Tag Archives: theatre

Ghosts

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Tonight I went on a tour of campus, but not the sort of tour that you’ll go on with student ambassadors from the admissions office. Instead, this tour was a ghost tour of McDaniel, and I really enjoyed it.

When I heard that Alpha Psi Omega, the National Theater Honor Society on campus, was putting on ghost tours last night and tonight, I knew I had to go, especially since I enjoyed the ghost tour I took of Westminster last month (which I wrote about here). Though urban legends and folklore exist on campus, I’d never really heard any of these stories and wanted to learn about them.

Tonight was a perfect night for a ghost tour too. It was pleasantly warm outside, which isn’t so spooky, but the fogginess of the night contributed to an ideal atmosphere. Our tour was led by two theater students who were very familiar with the stories and even claim to have experienced paranormal activities themselves. Theater majors supposedly encounter ghosts a lot, since the theater boasts three ghosts. They think their ghosts are pretty friendly though, especially one named Harvey, who watches out for crew members when they do lighting and likes to watch rehearsals.

A lot of the stories that have been passed down over the years seem a little outlandish, and I’m a little skeptical about them. I think I’m going to have to do a little research to see how these legends originated. Still, I found the stories to be really interesting, and going on the tour was a great way to spend part of my evening.

And don’t worry–chances are, you’ll never encounter a ghost on campus. Unless you look for them…

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Hairspray, WOW!

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McDaniel Theatre Department brought the house down with our run of HAIRSPRAY this past weekend! After having the first set of auditions at the end of last semester, followed by another set during the first week of school this semester, the production team assembled about 30 people to hop back into 1960s Baltimore for a few weeks. It takes so many more people to put on a show than you see on the stage. In addition to the multitudes performing onstage we had crew people, myself included, running around backstage to make sure each piece fit perfectly together and an awesome production team that were the masterminds behind everything. Starting the last week in August and ending the first week in October were some of the most stressful days of my semester. I give everyone that was at all the rehearsals mad props. Almost every night of the week they were huddled in the freezing theatre, working on another dance or another song or more blocking. They put all their time, hearts and talents into this show to make it as good as it possibly could have been. I was honored to be working as the Dramaturg and Assistant Costumer. I had previously done a production of HAIRSPRAY as an actor so it was an amazing experience getting to know the dark side of the theatre world. Get it? Dark side. Sorry, bad joke.
Anyway, production week was a mess of crazy. Adding lights, sounds, special effects and costumes is always a big change for everyone. By the end of our dress rehearsal on Tuesday there were still a few kinks to work out and I was worried how the next night would turn out. The cast did so much publicity for the show and made it known to the entire Westminster community that it was going to be a must-see so we knew everything had to be perfect. Opening night came on Wednesday and we had a few hundred sitting in the audience. The magic theatre gods watched over us and performed a miracle. The show went on without a single problem. The last beat of music played and everyone was on their feet cheering. Then Friday and Saturday came. On Friday, we started the show about fifteen minutes late because at 7:30pm, when we were supposed to start, there was still a line out the door and down the street. Both nights we did sold out shows. It was the first sold out show since ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW was performed in the Fall of 2009.
The entire experience was such an accomplishment. For such a small department, we pulled it together and wrangled up people who had always admired the show and theatre and didn’t know how to get in. We gave hundreds of people the chance to experience a girl have her dream come true in 1962 Baltimore. The community we built over the last few months is one that I hope lasts long after the show is forgotten about. I loved meeting all the new Freshman and the people who had never even thought about doing a show before HAIRSPRAY. I made so many new friends and I love seeing their smiling faces all over campus. You never really can stop the beat.

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Two Down, Two to Go

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First of all, when did I become a junior? People always say college flies by because you are having so much fun and I never believed it till now. It seems like just yesterday I was starting my first semester as a freshman. I do admit, a lot has changed, for the better, since that first move-in day. I came to college a completely different person than I am today. The people that I have met here, both my friends and the faculty members, have shown me how to become my own person and have helped me grow into someone I like a lot more than the person I was after graduating high school. I’ve had the awesome chances to explore classes and subjects that I never thought I would like, yet somehow, I have at least one happy memory from every class. Even my Astronomy class, which I really hated at the time, I still laugh when I think about the children’s book my best friend and I put together as extra credit and how much fun it was to work on that project together. I can remember walking into my first auditions for the theatre department (auditioning for A Doll’s House) and Vagina Monologues being absolutely terrified that I was going to fail. Yesterday, I was hanging flyers up for Vagina Monologues interest meetings, since I will be co-directing them this year.

My entire outlook and dreams in life have completely changed. I came to college at a Theatre Arts major with the intent on getting on Broadway one day. Now, I am an English major with a Writing minor and a dream to write inspirational and magical fairytales for the Disney Company. I have become a more positive person and I continue to learn how to be a better person every day. McDaniel is listed as one of the top schools in Colleges that Change Lives because it is 100% true. Since coming to college I am so much happier and excited about my future. I can’t wait to see what these next two years on The Hill hold for me. After only a day of going through my classes, I am super excited about all of them. This semester I will be taking Literature by Women, Approaches to Everyday Discourse, Austen, Hip Hop Dance and Jazz Dance. The two dance classes are gym classes so they will only be five weeks each and since I love dance, I’m very excited to be able to get some of my gym requirement out of the way with dance classes. As for my other three classes, I love all three professors. They are extremely talented and know precisely what they are teaching. Going to class this semester will not be a difficult chore, but an opportunity to enhance my skills.

It may be a little early still but I have already started thinking about what I want my Senior Sem to be about. Being that I love Disney, I’d love to incorporate that. If the Discourse class goes well, which I think it will, I may do something about Walt Disney’s speeches or maybe the rhetoric of the parks even. The Disney Company absolutely fascinates me so I know I want to combine it with my love for language and literature to create an amazing Senior Sem that is not only a requirement for graduation, but also something fun and interesting. As far as this year goes, I am looking forward to all the adventures that lie ahead and I welcome them all with a smile.

~ “First day of school! First day of school! Wake up, wake up! Come on, first day of school!” –Nemo Finding Nemo~

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