SMILE Show (Bridge Out)

The new Northwestern tradition and fastest growing student held event!

Despite having close to 300 performers and production members, this is Bridge Out and the SMILE show’s second year! The organization was started because founders Michael Kelleher and Daniel Bunning felt Northwestern performance lacked unity. As an economics and theatre major, Bunning wondered why there weren’t incentives toward creating joint shows and why many Northwestern performance groups didn’t intermingle:

“The truth is many Northwestern performance groups don’t support or know each other, which made no sense to me. I mean you would think the best of Northwestern dance would be coming out to A Capella shows and that Bienen musicians would be great friends with theatre students, but that’s commonly not the case. The SMILE show is changing that.” 

It turns out that not a single performer in last years show had previously seen every group on the SMILE show’s roster. Even for members of the Northwestern arts community, this show provides a unique opportunity to be exposed to new artistic and performance styles. Additionally, following last year’s show, two albums were released featuring blends of performers in the 2019 SMILE Show from different artistic groups and majors--this show brings people together!

We need your help!

The scale of the SMILE show means we need video, lighting, sound, and space for a variety of different art forms. Additionally, due to the new nature of our organization we cannot fulfill our production costs through university funding alone. We believe our work and your donation is not just supporting this year’s show, but a show that will unite the Northwestern campus for years to come!