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Mary Michele Hawver, choreographer for
the Theater Arts production of “Guys and
Dolls,” demonstrates some steps for the
men and women who attempt to earn a
place in the cast of the first musical to be
presented at Texas A&M since “Three Pen
ny Opera” last spring. Hawver, a sopho
more theater arts major, has been a dancer
for 11 years, and is very excited about the
prospect of choreographing a major
musical. Auditions took place Sunday,
Monday and Tuesday nights in the Forum,
where over 100 people tried out for the
50-60 member cast. The show will run five
nights from April 15-19.
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lal theater is their goal...
b. “It kind of threw them be-
e they hadn’t done that before,
iey were awful, and they’ll tell
that too.”
lother lesson he learned during
with the Shakespeare Festival
that it’s important to keep
dships up-to-date,
learned you have to have con-
in order to make a living in
jssional theater.”
) help with job placement, Sod-
calls people just to keep in con-
and doesn’t necessarily ask
i for anything.
lanne Smith, a theater arts stu-
who graduated last semester,
i job as a lighting intern when
Jers made one of these calls,
le is now 30 minutes outside of
York City, and spends her time
g back and forth looking for job
irtunities and making a lot of
acts, while also getting good
hence for her resume,
lother way Sodders has tried to
his students professional ex-
mce is by accompanying them
mding them to various confer-
s and festivals to audition.
ie group got back two weeks
rom Fort Worth where they au-
led for the Southwest Theater
erence, which offers jobs in
ner stock, summer musicals
graduate and professional
ng programs. Sodders said he
very pleased, because many
ants were called back for inter-
s.
so, three students just recently
ned from the Midwest Summer
ical Auditions in St. Louis,
e they have been called back
jdition again before the final
:es are made.
hen a student is going to gra-
3, the standard thing in theater
is to go on to graduate school,
e they can specialize. There
some graduate programs that
(professional theaters on cam-
Sodders said.
Vhat I’m trying to encourage
i to do is to make sure they get
ste of professional theater be-
they waste their time going on
raduate school. If they decide
they don’t like it, then they need to
find something else.
“Some of them surprise them
selves, they think they want to be
actors and actresses, and they dis
cover that they are very proficient in
scene design or lighting design.”
Sometimes a student will get in
volved in an internship or a training
program and when it’s over is faced
with the decision of whether to go
on to New York or not.
"I encourage them to go on to get
another training program; they’re
too young right now to go to New
York. There are too many other
people running around their same
ages,” he said.
There are 35 theater arts majors
at Texas A&M, and Sodders
doesn’t know how many minors
there are. Until about fours years
ago, one couldn’t get a major in
theater because it was only a part of
the English curriculum.
Sodders will plan a few changes
in the theater arts curriculum prob
ably by next year. Many new
courses are needed, such as a
make-up course, an on-stage
movement course and a history of
scene design course, but they need
to decide what is the most impor
tant, he said.
“I’ve been very cautious, be
cause I felt like when I first came
here I needed to get to know A&M.
And I needed to know what kind of
students I had here, which I have
been very pleased with. They are
very intelligent and have a great de
sire to learn about theater.”
Next year, the department will
most likely enter the American Col
lege Theater Festival in which you
must enter a full length production
at a state festival, Sodders said. In
this case, they would go to a festival
held at the University of Houston.
From there, eight plays are pre
sented at a regional festival like one
in Fort Worth, which represents the
five state area of Oklahoma, New
Mexico, Texas, Arkansas and
Louisiana.
Across the nation there are 13 of
these festivals, from which they will
select eight plays to be presented at
Kennedy Center. All expenses to
Kennedy Center will be paid. The
problem for them now is that the
university must pay for entering the
state and regional festivals.
“I’ve been working desparately
to get the finances for that,” Sod
ders said.
The two organizations con
nected with theater arts, Alpha Psi
Omega and Aggie Players, are both
going to apply for money like other
University organizations do. It’s a
very worthwhile thing, he said.
To add to the department, Sod
ders has been recruiting high
school students to come to A&M.
Most people don’t know that A&M
has a theater arts department, but
once the word starts getting around,
the department will grow, he said.
He has had four definite yes
answers and three possibilities.
“I guess we’re the only art that
has flourished on campus in terms
of being able to offer a degree, and I
think it’s going to take even more
time to make drastic changes, but
we’re certainly working on that.”
Sodders is also trying to expose
the students to as many profession
al people as possible.
Aggie Players is sponsoring an
acting workshop to be taught by
New York director Kenneth Frankel
on March 3-4. Frankel, who has
won many awards, was the original
director of “When You Cornin’ Back
Red Ryder,” but unfortunately
could not be here for the showing of
the play, Sodders said.
“Frankel is, I hope, the start of
bringing other professional theater
people on campus to work with our
students.”
With the bringing in of more pro
fessionals and the other methods
used to orient the students to pro
fessional theater, Sodders is direct
ing the theater arts department,
small compared with some univer
sities, to a higher level of expertise
and professionalism.
As he says of the program:
“What I can offer them here is ex
perience.”
Richard Sodders, head of the Theater Arts department,
instructs the students in the procedure to be followed
during the auditions for “Guys and Dolls. ” Sodders, who
has been at A&M since the beginning of last fall, tries to
make sure the students get as much professional experi
ence as possible by conducting auditions similar to
those in professional theater.