End of the beginning End of the beginning The student showcase

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY HARPER LEE

the pair of dancers—a petite, the music slows as the tempo eases. Facing page: Headshots are sorted into blonde, beaming young woman and A sweet, quiet moment appears: his stacks before the crowd arrives at the Lau- a tall, agile young man—grin at one reluctance was an act. These two are rie Beechman Theatre for Wright State Uni- another, smoothly executing chore- smitten with each other. And as they versity’s 2014 senior showcase. Above: ography that they could clearly do in glide to a rest, chins in hands, eyes Jon Hacker takes a moment to study his music. After the showcase, Hacker became their sleep. A slide, a turn, upstage for locked on each other—a stray elbow part of the first national tour of Disney’s a few counts, and then back around, bumps an uninvited water glass off Newsies. enjoying the approving crowd gath- the hood of the piano that’s been ered in the darkness beyond the stage scoring their encounter. The glass lights. Their number is a charming, falls—shatters—sending ice, water, athletic crowd-pleaser. Her character and debris across the stage. has coaxed his into dancing. Then, The dancers, Taryn

DECEMBER 2014 • DRAMATICS 71 and Cooper Taggard from Wright receives a jolt of fresh, energetic tal- atre program, believes the showcase State University, have rehearsed for ent while recent grads get their first is essential to B.F.A. training, part of months. It’s one of their first big mo- taste of the Big Apple. how his department provides the best ments in New York City: a featured During showcase season—the possible preparation for the industry. duet in their senior showcase. There damp weeks stretching from the tail “We felt that in order to be on par are agents in the house (gulp), and end of winter in March to the very with all the other similar programs everything went smoothly except for tip of summer in May—New York out there, we needed to offer that,” the heap of glass at their feet. will host approximately two hundred Deer said of the showcase. “But we They take a beat. And laugh. showcases. Wright State University, also were interested in really giving located in Fairborn, Ohio, just outside our kids a launch into the industry. What is a showcase? of Dayton, has been among these Not just getting them agents or getting Each year, hundreds of soon-to-be schools for almost two decades. Last them seen by agents, but also getting B.F.A. theatre graduates from across April, Dramatics magazine tagged them oriented towards the industry, the country make a pilgrimage to along with the 2014 musical theatre which is a very important part of their New York City or Los Angeles seek- and acting B.F.A. graduates as they education.” ing connections, industry exposure, each said goodbye to an old life and At Wright State, most students pre- work, representation, housing, and hello to a new one with their own pare two selections for the showcase: a flexible day-job. Many of these showcase experience in New York a solo and a piece they perform with students/newly minted professionals City. a partner. The work is intended to re- begin their theatrical careers as part of This weekend is an opportunity flect each student’s skills and person- a senior class showcase, produced by for them to show potential employers ality, clarifying in the minds of agents their college or university at one or what they’re made of. Joe Deer, the and casting directors each individual’s more venues in the city. The market longtime head of WSU’s musical the- type. A student more inclined to mu- sical theatre might sing a duet as well as a solo; students with a great deal of dance training might dance dur- ing one of their pieces; and students with an acting focus might perform a monologue as well as a song, to dem- onstrate their drama chops. The Wright State students worked extensively with their faculty to find and craft the best material, and ul- timately assembled a lively, memo- rable, fun evening of entertainment. The class performs two shows in the city: one for invited industry profes- sionals and one for Wright State alum- ni living in the area. “I affectionately refer to the alumni performance as the debutante ball,” Deer said. “It is our students coming out to the industry, but it’s also them connecting with the alumni network. We have anywhere from a hundred to a hundred and fifty people show up, and there’s a party immediately after. It’s really a chance for everybody to see each other and for us to help ce- ment relationships between the new graduates and the alumni.” In addition to their performance pieces, the showcase forces students to prep résumés, headshots, and an entire book of additional material that Kelsey Andrae preps for show time. demonstrates their range and can be

