Following the banquet in the Cadet Mess Hall, the night’s festivities continued at Eisenhower Hall Theatre, where cadets staged a live production in front of an audience. Traditionally known as the 100th Night Show, cadets performed skits they had written and rehearsed that reflected on their past experiences throughout their tenure at the U.S. Military Academy.
In addition, the show consisted of musical performances and a surprise guest appearance from former Dean of the Academic Board, Brig. Gen. Cindy Jebb.
Since 1871, the 100th Night Show allowed cadets, who are 100 days away from graduation, to take a creative, yet humorous take on their four-year experience at the U.S. Military Academy. The performances came with lighthearted, playful jeers at faculty members who left profound impressions, West Point traditions, specific events, predicaments and the typical lifestyle of cadets making their rounds through the academy as they work toward graduation.
This year, the show’s title was named “Firsties Endgame,” with Class of 2022 Cadet Andres Rodriguez serving as director of the production and Joseph Dawson as head writer.
“From my point of view, I really wanted to tell a story. This is our cadet journey. It’s called the 47-month experience for a reason because we’re really going through this experience together and I wanted to take this chance to tell the story of different types of cadets through these caricatures that we invented,” Dawson said. “We married the natural experience of West Point with characters we invented to really give the 100th Night Show a story while also sticking to the comedic aspect that has become traditional of the show.”
Support and publicity for the show varied throughout production. Last semester during the fall, the cadets had their first meeting to jumpstart the process.
In the beginning, they had ample support, but as time progressed, the interest for the show waned. People found themselves busy with other endeavors. Personal projects and academic assignments became the focal point for many as the school year intensified, and eventually, only a handful of members were committed to the production.
Fast forward to December, Rodriguez, Dawson and the rest of the team were nearly done writing the songs and were in the process of finalizing the script. They had planned to cast all the actors and actresses before Christmas Break to make time for a month of rehearsals leading up to 100th Night. However, things didn’t go as planned.
“In January, we really had to scramble a little bit with not only casting but also revising the script because of our limited cast members …” Rodriguez said. “… With COVID-19 and cadets focusing more on their class rank for branching and then with the rise of cyber and aviation branches and all these other aspects that go into what firsties have to deal with, support kind of got lost.”
Despite the setbacks, the team managed to get the show started. The 100th Night Show went off without a hitch as the audience greeted the performances with applause and appreciation. The audience sang musical numbers along with actors and actresses. Laughter filled the room, and surprises left everyone second-guessing what theatrics would follow next.
“This is the penultimate experience before graduation,” Dawson said. “The very fact that you have 100 days until you graduate from West Point and become a second lieutenant in the Army speaks to our experience here. Experiencing 100th Night and knowing I contributed to the event is a great feeling.”
Rodriguez said that working through the production allowed him to reflect on his journey at West Point and believes that the memories at the academy will resonate with him forever.
“Looking back at everything through the 100th Night Show and reliving some of the memories. I feel like I’m going to miss it. I’m going miss the people and getting to know not only all these members, but also the fun and silly experiences we went through,” Rodriguez said. “That’s something I need to tell my kids about later on in my life. So, I feel like this is one of those adventures that you don’t want to end but eventually you just got to move on to the next one.”