A performance this week by University of Lynchburg theatre students will be a bittersweet one. For the first time ever, they’ll be singing in New York City. But it comes only months after they learned the university is cutting their program.
For his solo in New York’s Broadway district, Lynchburg Sophomore Michael S. Tock sings the song “Back it All Up.” He says it takes him back to when he first auditioned for the university, in which he was also asked to join Curtain Call, a cabaret-style ensemble.
“I’m sitting here thinking- am I good enough?,” he recalled. “Which is really reminiscent of how I felt my first year of Curtain Call. My first year of college in general, I kept asking myself these questions – am I going to make it? Is this going to work out really well? Everybody helped me realize – nope, you’re not falling behind – (we) believe you’re on the right track. And they couldn’t have been more right. I feel really comfortable, as if it’s a second home now.”
That makes the University’s decision even harder for students like Michael to accept. Theatre was among 17 programs eliminated last spring.
“I feel kind of betrayed,” Tock said. “I feel as though the school that I was promised, and the school that I fell in love with before my freshman year isn’t there anymore.”
So this week’s performance in New York, at the cabaret club 54 Below, is now being seen as a kind of ‘last hurrah’ for Michael and 10 other students.
His song, and others they’ll perform, can largely be credited to Artistic Director James Ballard, who’s based in New York.
He put together a Songwriter’s Workshop, a kind of ‘musical theater blind date’ - pairing up students with composers in the Big Apple.
“Writers and performers who had never worked together before – you’d write a song, and they would put together an evening of these songs as a benefit concert.” he said. “So I had this idea of – what if we did something like that, but we have writers writing original work for these university students?”
After working with their composers virtually, their songs have been performed in concert back in Lynchburg.
Adjunct Music Instructor Dana Ballard, James’ mom, says each year, faculty would find a few students who they felt were ready to try this.
“They couldn’t immediately go to YouTube – and listen to 16 other people sing different versions of that song to learn the song,” she explained. “They would have to learn the music themselves, and craft the interpretation for the first time all on their own.”
The New York trip and performance was always on the back of their minds – once they built up a body of work. That was announced last March. Curtain Call’s last spring concert was in early May. Dana Ballard said the University’s decision to cut the theater program, and a number of faculty positions, came the end of that month.
“We were obviously in shock. We were not included in any of those discussions, and we had no idea it was coming.”
Despite the news, the university did assure the students the New York trip was still happening. Students are even getting a grant to cover most of the cost, and Curtain Call did a kind if dry run for the performance in November, with stage dimensions exactly as they would be at this week’s performance.
“It’s scary to take a group of students from a very small liberal arts school in the middle of Virginia to New York City on Broadway, on 54th Street, and sing in this cabaret,” Dana Ballard said. “I really wanted them to do a confident, excellent job.”
But the University of Lynchburg won’t admit any new students to the Theatre program, instead, it’s building what’s called an all-city Arts Consortium.
In a statement, spokeswoman Heather Bradley said the university determined last year that nearly a quarter of its budget went toward degree programs utilized by only five-percent of students - including Theatre.
She said the consortium will provide “a wide range of arts experiences for the students, partnering with area icons to involve students in professional-level productions, ensembles, and arts experiences.” Bradley adds the university is leaning into a commitment to inclusion, welcoming students from every degree program to the stage.
Concerns over what remains of the program for the current Theatre students was enough for McKenna Slocum to transfer from the university.
I think it would it would be hard to watch this department that I love fizzle out,” she said. “But if I could take those experiences, and kind of run with them, and share that gratitude, and like, know that a lot of that came from that faculty, staff, and people, maybe I can keep that department alive in a different way."
Slocum, a sophomore, has been accepted in James Madison University without having to apply, starting school there this spring.
But Slocum is performing in New York, as is Lynchburg Junior Arilyn Webster, who performed the Alice-in Wonderland-inspired ‘Through the Looking Glass'.
Webster said despite the university’s decision, theatre faculty have been remained every bit as dedicated.
“Any opportunity, anything that they give to us these next few years, you can tell that they want to,” she said. One of the cuts being felt already is the lack of a full-time costume designer for theatre productions.
“You could tell that it’s extremely hard to put someone who is a full-time student, who works outside of classes, into that position, to be able to step to somebody who has twenty years of experience.” Webster said. “It kind of feels like we’re chickens with our heads cut off sometimes.”
Despite the blow dealt to her department, Webster says she and fellow students expect to find others ways of developing their talent, like local community theater.
“So I don’t think that Lynchburg will be lacking in opportunities for the students who are still here. It may not be on the Hailey theatre stage, but we can still definitely have opportunities to perform in the area.”
Instructor Dana Ballard said Curtain Call will mostly likely not be part of the university moving forward, but the Songwriters Workshop, known as Curtain Up, could conceivably be performed elsewhere.
Right now, the focus is on a concert billed as the New York premiere of these students – along with some Broadway performers.