72 DRAMATICS • DECEMBER 2014 called up at a moment’s notice in an audition setting. Does a casting agent want to hear something more legit? Maybe something more character? No problem; it’s in the book. The showcase grooms graduates for the profession, the finishing touch to four rigorous years of technical training. But Deer noted that the showcase also prepares students psychologically for the stresses of near-constant audi- tioning and what will inevitably come after college: rejection. “Students get to find out what life is like on the high wire,” said Stuart McDowell, chair of Wright State’s de- From left: Kaitlyn Sage, Cameron Blankenship, Zack Steele, Taylor Montgomery, and partment of theatre, dance, and mo- DeLee Cooper at lunch together between appointments. tion pictures. “They are auditioning in front of agents and it’s tough. A big directors, casting directors, and other their classmate Amy Wheeler, who chunk of their future is auditioning. It theatre professionals. During the spent the previous evening battling will be their bread and butter.” height of showcase season, an agent sickness. Quiet and cocooned in a “It’s a lonely career,” McDowell might make it to only seven or eight blanket until show time, Wheeler went on to say. “The showcase ex- out of the approximately two hundred transforms for her moment in the perience can prepare a student for showcases, Deer said. He pointed showcase. rejection and not getting the role. out that many faculty members worry “I haven’t eaten a whole lot,” she You have to learn to deal with that, that the showcase system is not as said later, smiling. “But because I’m and it’s best to learn as an undergrad, effective as they would like for it to not eating a whole lot, I can afford when we can help.” be simply because there are so many to take a taxi. Last night, I was like, programs trying to put their students ‘With this ten dollars I haven’t eaten Big fish, new pond out in the world. with—I’m going to ride in a taxi.’” It’s an especially wet and dreary April “Agents are overwhelmed,” he said. Having agents in the room is thrill- afternoon in Manhattan when the “Their full-time job is to find their cli- ing, but the Wright State crew seems group arrives at the Laurie Beechman ents work—not seek out new talent. happiest about sharing a singular, Theatre, an intimate cabaret space For them to give up two hundred af- special moment in their careers: a on West 42nd Street. The fourteen ternoons, they’d be working half days final performance together and for student performers apply make-up, for months.” most, an inaugural performance in rehearse, sound the room, sort head- Today’s industry crowd is small, New York City. shots, and review choreography. In but very engaged. They chuckle as “This is one of the last times I just a few hours, they will kick off they make notes and hand out cards. know I’ll be getting to perform,” their long weekend of pavement- After their water glass fiasco, Lem- DeLee Cooper said. “Because once pounding. mons and Taggard receive some un- you graduate you might not have a “The goal in coming here, at least expected praise and notice. They kept job for a while. I’m just really excited for me, is to get some perspective of their cool. They didn’t let a hiccup to be here in the city and doing what where I sit in the hierarchy of things devastate them. Agents found that im- I love, because who knows when the in New York City,” Wright State B.F.A. pressive. next opportunity is going to be.” student Zack Steele said. As part of his “It happened in slow motion, you warm-up, Steele tunes his guitar; he know,” Taggard said once safely off- ‘Scary people in the scary room’ provides the accompaniment to a class- stage. “But there was nothing I could The next day, students gather at mate’s solo in the showcase. “When do about it. You just sort of have to ac- Telsey+Company, a leading casting you go to college, you aren’t really knowledge it and move on.” A San Fran- agency on West 43rd. Instead of a sure. You’re a big fish in high school cisco native, Taggard came to Wright bright stage and an attentive audi- and then you go to college and say, State by way of Interlochen Summer Arts ence, this is the cloistered world ‘Okay, at this level where am I at?’” Camp, where Greg Hellems, a WSU fac- of professional auditions. Huddled Months prior, WSU faculty sent ulty member, is an instructor. near a closed door, the group whis- out hundreds of invitations to agents, That same steely-eyed positiv- pers, listens, and waits for their name directors, choreographers, musical ity and determination is evident in to be called.

