One of my proudest achievements at IUPUI has been boosting the theater presence on campus. Last year, I assisted a few other enthusiastic students in my Introduction to Theatre course in starting a student organization that could foster the development of on-campus resources for those interested in theatre as a hobby or even as a career. We call ourselves Performing Arts at IUPUI and we have close to 50 regular members who are interested in film, voice acting, music, juggling, costuming, etc. We try to cover the full spectrum of performing arts.
Click the fullscreen button below to browse some of my experiences with the Performing Arts Club!
This is the initial group of club members at the callout meeting last spring. Not a bad turnout, though we've grown since then!
Last semester, I was voted Vice-President of the Performing Arts Club for my proven dedication to the organization and for my zealous support of the Indianapolis theatre community. Pictured here also are the President and Secretary of the club.
Over the summer, a small selection of the club participated in the 48 Hour Film Festival through the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I was one of 6 ambitious students to write, design, stage, act, film, and edit an entire short film in exactly 48 hours.
This was a fantastic opportunity and one of my best moments as an actor. We were given the prompt of a buddy film and I was lucky to be one of the leads. Most first-timers do not even complete the project. Not only did we complete the film, but also we had wonderful audience reactions to it and compliments from some of the seasoned filmmakers.
Our big project for the year has been a writing contest called JagVoices for 10-minute short plays to be produced this spring. I had my first “aha” moment as a scriptwriter when I got to hear people read the words I wrote at auditions. It was indescribable to hear their actors’ choices for my characters.
Mine was one of five out of twelve scripts to be chosen for production. I am also fortunate enough to have directed the play I wrote, which is just boosting my understanding of what it truly takes to get a play from inside the writers’ mind to the actors’ lips to the physical stage.
My focus as an officer of the club was to coordinate artwork by Herron art students to be displayed outside the theatre space during the performances. I contacted the artists and handled the logistics of curating the pieces.
I am especially grateful for my off-campus experiences (with the Phoenix and Footlite Theaters) because they only enhance my ability to provide resources to the rest of the club. I am pictured here on the left as Anybodys in Footlite's summer 2015 production of West Side Story.
The same director for West Side Story when I was in it over the summer also recently directed Avenue Q on the Footlite stage. Therefore, I was able to arrange a free viewing of the show and a backstage tour of the new renovations to the theatre.
Pictured here is the club meeting one of the stars of the show--a puppet named Princeton!
I took a performance class at IUPUI, which put on a play by David Ives. I acted in the portion titled, "Sure Thing" and created some deep friendships. Here is the cast photo.
This semester, I am taking another performance class, which is putting on "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare...Abridged." It has been a riot, and actually very challenging for me as an actor. We perform in the Cavanaugh Black Box Theatre April 22-24.
This photo was taken at the most recent Performing Arts Club meeting, in which I was re-elected as Vice-President. I have high hopes for the potential of this enthusiastic group of peers!
Some of my favorite people and I collaborated on writing a children's show for the Indy Fringe festival. It was called "A Tairy Fale: The Fourth Little Pig." We got great reviews, even being compared to such shows as Shrek and Wicked.
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