The comeback performance is being offered to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, in honor of Katie Nelson (Class of 2014), who played the role of Cecelia in the Room 133 series. Nelson, a graduate of Westminster College and a student in the Case Western Reserve School of Dental Medicine’s pre-professional scholar program, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in August 2019 and passed away in April 2020 at age 23.
During the “Reunion Special,” viewers will be able to donate directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via a “donation” button that will be listed under the Facebook and YouTube feeds.
Room 133 was introduced at Mars Area High School in 2012 to both entertain students and to deliver positive messages related to topics such as bullying, verbal and physical abuse, false rumors, etc. Following each broadcast, teachers would use a set of “talking points” to facilitate classroom discussions about bullying behaviors and promoting positive school behavior.
The series, which began as spoof of the television sit-com, The Office, was created by showrunner T.J. Pieffer (Class of 2014), who enlisted the help of his classmates to write and produce the show. The students would meet during their study halls to discuss and plan future episodes; get together after school every other Friday to film scenes for each episode; and Pieffer would edit the show over the weekend in preparation for a Wednesday premiere.
The pilot and subsequent episodes feature Pieffer as the main character, David, and art teacher Erin Sloane as Ms. Daniels, along with a who’s who of the Class of 2014, including Larissa Dover, Dylan Evans, Ryan Huber, Brandon Knochel, Allison Lanza, Lori Lehman, Nikki Macri, Kailee Miller, Katie Nelson, Catherine Paletta, Maddie Salapow, Allen Shaffer, Courtney Shaffer, Jimmy Srock and Megan Stetz, as well as Andrew Ebel (Class of 2013) and Phillip Lowry (Class of 2012) and more.
The show quickly evolved from a bimonthly video series into a highly anticipated, school-wide phenomenon, spanning three seasons. (Episodes of Room 133 are available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/Room133show.) As interest grew, more and more students became involved in the production as well as in a myriad of other performances and positive school activities.
The cast and crew of Room 133, led by Pieffer and Shaffer, brought together the entire student body and high school staff members to create entries for a local “lip dub” contest. And, the students planned and performed summer stage productions of Batmann: The Musical (2013), which was written and performed by the students; Suessical: The Musical (2014); and Annie the Musical (2015).
For more information, visit www.youtube.com/user/Room133show.