DECEMBER 2014 • DRAMATICS 73 WSU graduates get advice from [title of show]’s Susan Blackwell, below, also a Wright State alumna, on living and working in New York City. “The scary people in the scary can play King Arthur right now?’ And room,” Cameron Blankenship said. I said, ‘No, this song just has a better Inside, the students perform their arc and I can act more in this song.’ showcase pieces again, getting feed- And they said, ‘Sing the Mordred song back from the handful of casting from Camelot. Sing the other charac- directors who have agreed to spend ter because you could play that part a few hours responding to each stu- right now.’ And I said okay because dent’s performance, appearance, and I do have that song in my book. It’s headshot. In some cases, students academic theatre versus the business hear old news: admonishment about world. And they told me to shave.” bad habits, encouragement to loosen Greg Hellems, Wright State profes- up and have more fun. sor of musical theatre and acting, said But some of the responses are that while it’s great if students come brand new, and students are coached away from the showcase experience to expect questions about their choic- with jobs or agents—there’s more to it es. While they’re well-prepared, this than that. is a new world. For example, often in “For most students,” Hellems said, university theatre, directors are cast- “the real in showcasing is ing entire shows with people from the that you met your fear. Literally, by same age group. Characters written to the time you have finished showcase, be sixty, ten, forty-five, even eighty, you have performed your first show will all probably be realized by an ac- in front of a New York audience. For tor who is a young adult. students to have survived that and “But we have to have material that for them to have had a great experi- we can play right now,” Blankenship ence—that’s a great psychological said. His showcase piece, “I Wonder boost. For me as an educator, that’s What the King Is Doing Tonight,” is the most important thing: that they a King Arthur number from the musi- recognize their potential in the pro- cal Camelot. “When I played my song fession by having met their fear of they said, ‘Do you really think you having to compete at that level.”

