BWW Blog: A College Without Musicals

When I first decided to involve myself with the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg's Theatre Company I, like many others, had a set of expectations for what I would be doing there. Singing, acting, dancing... I was fully prepared to do, and see, it all! What I was not expecting was that we would not be performing musicals, or at least that us actors would be lucky if we had the opportunity to perform in one during our four years at college. To someone who grew up listening to Broadway tunes such as Wicked and Phantom of the Opera, this news was absolutely crushing.

I was a sheltered cyber school student growing up and never had the chance to be in many musicals. When I was particularly young, I was in exactly four shows: Hairspray, Cinderella, Annie, and The Little Mermaid. Theater was always so thrilling and exciting-seeing a performance come together could compare to practically no other experience. I wanted to be in musicals more, so when I enrolled for college I was ready! My first two semesters were jam-packed and busy so it was hard to get into theater right away, but during the Fall semester of my Sophomore year I finally had the chance to take part as the Social Media Manager for the production of... Dracula?

I have always been a fan of stories regarding classic monsters like Dracula, but to see it done in a theater setting was new for me-especially when I learned it was a play and not a musical. I was apprehensive as to whether I would enjoy the bulk of the content while I dropped by nearly every night to photograph key moments and determine what content would be best to post on Twitter and Instagram. Faster than I expected, I fell utterly in love with this play. The way the actors interpreted and read the old-timey dialogue was impressive and interesting, and they conveyed this story with grace. By the end of the production, I had nearly every word memorized.

Dracula was the experience that inspired me to consider a different side of theater: plays. Being a fan of musicals from an early age, I never gave plays a fair chance and considered them boring. The idea of sitting through a play that lasted the length of a movie-or often more-was excruciating to me, but the performance my college campus put on convinced me to look at them in a new light. Watching this play progress from its early production to final matinee was a blessing and I'm forever grateful to our director for inviting me to take part in it.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 prevented me from making my debut in a play as an actress. I was going to play a small role in our production of The Government Inspector, a play which takes place in Russia. While we were not fortunate enough to see this play fully put together, I look forward to auditioning again in the Fall for the next play we do. The bonds I have created with everyone in the theatre company through my social media and acting are something I cherish with all my heart. I look forward to taking part in both productions for my senior year and finishing off my college career strong before I move on to working on the social media for a bigger production-hopefully in Pittsburgh!