Fall showcase features 17 students in variety show of comedy, drama, music directed by students

Story: Phillip Tutor | Photos: Dustin Prine

Rhonda Wooley’s plans, had the Covid-19 pandemic not delayed them, were to take the University of West Alabama’s theatre students on a tour of high schools and community colleges — a traveling showcase of musical and theatrical talent.

Like so many university activities during the pandemic, that tour didn’t happen. But Wooley, an assistant professor of theatre at the university, is ecstatic over the UWA theatre program’s first-ever Semester Showcase at the UWA Auditorium on Thursday night.

The doors open at 6:30 p.m. The program starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

“For so long at the beginning of this semester, things were wonky, and we didn’t know if we would be able to do a regular show or not,” Wooley said. “Finally, we had to make a choice on putting something on that stage, and I thought, ‘Just go for it.’”

So, she is.

Seventeen UWA students will either perform in or help produce the Semester Showcase, which will feature four one-act plays and two musical-theater performances. Wooley describes the event as a “variety show” whose plays will be a mixture of comedies and dramas. Each of the one-act plays, directed by students, will run between eight and 12 minutes.

Wooley’s goal is for a semester-ending showcase to permanently reside on the theatre program’s schedule. Because Thursday’s event features students from three classes — Acting 2, Directing and Dramatics Lab — the night’s expansive schedule includes six different performances. Each semester’s showcase will vary in size and variety of acts because it will focus on the classes taught that term, she said.

Thursday’s program will include songs from “Funny Girl” and “Hamilton,” and one-act selections from “Cain Town,” “I Can’t Think Of It Right Now,” “The First Fireworks” and “Help Desk.”

Though she’s eager to spotlight her students’ talents, Wooley adamantly believes events like this will expose students interested in theatre studies to UWA’s program and, she hopes, lead them to coming to Livingston.

“Oh, absolutely, without a doubt,” said Wooley, who has promoted the event to theatre teachers in Alabama high schools. “This is a good evening to come out, it’s not going to take up tons of your time, and you can see what we do here in theatre.”