Faculty Show brings joy to finals
The Mount Holyoke College Faculty Show returned to an in-person performance for the first time in eight years and emerged as funny as ever.
Students poured into Chapin Auditorium on May 6 and 7 to enjoy the Mount Holyoke College Faculty Show. Faculty members from various College departments came together to put on an unforgettable performance for the student body.
The 2026 Faculty Show took the structure of a four-act play featuring a skit imagining Mount Holyoke taken over by AI. In the production, the professors had to work against the “tech bros” and the AI robots to reclaim the College.
Several faculty members collaborated to write the script, with KC Haydon leading the skit-writing team.
“KC is hilarious and has a great and inclusive sense of humor,” Jackson Matos said.
Haydon, Gary Gillis and Laura Sizer were the main writers, but other faculty members were invited to weigh in.
“Our initial meetings were brainstorming sessions: what’s funny, noteworthy and important about campus life and pop culture right now?” Haydon said. “This year, the impact of AI on teaching and learning was top of mind, so that quickly emerged as a theme for the show.”
Matos also shared that the faculty took a lot of care with the script to ensure the humor would not cross into uncomfortable territory.
“We made sure to have sensitivity reads,” Matos said. “Each group of faculty [was] assigned a skit to read outside of their group to ensure that we were focused on social justice and inclusivity.”
The faculty began working on the script in late February, though recruiting for the performance itself only began at the start of the school year. Everyone involved worked long hours to make sure the show would be a success.
“Since we went eight years without an in-person show, it meant that students — and recent administration — had never seen a Faculty Show, so we all worked hard to have the best show on record,” Matos said.
The Faculty Show is scheduled to take place every four years. However, due to COVID-19, the last in-person show was held in 2018, opening with a “Hamilton” parody that starred Matos as well as faculty Mara Breen and Patricia Brennan. During the pandemic, the faculty put on a virtual show, but they were excited to finally have the performance return to the live stage this year.
This effort paid off, as the students adored the performance.
“It was really amazing to see all of the professors in a more fun environment and having a good time, as well as seeing sides of them that are beyond the classroom that we experience every single day,” Ev Brice ’26 said.
The faculty involved also had a great time with the performance. It gave them an opportunity to spend more time with colleagues in a new environment and discover talents they might not otherwise have seen.
“A backstage highlight for me was how close the cast and crew became over the course of planning, rehearsal and the show,” Matos said. “We shared vulnerability in learning new dances, lines, etc., and created long-lasting connections. This year’s show has become one of my favorite College memories; I will never forget it. That moment is not just generated from a great show but [also from] how it made us all feel.”
The show itself was a great way to end the school year and continue a Mount Holyoke tradition that has been standing for over 100 years.
“I think it says something about our MHC DNA that, for more than 100 years, faculty have made this a priority,” Haydon said. “Even through wars, pandemics, unrest, cultural changes and more, we’ve come together to celebrate MHC with humor and joy. I’m proud and grateful to be part of that legacy.”
