The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
Graduating seniors in the acting and musical theatre department are going to New York as part of senior showcase project.
Photo courtesy of offbroadwaybrainstormers.com
To end the course Theatre 497: Senior Project, students travel to New York and audition for leading agents and casting directors in an exciting introduction to New York City and the professional world at Pearl Studios. They will leave on May 17, during finals week and stay until May 20.
Tyler Marchant, associate professor of acting & directing is leading the group.
“The class is meant to bridge the gap between the students’ coursework and their future career. We teach them how to do the nuts and bolts aspects of the profession such as creating a website and working on portfolios,” Marchant said.
Marchant also said students have a unique opportunity to have a conversation with a panel of professionals and ask questions. The purpose of the class is to demystify the experience of moving to a big city and starting a career.
This year the students began a kickstarter and raised funds to rent out the Davenport Theatre for an evening.
Photo courtesy of davenporttheatre.com
“This opportunity showcases not only our talents but also the knowledge we’ve gained over the past four years and how that’s accumulated into a final product. The alumni are always interested in coming to watch students perform so this year by renting out the space, we get more exposure and it is another chance to practice the material in a different setting,” Haley Haupt, senior musical theatre major, said.
When Samuel Skalbeck first proposed the idea of renting the Davenport Theatre to his class there were financial concerns. Therefore, in conjunction with his peers, he started the kickstarter initiative and raised the funds to make it viable.
The kickstarter included putting together a video and distributing it to friends and family.
“I had seen other schools and I was interested myself in pursuing another venue to host our showcase that we could invite friends and alumni who live in the city and other potential connections that we have made so our class will be seen on a larger scale,” Skalbeck said senior musical theatre.
The students will be doing a preview of the showcase material in the Noel Fine Arts Center room 221 at 6 p.m. on May 10. It is free and open to the public.
Michelle Wilde
Reporter
Michelle.J.Wilde@uwsp.edu
