Five dollars was the entry fee for attending a high school play that was based off the television show Saturday Night Live. Usually on a Saturday night I am at home relaxing and allaying my mind, but how can you experience other types of cultures if you are concerned about your wellbeing all the time? Well you can’t. Entertainment is a universal term used when people express a feeling of being stimulated or are engaged in a less strenuous activity that is regarded as relaxing. My fellow peers sure put on one heck of a play that night, and I immediately lost that tired feeling when I walked out the door that I originally came in a little groggy. A cultural experience doesn’t necessarily have to be a place far away, or performing a different ritual, it can be found in our own high school. Watching people around your same age becoming dilettantes of comedy is definitely an experience, especially for them, but in the meantime it sure was funny.

“We Ain’t Playin 3” was the title of the show. The club that provided the show was the Players. If anything else, the show provoked many questions in my mind, such as what do other countries consider as entertainment? Before having much connection to what was going on outside my home, I usually just played on my computer or watched a movie to unwind after a long day of school or work. But it wasn’t really until after the show that I found what true entertainment was at its core. It is people working with a pertinacious to use comedy effectively , or any other type of performance method to keep the audience engaged enough to understand the basic idea and to forget about life for a while. I considered this a cultural experience because going to events like this was out of the ordinary for me, and I wanted to see what it was like. Throughout the show, I had many questions regarding other cultures past times and what they did on Saturday nights to pass the time. But in the meantime I certainly enjoyed the performance and was astonished at how well these kids performed. In the past I have been to similar plays and skits, but nothing to this level. Even though performed in the small dance room at our school, you could tell these students gave it their all and were prepared to put on a great show. Getting out of your comfort zone is imperative if you want to enjoy the fruits of the world. Especially when you are supporting your friends and fellow classmates in a play they worked so hard on to perform. This thought also brought up another question about entertainment in other cultures. How hard are people willing to work to perform their best and how much does going to plays in other cultures cost? The people on stage that night sure worked hard for absolutely no pay and for juggling around their busy schedules. But why and how did they perform so good? Performing for others is a feat not many of us have, but when there is a great engaging performer/performers, it is hard to beat that kind of entertainment. 

The experience that I encountered that night truly showed me that cultural events can sometimes be fun too. From various acts of singing and dancing, to skits and reenactments, the entire night was filled with joy and laughter as each audience member was glad to be there. Making a cultural experience is all about the creators of the event to have the intention to make it such. As stated by Chuck Palahniuk, “The first step — especially for young people with energy and drive and talent, but not money — the first step to controlling your world is to control your culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.” (Palahniuk). As I saw particularly in this event, it was designed to give an authentic feel of true comedy and entertainment all in one night. But what made this event cultural was the fact that it was a new thing to me. When I used to think of comedy or had a craving to laugh, I would watch a funny movie or look up funny videos on the internet. But after the Players got done performing, those videos and movies could not compare to the real live entertainment. That fact also stirred up more questions in my mind such as how many cultures use comedy as a way of entertainment in their society? There are various types of entertainment, but what makes comedy so great? Comedy gives us all a moment of respite and time to laugh at ourselves or someone who did something humorous. But why do we as humans value it so much? As quoted by Christopher Fry, “Comedy is an escape, not from truth but from despair; a narrow escape into faith.” (Fry). Comedy is able to let us escape from the world sometimes, and without it I don’t see a very happy place on Earth if there are no times at all for comedy.

It is hard in the winter to function on a day to day basis normally, especially doing something that takes you out of your comfort zone. But to be able to appreciate the world around us we must be able to recognize these events and make them a priority to live and experience so we truly understand our culture. All cultures have specific days in which events occur, for instance church is always on Sunday and in America, comedy is Saturday night. But if we never started going to these events they would not exist, so who knows, maybe Monday will become a new cultural day?

Works Cited
Fry, Christopher. "Famous Quotes about Comedy and Comedians." Famous Quotes about Comedy and Comedians. Haythum Khalid, 1998. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
Palahniuk, Chuck. "Culture Quotes." Culture Quotes. Notable Quotes, 20 Nov. 1998. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.