SLUSAN for the WIN!

Students in the “Creative Resistance: Art, Activism and Social Change” First-Year Program put on a debut performance of the play “Slusan for the Win!” in St. Lawrence University’s Sullivan Student Center on the evening of Halloween. 

The audience filled every seat in the Winston Room, where the performance was relocated to due to weather concerns. Dr. Sandhya Ganapathy, who teaches the FYP, wrote the play as a project for her class. She said that the performance was a success. “Overall, the event went off really well,” she said. “We had a great turnout, and I think folks had a good time.” 

The story of “Slusan for the Win!” is a comedic skit about a squirrel who tries to become SLU’s mascot after turning into a zombie when a car hits her on the day before Halloween. Slusan faces many obstacles, including self-doubt and, of course, zombification, but her main antagonist is an elitist chicken named Leghorn, “who takes pride in legacy and wants a campus culture rooted in exclusivity and othering,” according to Ganapathy. 

Ganapathy said that underlying the comedic premise of the story are important real-world takeaways. “The story actually addresses serious themes,” she said. “Universal themes like resilience, self-doubt and self-acceptance, and more current themes like the emergence of exclusionary politics and how people – or animals – can collectively stand up and resist this.” 

On a more lighthearted note, Ganapathy also intended the play to call attention to SLU’s lack of an official mascot. “We believe that a squirrel like Slusan would be an excellent mascot, representing resilience, inclusivity and a bit of chaotic, youthly exuberance,” she said. Her choice to use animal characters also helped to make the play accessible to viewers of all ages in the Canton community. “We also wanted the story to resonate with SLU students,” she added. “Thus, we built upon the SLU-Clarkson rivalry by humorously characterizing Clarkson students as notoriously bad drivers – they are responsible for Slusan’s zombification by running her over on Halloween eve, nearly running over a SLU student, and causing a catastrophic multicar pile up at the end of the play.” 

The play’s musical score featured the songs “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone, “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, and “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush — all of the songs related to different moments in Slusan’s quest and character arc. Ganapathy also felt that the audience would easily recognize those songs from popular culture. 

One of the audience members, Gretchen Hirschfeld ’26, expressed how much she enjoyed the show. “I loved how the play intertwined lightheartedness and moments of deeper reflection. It was also great to see how many people were sitting in the audience – Global Studies and beyond.” 

Viebranz Visiting Professor A. Kendra Greene found the play very entertaining. “How can you not be intrigued by a project that queries the whole faculty/staff listserv in search of a large chicken costume, a glue gun, and a box cutter?” she said. “The protruding ribs of a zombie squirrel; the squeal of a traffic accident; handfuls of feathers followed by chunks of wing and face; a best friendship three months long; a rainbow suspended on a rope; the protest sign, ‘zombies out and chickens in’ – I think it’s safe to say this play has it all.” 

Also in the audience, SLU Research and Instruction Librarian Casey Roberson had just one question. “When can I vote for Slusan the Squirrel as mascot for real?” he said.