On Friday, Feb. 11, the Skyline Theatre Club held a Valentine’s Day-themed auction, making over $430 in a little over an hour.
The club gained support from Skyline College President Regina Stanback Stroud and Student Body President Ray Parenti-Kurttila. Stanback Stroud attended the event and registered to bid, while Parenti-Kurttila acted as master of ceremonies. The event was coordinated by club officers.
Various club members were auctioned off one by one on a roll-out stage; each bid started at $5 and increased in increments of $1. Students could register to bid for a fee of $1. The event was scheduled for 1 p.m., and the floor opened at 1:15 p.m.
Theatre Club Treasurer Emma Fuchs, who helped to promote and coordinate the event as well as hand make the sashes worn by the club members, came up with the idea for an auction.
“It just came to me,” Fuchs said. “We’re performers, so what better way to get people to come and see us than to perform.”
Fuchs said that each student who bought a Theatre Club member gets to take him or her on a date Wednesday, Feb. 16, when the Theatre Club will sell meals and provide a free movie in the theatre. All proceeds will fund theatre equipment and their next play.
Over 50 students attended the event, and a little under half of them registered to place bids. Over 15 club members were auctioned off while Parenti-Kurttila gave descriptions of each student’s attributes and characteristics as a selling point.
Originally, the newly-elected Theatre Club president, Anna Vargas, was scheduled to be master of ceremonies, and Parenti-Kurttila was to be auctioned off.
“They actually selected me to be auctioned off, and (amid) all the chaos I came out on top as being the MC,” Parenti-Kurttila said. “I always have an open hand willing to help them out, so whenever they approach me, I’ll definitely do whatever I can to help them.”
Although Parenti-Kurttila was master of ceremonies for most of the event, he allowed another club member to take his place and auction him off at the end of the event in an effort to further help out the theatre students.
“Theatre Club and theatre performing arts is definitely a passion of mine,” Parenti-Kurttila said. “And I’m very supportive of all of their endeavors, and I enjoy helping them out as much as I can amongst other clubs on campus as well.”
Prior to the event, club members scheduled to be auctioned off were excited about the prospect of having an auction, not just because of the chance to make money, but also because of the chance to promote themselves.
Club members like Vargas and Vice President Diana Kozlova felt that this was an excellent opportunity to promote the club and see who was willing to support them.
“I feel like more of this is promoting Theatre Club because people still don’t know much about us because we’re still relatively new,” Vargas said. “Before we existed, there wasn’t a theatre department, so we brought the entirety of theatre back to Skyline. So we’re still trying to get our name out to the people.”
Kozlova was also eager to see what would happen: “I’m just excited to see who actually shows up to support Theatre Club.”
Toward the end of the event, Dr. Regina Stanback Stroud, president of Skyline College, came to observe the event from the audience’s point of view.
“I want to be able to support the students and the activities that they’re doing, so I’m just here for support,” Stanback Stroud said. “I don’t know them personally, but they look like really interesting, wonderfully creative students, and I think it takes a lot of courage to get up there.”
In addition to showing up for support, she also registered as an auctioneer but didn’t place any bids for fear of frightening the students.
The first club member to be auctioned off was Michael Corzonkoff, who sold for $14.
“I actually feel really good; I didn’t feel like I was the best-looking out of all these guys,” Corzonkoff said. “This is just a phenomenal thing because I feel like we are really going to put this (money toward) a good cause.”
The club member who earned the most bids was Diana Kozlova, who was auctioned at $43 around the halfway point of the event.
“I feel like I’ve really helped the Theatre Club, and everyone else is doing a really good job, so any bid that comes in is helpful enough,” Kozlova said, moments after being sold. “We as a group came together to help finance our upcoming play, so the goal of this is to make as much money as we can so we can put on a really good show this semester.”
At one point during the event, the faculty adviser to the Theatre Club, Alan Ceccerilli, came down to help the students and express his approval of the outcome.
“I think it’s great they’re having fun, and it’s a great way to make money,” Ceccerilli said. “We’re trying to make money for our show this spring, and we’re promoting theatre so we can continue to have fun.”
As the club was getting ready to leave at around 2:30 p.m., Fuchs hinted at the prospect of doing this again, saying, “I think this will become a definite annual thing.”
Fuchs also expressed her hopes that more students would attend in the future. “We hope to see more people here next year,” Fuchs said. “We want to see you all—every single one of you—because we have some pretty awesome people here in Theatre Club.”
