show, and Band creates a setlist to both accompany the Cast and perform individual fills between sketches.

Current Leadership:
Chairwoman: Meghana Jayam Cast Director: Gena Basha Head Writer: Claire Schmidt Business Manager: Lily Zirlin Band Director: Becca Lambright Costumes Director: Emily Rush Tech Director: Scheherbano Rafay

Free Show:
At the beginning of each school year, Bloomers hosts a free show consisting of some of the best bits from recent shows. This show kicks off the fall audition process and brings in new talent for the group.

Fall and Spring Shows
Bloomers performs one original production each semester. Each production consists of some 15 sketches, with a multi-act “feature” running throughout and the Bloomers band performing between sketches. The name of the show is usually reflected in the feature’s theme.

LaughtHERfest
As a leading incubator of comedy by women, Bloomers wanted to reach out to other women in comedy. In 2015, Bloomers started producing a festival honoring women in comedy. The first LaughtHERfest featured Bloomers alumna Vanessa Bayer, comedian Aparna Nancherla, and The Daily Show contributor Michelle Wolf. Performances from several stand-up and sketch groups from around the country rounded out the program.

Following LaughtHERfests have included performances from:
 * 2016: Eliza Skinner, Emily Maya Mills, Marlena Rodriguez
 * 2017: Aparna Nancherla, Emmy Blotnick, Marcia Belsky

LaughtHERfest also features performances from collegiate sketch and stand-up groups from schools like NYU, Columbia, Brown, Emerson, as well as Penn’s stand up collective Simply Chaos. Bloomers has continued to produce LaughtHERfest annually, and it has grown to include comedy workshops and panels in addition to performances from established female comedians.

Tour
Bloomers regularly goes on tour in the Spring Semester, performing the best sketches from Bloomers shows in the past several years. Bloomers has toured recently in New York and Washington D.C.

Past Bloomers Productions

 * 1979: Fruit of the Bloomers
 * 1980: Late Bloomers
 * 1981: Attention, Shoppers!
 * 1982: Rhapsody in Bloomers
 * 1983: All Nonsense
 * 1984: Please Don’t Eat the Bloomers
 * 1985: The Baby Bloomer Edition
 * 1986: What’s All the HullaBaloomers?
 * 1987: We’re Having a Parody
 * 1988: It’s Always Funny Til Someone Loses Her Bloomers
 * 1989: Where’s Your Sense of Bloomers?
 * Spring 1990: Turn the Other Cheek
 * Fall 1990: Bloomers’ Greatest Hits
 * Spring 1991: Good Til the Last Drop…Dead
 * Spring 1992: Cheese & Wisecracks
 * Fall 1992: C’mon Baby, Light My Satire
 * Spring 1993: Humorous Maximus
 * Spring 1994: You Tarzan, We Insane!
 * Fall 1994: Lunachicks
 * Spring 1995: A Mid-Semester Night’s Comedy
 * Fall 1996: Shocktober-Jest
 * Spring 1997: Dominotrix
 * Spring 1998: Ofeelya
 * Spring 1999: Lafftonsa
 * Fall 1999: Ha-Ha Sisterhood
 * Fall 1999: Herstory!
 * Fall 2000: Gag Me With a Spoon
 * Spring 2000: Sex and the Witty
 * Spring 2001: Bloomers or Briefs
 * Fall 2001: The Good, The Bad and The Funny
 * Spring 2002: Laughs Be a Lady
 * Fall 2002: My Small Thin WASP Wedding
 * Spring 2003: Et Tu Bloome?
 * Fall 2003: The Hair Down There: Puberty Rocks!
 * Spring 2004: Bloomers of the Caribbean
 * Fall 2004: Disco Fever: That Burning Sensation!
 * Spring 2005: Tit for Tut
 * Fall 2005: I Know Who You Did Last Semester
 * Spring 2006: Pun, Forrest, Pun
 * Fall 2006: Family Feudalism
 * Spring 2007: Bloomers Went to Florida & All They Got was this Lousy Title
 * Fall 2007: The Road to Prohibition: Speakeasy fo’ Sheezy
 * Spring 2008: The XXX Files
 * Fall 2008: Barbie Shows Her Bloomers
 * Spring 2009: O Bloomer, Where Art Thou
 * Fall 2009: The Godmother
 * Spring 2010: The Sound and the Furry: A Bloomers Tail
 * Fall 2010: Little Shop of Whores
 * Spring 2011: Hot Cross Nuns: Old Habits Die Hard
 * Fall 2011: GoopleFace
 * Spring 2012: A Chuckle in Time
 * Fall 2012: The International Affair: A Dramatic Nomadic Adventure
 * Spring 2013: The Bad, the Bad and the Bad
 * Fall 2013: Law & Disorder: Special Bloomers Unit
 * Spring 2014: Snowpocalypse Now
 * Fall 2014: Saving Bloomerica
 * Spring 2015: Ship Happens
 * Fall 2015: Bloomers Offline: The Dark Web Rises
 * Spring 2016: Continuous: Real Women, Fake Stories
 * Fall 2016: Joust Kidding
 * Spring 2017: Wet Hot Superhero Summer
 * Fall 2017: To Bloom It May Concern
 * Spring 2018: Shakespeare In Bloom