By TOMMY NAPOLI ‘17
Over the summer, the Breen Center hosted Comedy Central’s The Daily Show during the Republican National Convention. Originally scheduled for one week of preparation and another for broadcasting, the event took an extra week of setup and cleanup making it about a four week period. The show brought about 120 members of staff, and on the day before broadcasting began, around 175 people were working at the Breen.
Hosting the event brought about quite a few changes to the campus, many of which were beneficial and permanent. The Daily Show required a special flooring for tv cameras that would have caused damage to our stage floor if installed on top. Because of the requirements, the old stage floor was removed undamaged, and the brand new stage floor was installed courtesy of The Daily Show. Mr. Thomas, director of the Breen Center, stated that “now there’s a lot of supplies for the drama program to built sets for plays and musicals.” Additionally, since their connectivity demands were very strong, they installed a much better system that makes wireless access around the building easier and faster.
A number of less permanent changes also transformed the building. For example, the band room housed 64 cubicles equipped with phones and computers for staff members, and the chorus room had 32 more. The Thomas Room acted as a workshop for the writers. They would watch clips on a television and brainstorm ideas for the live broadcasting period. Trevor Noah even used one of the dressing rooms as his personal office.
Overall, the event was a huge success since the school was able to accommodate The Daily Show’s needs very well. It’s another impressive accomplishment for the school to be proud of. Mr. Thomas said that “it was just exciting to see all the things going on at campus and for them to be just really shocked that a high school would have a facility that could host a major tv show like this.” It’s important to remember that this wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the Saint Ignatius faculty and staff, as well.
If timing didn’t work out as perfectly as it did, the hosting of this event would not have been possible. There were no students displaced from normal activities because it was during the summer. If it had been a few weeks earlier, the timing would have conflicted with the SEP program. A few weeks later and it would’ve conflicted with band camp and the school year starting up.
Because Saint Ignatius was able to accommodate The Daily Show so well, there is potential for our hosting events of similar scale in the future. When a show as well known as The Daily Show uses these facilities, word will spread and others might seek to book it down the road. According to Mr. Thomas, the Breen Center would love to do something like this again, but time is still the most limiting factor.
