Jeff Henderson looks around a room on the third floor of the Ryerson theatre school. The second-year theatre student’s eyes show signs of fatigue—he’s spent the past three weeks in rehearsal for his role of Azdak the judge in The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Henderson fixes his gaze on director John Van Burek, who is explaining the meaning of the play the second-year theatre students will perform.

If third-year architecture students had their way, the latest hot spot for so hip-they-hurt Ryerson students wouldn’t be another boring engineering building. It would be a Cuban-Latino Jazz club called Mazucamba in Toronto’s haughty Yorkville district.

To mark RIOT’s 50th anniversary, the cast and crew of RIOT 2000 held a preview show Monday night that gave alumni a trip down memory lane. The free show featured a nine-member cast in skits ranging from the adventures of two cats and catnip to a discussion about tube meat and vaginal secretion. Laced with video footage, lights and music, the show was eye candy for the audience.