Photo by Ali Meizels ’23
Donna Van Handle ’74 gives Celia Mulcahey ’21 a toe ring during a “Rings and Roses” parody skit at J-Show.
BY KENNA HURTUK ’23
On Friday, Feb. 14 and Saturday, Feb. 15, students from Mount Holyoke’s class of 2021 put on their annual Junior Show, a comedic series of sketches about the Mount Holyoke community. Commonly known as J-Show, the college tradition dates back to the early 20th century.
This year’s J-Show was written and directed by Gracie Donelly-Fisher ’21 and Lauren Modic-Doyle ’21, who began discussing ideas for the show long before production began.
“We had started writing some of the concepts before we even knew we were writing J-Show,” Donelly-Fisher said.
As president of the class of 2021, Donelly-Fisher worked with the class board to present ideas for students to vote on. Donelly-Fisher and Modic-Doyle then spent weeks scripting, casting and producing the show, combining live skits and video elements.
This year’s production was “Queer Eye”-themed, with a cast of five juniors — Halima Blackman, Celia Mulcahey, Phoebe Murtagh, Maya Reinstein and Jesse Shipman — who acted as members of the “Fab Five” and worked together to make Mount Holyoke more of a “MoHome.”
“The group has been lovely and amazing,” ModicDoyle said. “It’s been so fun to work with them.”
In the show, the “Fab Five” went on a journey through Mount Holyoke’s campus, in which characters learned how to sneak food from the dining hall in a backpack, attempted a hairstyling project with disastrous results and spruced up the dorm room of an untidy ghost.
Footage of Lower Lake’s resident goose, Jorge, engaging in a therapy session elicited bouts of laughter from the audience. Mount Holyoke German professor and alumna Donna Van Handle ’74 even made a guest appearance, presenting Mount Holyoke students with toe rings in a “Rings and Toe-ses” ceremony, a parody of the time-honored “Rings and Roses” ceremony during which students receive their class rings.
Modic-Doyle acknowledged the efforts of the stage crew. “They’re really adaptable and helpful,” they said.
“We bring all these cues and ideas and videos to them, and they have just done such a great job with helping us out,” Donelly-Fisher added.
Donelly-Fisher and Modic-Doyle intentionally created a satirical show, while reflecting positively on members of the community.
“We didn’t want to necessarily contribute to any more negativity,” Modic-Doyle said.
J-Show is an ever-changing event, shifting production responsibilities from the senior class to the juniors and focusing on a new theme each year.
“The tradition of J-Show has evolved so much over the years,” Donelly-Fisher said. “It’s very exciting to be able to see how the tradition has shifted.”