The Keenan Revue: the campus stage

First performed 1976, Washington Hall · annually since · the 2026 edition billed as the fiftieth

The show: Keenan Hall's annual sketch-comedy revue is written and performed exclusively by the hall's own residents — no outside cast, no borrowed script — and it is, by the university's own account, the most popular hall event at Notre Dame. It was first performed in 1976, organized by resident assistants Thomas Lenz and Richard Thomas as a deliberate alternative to the campus drinking culture — the Rev. Rich Conyers, C.S.C., under whom it began, said the same of its purpose. The first show, billed "New Keenan Revue," opened on November 6, 1976, in Washington Hall: a variety bill of singing, comedy, violin, poetry, and juggling that settled, within its first years, into the comedy revue it has remained.

The date conflict: The hall's own record, Residential Life, and the university's admissions account all date the Revue from 1976. Notre Dame Magazine describes it as begun in 1977, and the show's own slogan is "Making Fun of You Since 1977." Both datings print; the documentary floor is the November 6, 1976 first performance, and the slogan is the institution's own preferred round number. The course after: the show moved in 1980 to Saint Mary's 1,300-seat O'Laughlin Auditorium, Washington Hall's wiring and size having failed it; it broke even for the first time in 1983 and was first taped in 1984; the campus press places it at the Stepan Center in the 2010s and again from 2022, where it has remained — three nights each February, drawing nearly five thousand to six thousand across the run, tickets free, donations benefiting Dismas House of Michiana. The 2026 edition was billed as the fiftieth annual, "Déjà Revue."

The open end: In October 2026 the university announced that Keenan Hall itself — with Stanford and Haggar Halls — will be demolished after the 2026–27 school year, its residents relocating in August 2027 and replacement halls opening in the fall of 2029. What becomes of the Revue when its hall comes down is not in the record; the show has already outlived three venues, and its course past 2027 is named here as a gap for the update cycle.

Sources

1. The Keenan Hall record — the 1976 first performance and November 6 date, the organizers and purpose, the venue course through O'Laughlin and the Stepan Center, the announced demolition.
2. University of Notre Dame Residential Life and Admissions — the Revue from 1976, the hall-event standing, the February run and its attendance.
3. Notre Dame Magazine — the Revue as begun in 1977, the "Making Fun of You Since 1977" slogan, the O'Laughlin sellouts.
4. University of Notre Dame news announcement, October 5, 2026, and the Irish Rover, October 14, 2026 — the demolition of Keenan, Stanford, and Haggar Halls after the 2026–27 school year, the relocations, and the fall 2029 replacements.