Jester

The Jester is the second oldest position at CTY Lancaster, and the only position to be shared by both sessions. It is a job with few responsibilities but is held in nothing but the highest regard. The Jester's main function is to act out the scenes in "American Pie" when the Jester steals the King's thorny crown and when the Jester is on the sidelines in a cast. Since some unknown year after 2009, the Jester also leads the Acting Improv activity, sometimes with one other person of the Jester's choosing. In the past, the Jester organized the stealing of The Painting in the site director's office as well as Second Sunday Shenanigans. A Jester is most commonly a nomore who is widely respected in the Lancaster community. Although the Jester is the oldest position at First Session, at Second Session, which has even older positions, it is slightly overshadowed in comparison. At both sessions, the Jester is usually passed down to someone who is considered to be outgoing and to have a good sense of humor, as a real jester would. In the latter Session, the Jester was part of the Pentinity. At post-covid sessions, the Jester position is passed down to the person(s) believed to be apt at acclimating squirrels to the site and carrying on tradition in ideal and silly ways, along with assuring that Acting Improv is run smoothly and effectively, with good fun had by all.

The Jester's distinguishing article are a Jester's coat and hat. The hat originally belonged to Ken Levin and the coat was given to him by 2001 RA Travis-Jason "TJ" Feldstein. The coat and hat are passed down each year at Passionfruit to a promising one-more both sessions. As of LAN 14.2, the Jester also has a red slide whistle (a practice started by Matias "Mavs" Gonzalez). The slide whistle has since been lost to time, but as of 24.2, Harper Nelson-Wooley has stashed their blue one in the coat. Ryan Grewal took an unprecedented amount of time to pass on the jacket and hat to Daniel Rock before 14.1, so RA Vivian purchased replacements. These were used in 15.1 and have been the session one jester relics since. There is a latex condom inside the left coat pocket as of 15.1. Additional condoms ebbed and flowed from the various pockets throughout 19.1 as well, ending up with one (originally belonging to Julia Rubright) in addition to the original from 15.1. As of 19.1, the Jester also receives a pair of mirrored aviators (a tradition that started with aviators originally belonging to Sam Schulman, that the following Jester Naomi Louie lost in Logan Airport at MIT Splash 2019), usually kept in the breast pocket of the jacket, and as of 18.1 a pair of pool noodles, used to enforce Acting Improv rules. The current pool noodles were originally owned by Nathan Burke and Louie Brown, who returned as an RA. As of 22.2, there are two new relics: a hat made out of a ‘happy birthday’ banner and a print-out of a jester hat on a stick and a pool noodle wrapped in orange duct-tape with metal rulers on the inside which functions as both a kaleidoscope and a tool with which to hit unfunny people during AI. As of 24.1, Jester relics for both sessions have either been completely lost or relocated to different sessions as a result of COVID cancellations and the removal of Lancaster as a site. The 2025.1 Jester position has experienced its first-ever four-way split between Vivian, Sydney, Cameron and Emery, who plan to return to Lancaster if it reopens, or if not, carry on the position at Carlisle -- divvying up the many duties that have fallen to the position. The original session 1 coat, hat, bells, and condoms (with the addition of a slide whistle) have been moved to session 2, in which two Jesters will fulfill their collective (and expanded) duties in years to come.

Jesters Past*

* From the perspective of one year in the future.

• 1997: Matt "Wembley" Jacobs
• 1998: Aaron "The Short Kid with the Funny Hat" Tarnow
• 2001:

  First Session: Ken Levin

  Second Session: Matthew "Matt in the Hatt" Russo

• 2002:

  First Session: Stuart Schüssel

  Second Session: Andy "UnAndy" Schlesinger

• 2003:

  First Session: Gabriel Slamovits

  Second Session: Randall Leeds

• 2004:

  First Session: Alexia Simonnard-Note

  Second Session: Susannah Roush

• 2005:

  First Session: Josh Yanovski

  Second Session: Tassie Andersen

• 2006:

  First Session: Aliza Alperin-Sheriff

  Second Session: Christian "Christ" Burnette

• 2007:

  First Session: Molly Brean

  Second Session: Meghan Vu

• 2008:

  First Session: Dana Reback

  Second Session: Zeke Weiner/John Laws Harrison

• 2009:

  First Session: Verity

  Intersession: Max Wang

  Second Session: Race Archibold

• 2010:

  First Session: Faye Elgart

  Intersession: Rowan Matney

  Second Session: Otter Lee

• 2011:

  First Session: Joseph Fridman

  Intersession: Alex Kohanski

  Second Session: Graeme McGuire

• 2012

  First Session: Sam Sagan

  Intersession: Jonah Spear

  Second Session: Noah Goldstein

• 2013

  First Session: Ben Zweig

  Second Session: Louie Brown

• 2014

  First Session: Daniel Rock (When Ryan Grewal did not return)

  Intersession: David May

  Second Session: Matias "Mavs" Gonzalez

• 2015

  First Session: Gene Naumovsky

  Second Session: Isaiah Louder (when Lev Krasnovsky did not return)

• 2016

  First Session: Dan Fu

  Second Session: Ethan Pan

• 2017

  First Session: Casey Waite

  Second Session: Ky "Oh God How Did This Position Fall To Me" Lynch (When Joshua Medintz did not return) (when Jordan Ginsburg did not return)

• 2018

  First Session: Nathan Burke

  Second Session: Isak Sharfstein

• 2019

  First Session: Sam Schulman

  Second Session: Archer Goodwyn

• 2020

  First Session: Naomi Louie

  Second Session: Camille Gonzalez

• 2022

  First Session: Juliana Burke

  Second Session: Salil Jain

• 2023

  First Session: Sophia Chen

  Second Session: Maya Jagsi

• 2024

  First Session: N/A

  Second Session: Serena Diamond, Harper Nelson-Wooley

• 2025

  First Session: Vivian Perry, Sydney Schirripa, Emery Oppenheim, Cameron Brenner

  Second Session: Samuel Johnson, Sofia Avila