(Photo by Joelle Sugianto)

Do you know what that metal band that holds your pencil eraser in place is called? How about the term for a sentence that uses all 26 letters of the alphabet?
Theater Ink raised approximately $700 in its first-ever trivia night fundraiser, called “Let’s Get Trivial,” according to quizmaster and Theater Ink parent Greg Wymer, who hosted the event in the little theater on Friday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m..
According to Wymer, the goal of the event was “to raise money for Theater Ink in a way that both students and parents could participate, although part of the challenge in writing questions was accommodating for different backgrounds and interests.” He added that he hopes to “make the event bigger and better next year and maybe have trivia night in the big theater next time.”
The team “Fidlers on the Roof” won the competition with a score of five points while the runner-up teams “Khaleesis” and “The Ruttblau” had two and one points respectively.
“I came to the event because I want to support Theater Ink. I had a lot of fun and I think everyone who came did too. It was a lot more intense than I expected,” said sophomore Dina Gorelik, a contestant for team “Notix” and a member of Theater Ink.
Wymer, a former game show contestant on MTV who started his own pub trivia company decades ago, organized the event along with Theater Arts Opportunity Committee members Lisa Campbell and Sara Scott.
All proceeds went directly to Theater Ink and refreshments were included in the price of the ticket and served during the event.
More than 60 students and adults of all ages participated. The participants separated into 19 teams and submitted answer sheets after every question was asked. There were eight rounds in total, not including the semifinals and finals, each having a different theme. Wymer announced the correct answers and team standings at the end of each round.
Wymer put together a diverse list of trivia topics, including sports, music, science, politics, geography, Newton’s history, vocabulary, literature, and cinema. The mood in the little theater was cheerful and fun, with people dancing to the catchy background music between rounds.
In the three semifinal matchups, Wymer changed his question style, opting for rapid back-and-forth questions between the two teams until one team could no longer go on. For example, in the matchup between “Fidlers on the Roof” and “The Parasites,” Wymer asked the contestants to name every Olympic Games host nation they could think of.
Wymer interspersed the conventional trivia rounds with song identification and speed rounds to vary the pace of the evening. After eight rounds, the six highest-scoring teams remained for the semi-finals while the rest were eliminated. The remaining teams were, in increasing order of score, “Fidlers on the Roof,” “Khaleesis,” “The Ruttblau,” “Les Wiz,” “Turpin Disneyland Fund,” and “The Parasites.”
In the deciding round, the finalists were “Fidlers on the Roof,” “The Ruttblau,” and “Khaleesis.” Wymer opened up the questions to the audience and asked “Jeopardy” style questions. “Fidlers on the Roof” won the whole competition, as they were the first team to earn five points.
Newton South student Julian Moller, a “Fidlers on the Roof” contestant, said, “I really had a good time this evening and hope to be back next year.” Moller’s other teammates were Aviva Fidler, Jack Fidler, and Jo-Louise Allen.
Sophomore Alex Wymer, Greg Wymer’s son, said that he enjoyed the event. “It was so fun. The questions, just running it through your head over and over, trying to figure it out,” he said. “When that answer was turned over in the semifinals, that just blew my mind, it was awesome. I would 100% recommend the event to friends for next year and we could use more kids.”