OUAB caters to students’ inner child with interactive showing of ‘High School Musical’

The Ohio Union Activities Board will host an interactive showing of “High School Musical” Wednesday through its Flicks for Free program. Credit: Katy Popovitch | Lantern Reporter

The Ohio Union Activities Board will host a particularly nostalgic Flicks For Free Wednesday with a showing of “High School Musical” where students will be able to sing along. 

The movie will be shown in the Performance Hall inside of the Ohio Union at 7 p.m., with pizza, popcorn, candy and drinks available, according to the OUAB website. Every semester in the Flicks For Free schedule, OUAB includes a film with an interactive component, this year’s being a sing-along, Karl Ludwig, a third-year in industrial design and OUAB member, said.

“It will be an energetic, social environment,” Ludwig said. “Rather than just sitting and looking at a screen, students will be in round tables with chairs, instead of the typical lounge movie setting.”

Although not every showing is an interactive form of a childhood-favorite movie, Flicks For Free offers free film showings every Wednesday night throughout the semester in the US Bank Conference Theater located in the Ohio Union, Ludwig said.

“Flicks For Free is an underrated part of what OUAB does because it is a lesser-known piece, compared to some of our other events that include celebrities,” Ludwig said. 

Ludwig said OUAB wants students to take advantage of the Flicks For Free program and be able to have a regular theater experience at Ohio State. However, this week’s showing of “High School Musical” will be far from regular, Krystal Vielman, assistant director for OUAB, said in an email.

“The goal is to plan an experience where students feel involved in the movie itself rather than just watching it,” Vielman said.

“High School Musical” was a fan-favorite from the start because, when many current college students were younger, it was branded as the perfect movie to sing and dance along to, Vielman said. Ludwig said throughout the showing, students will be able to stand up during the musical numbers to sing and dance with one another if they so choose.

“This semester, we recognized that students wanted to do something more interactive and create community, and what better way than singing along to a childhood classic?” Vielman said. 

OUAB left the film choice up to students, who previously voted from a list of sing-along movies including “Grease” and “Mamma Mia” on a poll on the OUAB Instagram, Ludwig said.  

“ ‘High School Musical’ will draw a different audience than maybe our typical weekly Flicks For Free,” Ludwig said. “Maybe not all of our typical audience are game for that super rowdy, fun, sing-along movie.”

In addition to being free and serving as a brain break for students, the Flicks For Free program is a middle-of-the-week activity that can be a fun and uplifting event to attend with friends, Ludwig said.  

“Flicks For Free is something that we like to offer to students as a reoccurring thing that people can look forward to and plan on knowing that it will be there,” he said. 

Ludwig said one of the things he appreciates most about the program is that it allows students to see movies they would often otherwise have to go to a theater and pay to see.

“I love Flicks For Free; it’s one of the things that made me excited to take on my role at OUAB,” Ludwig said. “I’m not someone who always sets aside time to go see movies when they come out in theaters.” 

Admission to the interactive showing of “High School Musical” will be on a first-come, first-served basis with a valid BuckID, according to the OUAB website.