Photo posed by @PSUThespians on Instagram
By Emma Creamer~
Ellie Murphy grew up in the world of theater. Spending her high school years participating in musicals was something she greatly enjoyed. When asked the question “Why Penn State?” Murphy says that it was Penn State Thespians that influenced her decision.
This fall, Penn State Thespians Society put together Heathers: The Musical in just six weeks. The fall production is always a little stressful, according to Murphy.
“We always have the show on Parents Weekend, because we tend to get the best turn out. It is challenging for us, though, because in the spring we have eight weeks–so we can really see the difference two weeks makes,” Murphy says.
Heathers: The Musical is a musical comedy that covers several dark topics such as bullying and teen suicide. It is based on the 1980s film version starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. Penn State Thespians Society brought this musical to life from October 10-12, 2019.
Murphy played one of the leads, Heather McNamara. There are three main Heathers throughout the play, so Murphy was excited to share the name with two other cast members.
Putting together a show in six weeks involves a lot of planning: sets, costumes, lighting, and choreography, to name a few.
Murphy said that the most challenging part for her was learning all of the choreography in just a short amount of time. The show relies on a lot of dancing and challenging musical numbers, so trying to balance remembering that and all of her school work was quite the demand.
Members of Penn State Thespians are what Murphy describes as the students who loved musical theater in high school. She contemplated majoring in musical theater, but decided it would be too challenging, so she decided to focus on coming to Penn State to join the Thespians. This way, she could still put on professional student-run shows in her free time while exploring other opportunities. Murphy is an advertisement and PR major in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.
Photo posted by @PSUThespians on Instagram. Ellie Murphy is pictured far right.
Penn State Thespians Society is the oldest club on campus — its curtain was first opened in 1897. Girls were first allowed to act in the 1930s, and now they are doing shows that have mainly female leads.
“Penn State Thespians chose The Heathers because we wanted a show with female leads,” Murphy explains.
Next semester the club plans to perform Mamma Mia!, another show with predominantly female leads.
The club votes each year after the induction of new members to see what shows people are interested in doing. They first select the top three shows, and then the best two out of the three shows are finally chosen — one for the fall and one for the spring.
It is important to note is that any student is able to audition for the shows, but members are able to call themselves back to the dancing rounds automatically.
Thespians also are in charge of the set design, building the set, stage crew and costuming. It goes beyond the actors and actresses in the musicals.
“On top of doing one show a semester, we also fundraise for THON and adapt children’s books into plays to perform at the Schlow Library,” Murphy said.
Heathers: The Musical wouldn’t have been successful in such a short amount of time if it weren’t for the way the show runs.
“I think Thespians works because in high school often times the director is just a volunteer trying their best, but at this club, we have people that are so good at what they do,” said Murphy, “I am so thrilled to be apart of something with so much history and professionalism.”
The Penn State Thespian Society’s next show, Mamma Mia! will be held March 26-28, 2020 in Schwab Auditorium. The Alumni Interest Group (TAIG) of the Penn State Thespians maintains a website that allows donations and gives the dates of upcoming shows.