Other pictures from the ITiCSE conference are located on an accompanying page.

During the dinner, the owner/master of ceremonies called several people to the stage for one type of skit or another.

Skit "testing" food for poison

A theme of a couple skits was to determine if the food had been poisoned. The idea was that one could determine the presence of poison by various tests (e.g., the tone of a bell ringing after a certain event).

In one such skit, Myles McNally (center) from Alma College was first asked to create music by blowing a horn. (HMW)

After blowing the horn, Myles was asked to hold a candle, and the bell was to pass over the candle before being rung. The owner/master of ceremonies is on the right. (HMW)

Final Skit—Part I: Making Music for the Group

Near the end of the dinner, Past-Past SIGCSE Chair, Henry Walker, and Immediate Past SIGCSE Chair, Barbara Boucher Owens, were escorted to the stage for a skit. As it turned out, the selection of these people was far from coincidental, and the two-part skit was much more extensive than the others of the evening.

The master of ceremonies (center) called Henry from one side of the room and Barb from the other side. (TEPW)		As with previous people called to the stage, the first step was to don appropriate tunics. (TEPW)
Barb was given a horn to blow, while Henry got to play the drum. Barb found some success with humming into the horn — in a fashion similar to a kazoo. (TEPW)		Barb and Henry talked about the assignments they have received over the years in the name of SIGCSE. (TEPW)
When asked to play a song for the assembled guests, Barb had he inspired idea to play "I've been working on the railroad". (TEPW)		It took Henry a few measures to realize what Barb was playing, but once identified, his playing the drum came reasonably easily. (TEPW)

At this point, Barb and Henry thought the skit was over, and we were done. Instead, we were led outside for conversation.

Final Skit—Part II: A Queen (???) and her Knight (???)

Once outside, the master of ceremonies asked Barb and Henry to be part of a more extensive skit—with costumes and some attempt at a plot.

Barb re-entered the hall, dressed as a queen. (TEPW)		On stage, Barb offered a regal presence next to the master of ceremonies. (TEPW)
Henry was dressed as a soldier in armor. Since the helmet blocked almost all vision, the soldier was escorted by one of the castle staff, who also served as a waiter at the dinner. (TEPW)		The queen and her soldier on stage. (TEPW)
Although the plot of the skit seemed vague (at least to Henry), the soldier was given the task of drinking a horn's worth of ale in one long gulp—or face the consequences. (TEPW)		Upon reflection, soldier Henry concluded that the carbohydrate count in the ale might be problematic, so after a quite modest drink, he failed his test. (TEPW)
Soldier Henry was placed in the pillory, awaiting the queen's pleasure. (TEPW)		With the suit of armor, the pillory required some bending and adjustment. (TEPW)
At this point, the story line became even more muddy, and the three members of the audience were asked to kiss the soldier. (Not clear why, but the story continued). The first volunteer was Judith Gal-Ezer, the planned ITiCSE 2012 Conference Chair. The second volunteer (not shown) apparently was the wife of Guido Roessling, the ITiCSE 2011 Conference Chair. (TEPW)		The master of ceremonies volunteered Bill McClung (who graduated two years ahead of Henry from Williams — both were math majors who also sang in various groups). (TEPW)
Apparently the queen relented (or was it the master of ceremonies who relented), and decided her soldier should be knighted "Sir Henry". For this to happen, Henry needed to kneel before the queen — not so easy in the armor (getting down was not so bad, but getting up again required some assistance) (TEPW)		At the end, the master of ceremonies presented the new knight with a horn as a symbol of achievement. (TEPW)
After the skit, Henry was presented the horn as a gift, and subsequently, Barb received a horn for her participation. Barb and Henry got one more horn to present to Renee McCauley, the current SIGCSE Chair. (TEPW)