By: Ashlee Hall
College Night is the University of Montevallo homecoming tradition that is known and loved by all who have been involved. For over 100 years the two sides of purple and gold have been producing theater productions that are written and directed by students that are a part of each side.
For many, College Night is what draws them to the University of Montevallo. Jenna Hwang is a freshman and when asked what about Montevallo interested her, she answered College Night.
“As someone who was involved in musical theater in high school, when I was looking at different schools I became interested in Montevallo because of their unique homecoming tradition being a musical theater show”, says Hwang.
Student involvement in College Night
Each year two students from each side are elected to be leaders of their side. Along with the leaders, each side has a cabinet where each person has a different role in the production of College Night.
While it is a beloved tradition, it is not often discussed how much work students put into the whole College Night season. Delaney Eaves serves on the Gold Side cabinet as Head Recruitment Chair, Assistant Director of the show and plays a role in the cast of the show.
According to Eaves, once school starts back in January, College Night season is in full swing. Rehearsals start every evening around 6 and can sometimes go until midnight or 1 p.m. as well as rehearsals on the weekends. “College Night is my entire life for almost a whole month” says Eaves.
It is often that students who are involved with the show are also involved in other organizations on campus. Eaves is a member of Chi Omega as well as the Orientation Leader team.
“I can always balance school and extracurriculars but adding College Night to the mix can be hard so I oftentimes have to put all my focus on College Night and school and leave extracurriculars on the back burner” says Eaves.
Hwang is a member of the Purple Side but is not involved with the production of the show. When asked why she said “I admire the leaders of the show and those involved but with school and extracurriculars I do not think that I could add College Night to the mix as a freshman who is still adjusting to college”.
photo courtesy of Eaves, College Night 2021
What makes College Night worth it?
Although a lot of behind the scenes work goes into the century old tradition, there is a reason it is loved by so many and why students devote so much of their time into the show.
“The feeling of being on stage and seeing alumni of the school who were involved in College Night encourage you and congratulate you is the best feeling and makes it all worth it” says Eaves, “when you go out on that stage and perform, do it for the people who did it 40 years ago and wish they could do it one more time”.
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