74 DRAMATICS • DECEMBER 2014 training helped her home in on her comodations, navigate New York Know yourself—and your type sense of self and her place in the in- using the subway, and find their own According to Hellems, to thrive in dustry. meals. Students are also encouraged the industry, students not only need “I want everyone to see me to attend auditions outside of their skills and determination, but also a through my work,” Sage said. “The showcase agenda. Even those in the good grasp of who they are as people teachers at Wright State want you to group who have visited New York and what makes them special. This have a strong sense of who you are, before occasionally feel overwhelmed knowledge cultivates confidence, in- and I think all of our pieces really by the city’s pace. Students get a valuable in this line of work, as well show who we are as people.” sense of the daily grind in the theatre as a sophisticated sense of how best scene in New York and decide: this is to market yourself. He encourages his Rhinos, oysters, the city, or isn’t for me. students to imagine an Equity principal and uncertainty “You have to be super-organized audition. During the showcase weekend, stu- and super-hardworking,” Lemmons “When you go to that audition,” dents had to arrange their own ac- said. “You have to have a lot of will- he said, “more than likely, everyone in that room will be some version of you, in terms of appearance and personality. We tend to think of per- sonality types, so people will look for this kind of person or that kind of person. They need to understand where they fit in that column of peo- ple and they need to understand what makes them uniquely different.” Finding and clicking with your type is a process and, for many, an evolution. Young artists often dis- cover their identities in school while crafting their skillset. DeLee Cooper began her college career as a clas- sic ingénue with long blonde hair. Four years later, she sports an edgy burgundy pixie cut—less Cinderella, more American Idiot. “Type has been a really hard one for me,” Cooper said. “[Cutting my hair] drastically changed my type. But my voice still sounded the same, and I’m still the same person. So there’s a bit of a disconnect between who I am and what my skills are and how I look. And the people who are the most successful are the people who have a clear story and what they look like matches who they are.” Theatre is about living truthfully in the moment, not assuming a false persona. To know your type—you first have to know yourself. “A lot of people think theatre is about transformation, about being someone else,” Hellems said. “And it’s really it’s about revealing yourself in someone else’s experiences.” Kaitlyn Sage, another Interlochen A pair of Wright State classmates under an umbrella, taking the drippy New York City alumna, feels that her Wright State weather in stride. DECEMBER 2014 • DRAMATICS 75 power. In New York, you have to get goes, ‘Oh, I’m not going to be suc- having a pizza party in the dorms— up early. You have to get to your dance cessful or my education wasn’t what having all of these things that I will class or your acting class. You have to I needed it to be.’ That’s a universal remember with my classmates.” train yourself. And you have to find au- experience that students with show- Kelsey Andrae encouraged her ditions, and that’s not always easy. It’s cases have.” Texas family not to travel to Ohio more about time management.” Deer hates to see his students— for her graduation. It didn’t mean as Not to mention New York’s knack who are like his children, he said— much to her as the showcase week- for curveballs. One student hopped on experience that first crushing letdown, end with her B.F.A. cohort. an express train that stopped blocks but it’s an essential step. It has a bur- “Honestly, I didn’t want to walk from his destination; another went nishing quality: if they get through it because commencement is boring,” to the wrong studio space because it once then they’ve learned to cope. Andrae said. “There have been some had the same name as the place she “Of course you want someone to graduates from previous years who needed to be. Both basically hustled go, ‘I have a job for you right now,’” haven’t been able to make it to all of straight from their frustrating detour Blankenship said. “So there’s always their agency meetings because they into an audition, letting their adrena- going to be a little disappointment, just couldn’t fit it in before they had line carry them into the next moment. but that’s just how it is. We have to to leave for graduation. Showcase is “You start to get nervous and go, have the hide of a rhino, but the heart basically my version of graduating. It’s what if I’m not meant to do this?” of an oyster. Have the pearl inside, the end.” Cooper said. “What if I get there and but have the hard shell.” The end or the beginning? I change my mind and I spent all of “Well,” she said. “A little bit of this time and all of this on Goodbye/hello both.” an education? But I’ve worked really On their final morning together in hard and this is what it’s for.” New York, the group gathers for On success Some curveballs are more welcome. a discussion session with other According to Deer, the 2014 gradu- At her first New York audition outside Wright State alums led by [title ates of Wright State’s B.F.A. pro- the showcase appointments, Sage of show]’s Susan Blackwell, also gram did exceptionally well coming received a callback—for the day she a Wright State grad. The room is off their showcase weekend. Some planned to fly home. Delighted, her uncharacteristically quiet and con- quickly landed agents, got callbacks, mom offered to help find a new flight. templative—even somber at times. secured months’ worth of regional For Deer, the toughest part of the Sitting in a circle, speaking one at work and even a national tour. Oth- showcase is the reality-check. As a re- a time, each individual is candid ers, six months after graduating, are sult of the showcase, lots of students about what excites them and what back in their hometowns, working in get representation within six months of scares them about leaving college a restaurant, and wondering if New graduation. But many are left hoping and starting their careers. Money York is really the place. McDowell for that really big break—that doesn’t is a common theme, as is always pointed out: Actors’ Equity has the come. working low-status day jobs, and most unemployed union members in “No matter what we tell them being far away from family. The the country. Working in the theatre about the universal statistics of the showcase weekend has been about requires taking rejection in stride and likelihood that they’re going to get planning for the future and reflect- constantly starting over; Wright State’s an agent out of the showcase,” Deer ing. They have put in years of showcase is meant to prepare stu- said, “our students, like every other work, countless hours spent in act- dents for exactly that. student at every university, hope that ing studios, voice lessons, dance “It’s a scary career,” Sage said. what’s going to happen is they’ll do classes, auditions, and rehearsals. “There are so many people doing it. the showcase, they’ll get an audition “It’s like rose-colored glasses,” That’s something I think about a lot. for a Broadway show, and they’ll be Caroline Gruber said. “My favorite We’re doing our showcase, but every on Broadway within six weeks. They thing over the last four years would other school is doing their showcase. all understand that that’s not a realis- be all of these people. They mean so I know for myself that I have to try it. tic expectation, but they still harbor much to me. I know our class defi- I’ve always wanted to do musical the- it. That expectation of landing some- nitely has a family unit feel, and we atre, and I’ve always wanted to move thing golden is the hardest thing for all really care about each other suc- to New York ever since I was little. them, because when it doesn’t hap- ceeding. When I look back on my I’ve waited for my whole life. This is pen there’s a little piece of them that four years, it’s always memories of us now the moment.” t

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