Twenty-seven theatre students earning the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree at Coastal Carolina University are spending their summers working and studying in their discipline across the United States. Some students will act, dance and sing in their summer positions while others will teach, hold apprenticeships and work 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.

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.

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., will perform with the Bigfork Summer Playhouse in Bigfork, Mont. For her third summer in a row with Bigfork, Mason will star as Fiona in "Shrek the Musical." Kapur will be featured as Rizzo in the playhouse's production of "Grease," as well as in "Young Frankenstein" and "Shrek." Both women will end the season with roles in "42nd Street."

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

JP McLaurin, from Greer, S.C., can be found backstage with the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., where he will spend 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," will spend 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, will work in different locations across the East Coast for the summer. Cameron returns to his home state to intern with the Lexington Children's Theatre, while his brother Cody will work as an actor and combatant for "Unto These Hills Outdoor Drama" in Cherokee, N.C. Chanticleer Sophia Kider, a rising junior from Warren, N.J., will join the Taylors, playing the role of Selu in the historic drama.

Hannah Garmon, a rising junior, will return to her home state of Georgia to play the role of Rapunzel in "Into the Woods" with The Performer's Warehouse. BFA acting majors Izabel Dorst, a junior, and Zach Montou, a sophomore, will also perform. Dorst, of Charleston, W.Va., will dance 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, will perform and study in the Broadway Dance Center's Summer Training Program in New York, where he will study ballet, jazz and tap.

Erin Paxton, from Severna Park, Md., will perform 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., is going to Phoenicia, N.Y., to be a part of the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice beginning Aug. 4. Rast will play the role of Ralph in "Kiss Me Kate," and will also be featured in the opera "Otello" during the festival. New 2016 BFA musical theatre graduate Sarah Stipe will join Phillip in "Kiss Me Kate," playing the role of Hattie.

Gavin Carnahan of McKeesport, Pa., performs in four different productions over the summer at the Huron Playhouse in Ohio. He has been cast in "A Chorus Line" and will also perform 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, will join the Shakespeare & Company's Young Summer Conservatory along with Dalton Hedrick, a BFA physical theatre major who hails from Fredericksburg, Va. Hedrick will also work 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, will perform with the Cape Rep Theatre in Brewster, Mass., in "Hairspray" and "Rough Crossing."

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