TAP: A Theatre Fraternity

Here at ONU, we have a fraternity called TAP, or Theta Alpha Phi, for those involved in the theatre department. TAP events help fund the New York trip the seniors take at the end of the year to audition for casting directors. I was inducted last year as the only freshman because of the amount of credits I came in with. The actual induction ceremony was...strange to say the least, but definitely a lot of fun. 

Since then, we've hosted some fun events like themed cabarets where students sign up with a song they want to sing that fits the theme. It's all meant to be fun and we've gotten to see some pretty entertaining performances. We also sell flowers for the family members and friends of students involved in the shows we put on to buy. You can choose to buy them one or two flowers and write them a nice note that we deliver straight to them backstage. Usually we try to host events for the entire ONU community to attend or participate in, but this year has been extremely hard to fit those events into the schedule. 

During the Spring semester, students who are not in TAP send in applications for the executive board to review and determine if they're eligible to be inducted. The criteria to meet are based on your credits, outside student organizations and their involvement with other TAP events. All of the applicants who meet the criteria are then sent bids and are inducted. My favorite part of this year will definitely be the big and little reveals, for reasons I cannot discuss just yet...The last thing that happens at induction is elections for executive board positions. Members are nominated for positions and everyone votes on who they think best fit the position. 

The best events of the year, in my opinion, are TAP field day and TAP prom that happen at the end of the Spring semester. TAP field day is basically a day of fun outdoor activities for everyone in the department to attend and hang out at. TAP prom is essentially that, a prom. We have music, snacks and everyone dresses how they would for a prom and it's a super fun time! The pictures are the best too. The part I'm most excited for this year is the secret tapper reveal. At the beginning of last semester, the members of TAP were assigned a freshman to give gifts to throughout the semester. At TAP prom all of the freshmen try to guess who their tapper was and if they get it right then they get their final gift. Everyone eventually gets revealed and all the freshmen get their gifts at the end. I remember last year being in that position and the reactions were so fun to witness. My secret tapper last year just so happened to be my mentor as well! 

So far, I've loved my experience being in Theta Alpha Phi and can't wait to continue in the next 2 years! Hopefully next semester we'll be able to host more events to get a little more recognition outside of the theatre department.