UNLV club entertains crowds with lightsaber duels — VIDEO
Each Monday, the warriors gather, armed and ready for combat at UNLV.
They assemble in two feuding packs, staging fights that pit good against evil in a glowing display of swinging lightsabers — the group's weekly homage to the "Star Wars" film series. For the Society of Lightsaber Duelists — a UNLV-born student club made up of 30 members from all disciplines — the sessions offer a break from schoolwork, an escape from the real world and a chance to bond with fellow fiction geeks who share a love for playing pretend.
"It's a safe place to nerd out," UNLV junior Erika Reynolds said as she prepared for a performance last month, donning a black leotard and ankle-high leather boots. "We're all here because we want to play with lightsabers."
SOLD was created in 2012 after co-founder Ryan Wilgeroth devised a high school prank incorporating a battle routine in his hometown of Cedar Park, Texas. Pleased with the outcome, he helped form SOLD at UNLV as a freshman, and in three years, the group has blossomed into an active social club that has inspired at least four other universities to form their own chapters, including the University of Texas at Austin and New York University.
"College life isn't as big here as it is in other colleges," Wilgeroth said. "We wanted SOLD to be more than just a club. We wanted to create a second family and climatize new students to the weirder side of college life."
Members meet each week to choreograph battles and cobble together "Star Wars"-inspired costumes using ordinary clothes and household items such as curtains and sheets. Some perform as Jedis, wearing long, flowing robes in earth tones, while others venture into the Dark Side and opt for head-to-toe black.
The group also meets to organize performances for charitable groups such as Opportunity Village, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit that caters to people with learning disabilities. Channeling their inner Jedis, SOLD members have become regular volunteers at Opportunity Village events, including its annual Halloween-themed festival, HallOVeen.
Audience members — especially young ones — get a kick out of watching the performers tussle in costume, lobbing snappy one-liners over the crackle of their lightsabers.
"That was good," said Luis Aguirre, 21, as his infant daughter tinkered with a toy blade after a recent HallOVeen show. "She thought it was pretty tight."
Contact Ana Ley at aley@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512. Find her on Twitter @la__ley.
