With chaotic comedy, sharp Gen Z references, and a soundtrack that slapped, Queen’s Players lit up the stage at their summer show, proving once again that no one roasts pop culture quite like they do.
The floor was lively, packed, and covered in beer as the Queen’s Players (QP) performed the final night of “Work Hard, Players Harder: A Public Sexy Announcement” on July 19 to a riotous crowd in The Mansion’s attic space. The crowded house was exemplative of the thriving social scene the sketch group inhabits and an impressive feat for a student group during Kingston’s summer months.
A mix of musical acts, sketch comedy, and audience participation brought something for everyone. One eccentric scene featured caricatures of pop singer Jack Harlow, influencer Nara
Smith, generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine ChatGPT, and Matilda’s father from Roald Dahl’s 1988 children’s book, Matilda.
The show’s story was hard to follow in some parts, feeling less like a scripted event and more like an impromptu play your cousins put on at Thanksgiving. However, in the chaos was the real magic of QP: The warm feeling of family. The raucous enthusiasm of the Players themselves is tough to capture in print alone, so The Journal sat with a few members to discuss the event.
“The first difference between a summer show and a winter show is that it’s a lot hotter,” Linden Imeson Jorna BFA ‘26, cast member, jokes in an interview with The Journal. “The Mansion does get very warm.” Jorna, a Players alumni, has experience bringing the heat.
“In my first show, I played a cigarette, which was very fun,” they said. Jorna describes QP as “A chance for people to express these creative talents that they’re walking around with. You get to try something new and be a pop star every week.” Interacting with the group’s community is a part of life at Queen’s for Jorna. “You see these people on campus all the time, and you’ve built such a bond with them. You’re always welcome back in that space,” they said.
The emphasis on returning to QP year upon year contributes to this community, as shows sometimes feature alumni twenty or thirty years after their last show. “We love when our alumni come back and bring [their] expertise,” Vice-President of QP, Nick Neokleous, MSc ’26, said in an interview with The Journal.
“[There are] opportunities for [those] who have never been in a role before to take one on, which one of the beautiful parts of the club,” Neokleous adds. Applications for new members open seasonally through the Players’ website, though all members must be 19 or older, to comply with The Mansion’s alcohol license. For those who don’t fancy liquid courage, “We also have juice!” Neokleous said.
Of course, all QP’s proceeds go to charity. Where else can you crack a Molson—or Fruitopia—and feel like an upstanding citizen? Charity applications open in the winter, and anyone can apply.
“We do seek a lot of input from the club and community on where these funds should go,” Neokleous says. “The board will collectively think [of] charities in community and bring them to the annual general meeting. But we also have forms and processes for people to bring forth charities that are important to them,” he says.
“We feel we can be good stewards for the community and also support the values of our club members.”
Collaboration is at the heart of the Players’ creative process. Music Director Edward Haag, ArtSci ’25, kicked things off by choosing the opening numbers in the first week of rehearsals—but from there, the ball started rolling and team efforts built the show’s momentum.
“When we have our first meet and greets, we [play an] MP3 file of all the cuts in the show: how the openers are going to sound for everyone in the crowd,” Haag said in an interview with The Journal. Watching the whole team process the reality of a new production in this moment is Haag’s favourite Players tradition.
“Each group gets to think about how the show is going to start working. Lots of wheels turning. It’s a beautiful moment,” Haag said. At every level, the Players’ experience is full of such moments. For Arielle Penovka, Sci ’26, getting to direct this summer’s show was a highlight in and of itself. “It’s such a rewarding process to sit there and laugh my butt off every week. It’s the best feeling in the world,” Penovka said in an interview with The Journal.
“We’ve got a lot of people who [come] in [having] never performed, and they really overcome fears. In a month [they’re] on stage singing their heart out, being vulnerable and silly,” she said. When asked to summarize QP in a single sentence, all four cast and crew members looked at each other and shared a laugh. “It’s a great show,” Haag says. “Worth the twenty dollars,” Penovka adds.
Tags
comedy, First Year in Focus, Queens Players
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