As theaters around the country remain closed due to COVID-19, with some productions moving fully online, the Winthrop University Musical Theatre Workshop intends to present eleven solo performances on the Johnson stage this month.
Many have had to adapt their plans due to COVID-19, and the Winthrop Musical Theatre Workshop is no exception.
“Initially we were going to do ‘Another Opening’, which was going to be a series of opening numbers from musicals and all that; but COVID happened. So instead, each of us in the class is actually putting on a solo cabaret performance,” said Allyson Baumgartner, a junior theatre performance major. “Each of us have completely crafted these shows by hand. We’ve written a script, we’ve created our own theme, a couple of us have actually created characters that they’ve based their whole shows on.”
For Baumgartner, creating her own show involved reflecting on personal struggles of always coming up just a little short.
“I am actually doing a show based on my performance in academic and arts arenas, and how a trend throughout my life has been just missing the mark of winning,” Baumgartner said. “My show really outlines my struggle with being second best, and how it’s taken its toll on me mentally; and how as of recently, as I’ve matured, I’ve kind of grown out of that and found happiness just where I am.”
Another student who will be performing their own show during the cabaret is Sebastian Sowell. Sowell’s show is entitled “The Golden Token” and will chronicle their life following the theme of feeling like
the “only one.”
“Tokenism is defined as kind of like the performative way of presenting diversity, when there’s not really diversity,” Sowell said. “So, in my life, as I explain it in the show, these various experiences I have with being the ‘token’ and being the only one, and how that has impacted me in a positive way and in a negative way; and basically how, through each year of college, I chose to view tokenism, and how I wanted to carry myself being the only one in a lot of spaces. As I proceeded into college, I realized that I don’t want to be alone, I don’t want to be that one person all of the time.”
For Baumgartner, being able to perform her show in-person and on the Johnson stage means a lot.
“I think it’s really important – specifically I’m home this semester, so going on the mainstage is going to be a really emotional moment for me,” Baumgartner said. “It’s going to be a really incredible moment when I’m going to feel home again.”
Along with being able to perform onstage, Sowell was also excited by the opportunity to create a show of their own.
“I think it’s also important, with this project in particular, being able to create our own show and our own thing I think is really special, because we’re doing what we love but we’re also making it our own thing,” Sowell said.
The Winthrop Musical Theatre Workshop will be presenting the solo performances from Nov. 13-15.
Although the in-person audience is by invitation only, performances will be live streamed for free.
Graphic by Katelyn Miller
