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BCU Night: Welcome to the Cookout
Jack Bell, a health science major, and Isaiah Davis, a biology major, share a scene together, in the Iles Gym, on stage during Black Chrisitian Union’s (BCU) performance of the “Cookout.” Saturday, February 28 2026. (Photo by Ava-Caroline Schmidt).
Sienna Escobar Reporter On Feb. 28, Black Christian Union’s (BCU) cultural night, "The Cookout,” honored the big and small traditions that bring people together. BCU President and BCU Night director Daniela Dreke, a junior industrial organizational psychology major, said that the program was less focused on cultural education, as it had been in previous years, and more heavy on celebration. “We really just wanted to express our culture and celebrate where we come from—different parts of the Black diaspora,” Dreke said. According to Dreke, the theme of a cookout had been floating around the planning committee of officers and sponsors for previous BCU Nights but had never been done. Before the beginning of the fall semester, Dreke and the others agreed to
pursue the theme for this year’s program. After struggling to find someone who could write a play around their theme, the planning committee approached Naiya Brown, a Southern alumna who graduated last December and wrote and directed the BCU night program last academic year. According to Brown, the script initially presented a challenge because the topic was difficult to adapt for the stage. Once she turned to her personal experiences and other BCU members for inspiration, the ideas started to flow. “The dominoes game, the line dances, the food that was mentioned, all of it is things that I've personally experienced,” Brown said, “as well as just the community, being around people that you feel like you can just exhale and breathe and be yourself in their presence.” The storyline of the program focused
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“We really just wanted to express our culture and celebrate where we come from–different parts of the black diaspora.” - Daniela Dreke