SEMO's 'An American Hero' takes home big awards from New York Music Festival

Taking a show to the New York Musical Festival was already a big deal to the cast, crew and faculty behind Southeast Missouri State University's original musical "An American Hero."

"This [festival] is an international thing," said Bart Williams, assistant professor of acting and stage combat at Southeast, who was fight director, faculty chaperone and cast member for the show.

"No university had ever done this," he said.

But the World War II saga did even better, taking home the Best of the Festival award, a citation for university excellence and the Outstanding Individual Performance award for lead actor Adam Schween. "An American Hero" was one of 12 productions showcased in the festival.

Co-written by 2017 Southeast graduate Cody Cole and Kenn Stilson, chair of The Jeanine Larson Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre and Dance, "An American Hero" follows Irish immigrant Thomas O'Brien as he falls in love, fights for America and becomes a reluctant war hero.

The Best of the Festival award is decided by audience votes and Williams said the show's success was likely due to an array of factors, including the action, music and character arcs. The show's main themes, he said, are about identity, service and struggle.

"While it's about World War II, while that's the setting and circumstances, the show is really about the immigrant experience," he said, adding the focus on an Irish protagonist framed an increasingly salient issue, immigration, in an unconventional way.

"I think that took people off guard. When people think of immigrants, they don't really think of the Irish," he said.

The show's action scenes, Williams said, also drew praise from audiences.

The show opens with a "semi-comedic, out-of-control, sprawling bar fight that sort of comes out of nowhere," said Williams, who as fight director was responsible for much of the show's kinetic blocking. "Then 10 minutes later, the next fight we do is the landing on D-Day."

And throughout the show, composer Cody Cole's music draws from both big-band jazz and Irish pub anthems alike.

"The music is really great," Williams said. "People were very impressed."

Williams also praised the professionalism of the student cast.

"They were so focused on doing their job they didn't have time to worry about what the audiences would be like," he said of the more than 30 cast and crew who traveled to New York to perform. "[Performing in New York City] is a big thing and can be really intimidating, but they put that responsibility squarely on their shoulders."

Rhonda Weller-Stilson, dean of the Holland College of Arts and Media, said the university is proud to see success in a showcase not geared toward school productions and called the festival a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for the students.

"We were just happy to be there. The awards were just an added bonus," she said. "We did not expect them but we are very proud of them."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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