Having been in the BAND (well, Colorguard but virtually the same thing) we had a little freshman initiation ceremony that was actually assisted by our instructors. After marching band finals, we always went to this Italian restaurant on the way home for pizza, etc. and we would gather all the freshman together and make them do various things. For instance, in the past this event has been a Karaoke Contest, "Who's Line is it Anyway?," a simple talent show, "Jeopardy", "Survivor/The Bachelor/Who Wants to Marry the Drum Major?" etc. Also- there is always a wedding of 2 freshmen (usually the boy and girl who win the contest part of it, unless there is an extenuating circumstance like an upperclassman's younger sibling or etc.)
For Colorguard we had this game we played on the freshmen at midnight during our annual 24-hour rehearsal. It was kind of like charades, w/ a chair in the center of the "stage." All the freshmen were herded outside and given various "personas" to act out for the audience (upperclassmen) to guess. The catch- they have to remain on the chair. The other catch- they don't know this, but everyone in the "audience" already knows what is being acted out and is guessing everything BUT the CORRECT answer. Also- the chair is supposed to be visualized as a toilet, so what the person is acting out is, in the mind of the audience, them using the bathroom. (Some particularly funny actions: giving birth, watching fireworks, waiting for a bus that never comes, lifting heavy objects, popcorn popping, etc.)
In the Theater Company we always made the freshmen clean the dressing room counters and bathrooms after closing night...with all the make-up and hairspray caked on it...ew...it was gross!
The upperclassmen also made up this legend of "Ignatius" (supposedly a ghost that haunts the cat-walk) but never really come out and say it. They just talk about "him" all the time and when a freshman asks "who?" they say "you know, Ignatius." and then laugh when the freshman pretends to know who "Ignatius" is. Also- it was always a game to see which senior would be the first to get the little freshman thespians to say that "Shakepearean Play-that-starts-with-an-M-and-rhymes-with-'Seth,'" in front of the director whom would in turn, FREAK OUT because of the supposed curse...
fun times
