Students and faculty presented their passion for the performing arts during the Yapalooza 2014 showcase.

Members of the communication department evoked laughter and emotion through poetry, monologues and letter readings.

Mara Loeb organized recordings of World War I era letters in conjunction with KEDM earlier this semester.

Chris Michaelides, Jay Curtis, Tyler Smith and Percy Richard recorded letters and other forms of communication from wartime.

Loeb provided the female voices. Loeb diversified her performance with accents and tweaking the recordings.

According to Loeb, the reason behind the project originated with the idea of reaching a greater audience.

“By recording these and putting them on the radio audiences will not only read the letters but hear them as well,” said Loeb, an associate professor of communication.

The recordings were divided into four categories: letters from nurses, recruitment, trench warfare and artillery.

Kacy Viellon performed a monologue based off of lyrics written by Mayday Parade. Viellon developed a story for the lyrics and gave the father figure speaker a personality.

“In my head the father is kind. He loves his son, hence warning him about heartache,” Viellon said.

Viellon said she imagined the father as whimsical.

“He reminisces about the past, teaching his son the lesson of loss. But under all of that, he is deeply cut by sorrow because his wife died of sickness,” Viellon said.

Viellon said she tried to portray what it would be like for a father to lose the love of his life.

“As if it had just happened. I wanted the audience to see the suffering he went through,” Viellon said.

Viellon chose the piece due to her love of the song and band.

“The song is a powerful story of love and love lost. I feel that I can understand heartbreak, not as the father, but as a girl who has lost someone I love,” Viellon said.

Veillon has performed in Yapalooza twice before.

“I always enjoy performing because it really showcases my public speaking talent,” said Viellon, a senior communications major.

While Viellon said the event was significantly smaller, she still believed it went well.

“We want to focus on the quality of performances rather than the quantity. And the quality of the performances was phenomenal,” Viellon said.

The Speech and Debate Forum has hosted the Yapalooza for over five years. It takes place every semester.