CCU Theatre students enjoying summer jobs

by Hanks

Twenty-seven theatre students earning the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree at Coastal Carolina University are spending their summer working and studying in their discipline across the United States. Some students are acting, dancing and singing in their summer positions, while others are teaching, holding apprenticeships and working behind the scenes as stagehands, costume designers and production assistants, according to their particular field of study.

There are four different groups of BFA students, including those in the BFA-musical theatre program and the BFA-theatre arts, with concentrations in acting, physical theatre, and design and technology. All current BFA students were recruited and required to audition or interview for the highly coveted spots within the programs. CCU theatre faculty hold auditions across the country annually for the 10 to 12 who are accepted into each of the four areas.

Tyler Keller, a 2015 graduate, will be setting sail aboard The Norwegian Breakaway from September 2016 to March 2017, playing the role of Franz in "Rock of Ages."

Brian Marshall, a 2016 graduate from Columbia, S.C., worked as a production assistant for the “Hamilton” Bootcamp in New York. This week-long intensive experience was the final stage in the audition process for the hit musical “Hamilton.” He also traveled to Stockbridge, Mass., for a company management internship with the Berkshire Theatre Group. His fellow 2016 graduate, Melissa Cabey, from Toms River, N.J., left just after graduation to perform as a singer and dancer in two productions with Carnival Cruise Lines.

The rising seniors working this summer include Emily Kakish of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Ashlyn Inman of Turlock, Calif.; and Kailey Mixer of San Diego, Calif., who traveled to the United Kingdom for the summer musical theatre program at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Grant Zavitkovsky of Tega Cay, S.C., is performing in the McLeod Summer Playhouse’s rendition of “Rock of Ages” in Carbondale, Ill., and in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

Paige Mason from Lexington, Ky., and Kelly Kapur from Charlotte, N.C., performed with the Bigfork Summer Playhouse in Bigfork, Mont. For her third summer in a row with Bigfork, Mason starred as Fiona in “Shrek the Musical.” Kapur was featured as Rizzo in the playhouse’s production of “Grease,” as well as in “Young Frankenstein” and “Shrek.” Both women ended the season with roles in “42nd Street.”

Mikayla Goetz, from Cocoa, Fla., spent her summer as an acting apprentice with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Keondra Walker, a senior acting major of North Charleston, spent her second summer with Shakespeare & Company as an intern for its summer theatre program in Lenox, Mass. She also taught a series of two-week programs for the Riotous Youth Company beginning in July.

JP McLaurin, from Greer, S.C., was backstage with the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., where he spent his summer in the artistic department working as a company development intern. Myrtle Beach native Maria Nieto, known for her costume designs in the CCU productions of “The 1940’s Radio Hour” and “Pride and Prejudice,” spent her summer in New Mexico working with the Santa Fe Opera as a wardrobe apprentice.

Twin brothers Cameron and Cody Taylor of Lexington, Ky., both senior physical theatre majors, worked in different locations across the East Coast for the summer. Cameron returned to his home state to intern with the Lexington Children’s Theatre, while his brother Cody worked as an actor and combatant for “Unto These Hills Outdoor Drama” in Cherokee, N.C. Sophia Kider, a rising junior from Warren, N.J., joined the Taylors, playing the role of Selu in the historic drama.

Hannah Garmon, a rising junior, returned to her home state of Georgia to play the role of Rapunzel in “Into the Woods” with The Performer’s Warehouse in Alpharetta. BFA acting majors Izabel Dorst, a junior, and Zach Montou, a sophomore, also performed during the summer. Dorst, of Charleston, W.Va., danced in “Horn in the West,” a dramatic reenactment of North Carolina’s Revolutionary War history in Boone, N.C., for the majority of the summer. Montou, of Mansfield, Texas, performed and studied in the Broadway Dance Center’s Summer Training Program in New York, where he studied ballet, jazz and tap.

Erin Paxton, from Severna Park, Md., performed at the Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio, singing in the Toes in the Sand Band with performances through August. Phillip Rast of Effingham, S.C., went to Phoenicia, N.Y., to be a part of the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice beginning Aug. 4. Rast played the role of Ralph in “Kiss Me Kate” and was also featured in the opera “Otello” during the festival. New 2016 BFA musical theatre graduate Sarah Stipe joined Phillip in “Kiss Me Kate,” playing the role of Hattie.

Gavin Carnahan of McKeesport, Pa., performed in four different productions over the summer at the Huron Playhouse in Ohio. He was cast in “A Chorus Line” and also performed in “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike” and “The Birds.”

Winner of the Mari and Kenneth Share scholarship, Devante Owens, a sophomore BFA acting major, joined the Shakespeare & Company’s Young Summer Conservatory along with Dalton Hedrick, a BFA physical theatre major who hails from Fredericksburg, Va. Hedrick also worked as an intern with The Ume Group, a New York-based physical theatre ensemble known for its impressive and risky physical performances. Myrtle Beach resident Noah Pelty, also in the sophomore BFA acting class, performed with the Cape Rep Theatre in Brewster, Mass., in “Hairspray” and “Rough Crossing.”

TJ Little, a BFA musical theatre major from Keller, Texas, was featured in the ensemble at the Casa Manana Theatre in Fort Worth, just a few miles from his hometown. Freshman John Dudley returned to his hometown of Rockledge, Fla., to assistant-direct a production of “Godspell” with Bound for Broadway Studio. After that, he headed to the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice to be in the ensemble of "Kiss Me Kate.”