Horizons Fall 2015

The current program has about 30 students whose declared major is theatre, plus many more who are minoring in the- atre or who are taking theatre classes for enrichment reasons. The program intentionally has a wide-open door for par- ticipation, especially in productions of its plays and musicals. “We encourage some people who want to be engaged because they just want to be involved in something that’s cool,” Adams said. Volunteers are eligible, as well, to perform on stage, paint scenery, operate lighting, or gather props. The intimate, personal nature is one of the program’s best selling points, according to Lagos and Butler. Professors pay close attention to students’ needs, curriculum can be tailored, and students have opportunities they might not get in a mega-competitive program. TO BE OR NOT TO BE Professors also encourage latent talent. Michael Friedman, a theatre major on track to get a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2016, never considered himself a dancer. But, his professors helped to develop his dancing aptitude to the point that he was cast in a professional production of A Chorus Line in December 2014 at the Delray Center for the Arts in Delray Beach. Butler, who started as a psychology major, was among the first students to audition for, and receive, one of the annual Performing and Visual Arts grants from the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences available to current undergraduate students, incoming freshmen, and transfer students. The program’s scope has grown, and it now mounts four or five productions a year including, this season, the Mount Everest of theater, Hamlet , which will feature a female Hamlet played by Busk. The program’s first production of the year was the unconven- tional Bat Boy: The Musical . It brings in lecturers such as playwright Edward Albee, who has won the Pulitzer Prize three times. Mas- ter classes feature guests like local actor-director Paul Tei, who works on both stage and screen. Staff members have even chaperoned theater trips abroad to London. Faculty and staff members include experi- enced theater professionals such as Margaret M. Ledford, an acclaimed Carbonell Award-winning director, who also heads the program’s technical production facet. NSU’s ongoing relationship with local professional troupes enables students to intern in every facet of the performing arts from acting in ensembles to lighting design. For several years, the primary partner wasThe Promethean Theatre, which operated on the campus. After it closed, bonds were established with such off-campus troupes as Fort Lau- derdale’s Thinking Cap Theatre where Duncan is managing director/associate producer. “Learning in the real world, you get a different realm of experience,” said Busk, who has worked at Thinking Cap and participated in a professional play reading at GableStage. Some graduates are hired by professional companies, such as Broward Stage Door, GableStage, Slow Burn, Mad Cat Theatre Company, andThe Playground Theatre, all of which are in South Florida, and Theatre of the Stars in Atlanta. Going forward, a primary challenge is to raise the program’s profile among high schools, patrons in surrounding com- munities, donors for scholarships, and even on campus. Duncan admitted that “it has taken a while to get our name out there. It is going to be a challenge [to tout theater] at a university that has biology, medicine, and business as its primary majors, but we’re starting to make inroads.” Now that the program has the facilities and the capacity, the faculty is eagerly poised to make its mark, Duncan said. “It’s time to turn that corner.” 25 NSU HORIZONS Staff member Margaret M. Ledford adjusts the costume of Mariah Busk, who will play the title role in the upcoming production of Hamlet .