Southeast holding showcase for senior theater majors

Graduating theater majors at Southeast Missouri State University are getting ready to hit the big time after years of practice, rehearsals and memorizing scripts and lyrics.

To professionally promote the senior talent, the Department of Theatre and Dance will hold its annual Senior Showcase -- essentially a cabaret -- at 7:30 p.m. May 9 and 10 in the Rust Flexible Theatre on the River Campus, according to a news release from the university. A reception will follow both performances in the John and Betty Glenn Convocation Center.

The Senior Showcase assists in professionally promoting seniors who have completed a bachelor of fine arts and bachelor of arts with a performance emphasis. Students will perform for invited agents, casting directors and professional actors from New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Select seniors will perform songs, monologues and dance pieces they have perfected through on-campus workshops presented by visiting professionals.

Those performing in the musical theater/acting numbers are Jacob Buckenmyer of Cape Girardeau, Alyssa Cooper of Lee's Summit, Missouri, Madison Doty of Cape Girardeau, Molly Dowd of St. Louis, Andrew Gehrlein of Rolla, Missouri, Beth Guebert of Naperville, Illinois, William Humphrey of Owasso, Oklahoma, Courtney Kestermont of Festus, Missouri, Kyle Morr of St. Charles, Missouri, Ronnie Rossi of Lake St. Louis, Missouri, and Shannon Walton of Arlington, Tennessee.

Those performing dance numbers will be Laura Goeing of Plainfield, Illinois, Katrina Guittar of Fulton, Missouri, Taylor Holiman of Columbia, Missouri, Leshay Mathis of O'Fallon, Illinois, and Garrett Welker of Perryville, Missouri.

Tara Meyer of Cape Girardeau is participating in the design/technology area.

The Senior Showcase is designed to present Southeast Theatre and Dance graduates to New York agents, casting directors and working professional actors to help jump-start their careers as actors, dancers and designers.

"Performing is a tough career field to break into, so the Senior Showcase gives our graduates a chance to get their foot in the doors of the people who can get their careers off the ground," said Dr. Phil Nacy, chairman of the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Corporate sponsors for Senior Showcase are Commerce Bank, Rhodes 101 Convenience Stores, Saxony Village and SoutheastHEALTH.

Theater and dance students, based on their performance throughout this academic year, have been selected to advance to New York City to perform May 20 before agents, casting directors, industry professionals, alumni and friends of the university, according to Nacy. Those selected to perform in the New York City Showcase are Buckenmyer, Cooper, Doty, Dowd, Gehrlein, Guebert, Humphrey, Kestermont, Morr and Walton.

Mathis will perform in the New York City dance workshops. Goeing, Guittar and Holiman will participate in master classes in Chicago, while Rossi and Meyer traveled to Los Angeles to audition and interview with industry professionals.

The Cape Girardeau Senior Showcase is open to the public. Reservations may be made with a donation to the Department of Theatre and Dance by calling 651-2149.