Wagner’s Amazing Performers

If you want to be blown away by amazing performances and theatre productions, then Wagner is the place to go. The productions that are put up with the theatre majors are simply mind blowing. I have loved every single one of the musicals and plays I have seen. The actors, singers, and dancers are spectacular, but of course a good show would not be able to succeed without amazing direction and stage managing. Wagner Theatre is a landmark for the college.
There are four different types of performing groups on campus; two are student-run and two are run by the theatre department. These groups are Complete Student Productions (CSP), Student Run Musical Theatre (SRMT), Stage One, and Main Stage Productions. The first two will be covered in this blog and the other two will be covered in next week's blog, trust me... They deserve a good amount of description and I want to spend time on each.

Complete Student Productions
The students in CSP focus on both musicals and plays. Some of the plays of the past three semesters are A Very Potter Musical, Rocky Horror, All Shook Up, and Dark Mondays. Rocky Horror is perhaps the most famous show for CSP, since it is a tradition to do the show around Halloween every year. Everyone who attends laces up and gets ready for the interactive show.
This was the first year CSP did A Very Potter Musical; it attracted a huge crowd on both nights, mostly of big Harry Potter fans like myself. All Shook Up was done last semester and I absolutely loved it—it was so magnificently done. Finally, CSP did Dark Mondays, an original play written by a graduate student. I was part of this show, which we performed first at Wagner and then took Off-Off-Broadway. It was a great experience, and I would definitely want to be a part of it again.

Student Run Musical Theatre
SRMT is a group of students that focuses mainly on producing musicals, although this semester they performed The Normal Heart. SRMT was founded by three people; two already graduated (one of them is a brother of Theta Chi), and the third student is a senior now and also a brother of Theta Chi. Here are some of the titles they've done: Company, Spring Awakening the Musical, The Normal Heart, and [title of show]. All of the shows have been amazing, but my favorite one was Company. The casting done for Company was perfect — each actor was perfect for the assigned role, the directing was brilliant, and the music was really catchy too. Branching out from the usual musicals, The Normal Heart also proved to be a masterpiece. The play was intense and very emotional. I was very moved by it.
Stay tuned for the next blog's view into Wagner's Stage One and Main Stage Productions...