A solar eclipse must have occurred on Thursday as a talking Venus Flytrap suddenly appeared downtown. Last week, callback auditions for UT San Antonio’s Little Shop of Horrors transpired at the Durango Building at the Downtown Campus. This musical will be the first show of the new dramatic arts program.
For its inaugural year, the new dramatic arts program needed a show that would incorporate all facets of theater, be impressive enough to appeal to the San Antonio community and influence students to join the program. Assistant Professor of Practice, Film and Media Bradley Freeman Jr. believed that “Little Shop of Horrors” would be the perfect fit.
“It had a smaller set, basically, a single set, with a really nice, solid soundtrack. Plus, I’m a puppeteer, and it has puppets,” Freeman stated. “It’s a bit of a spectacle, and that’s always fun and can be a solid choice, especially when you’re starting out a theater program.”
Freeman and the rest of the crew are not holding back with the production; they secured Broadway-quality puppets from Pennsylvania-based company Monkey Boys and hired native San Antonian Vic Trevino, known for his roles in “The X Files,” “Machete” and “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” to help with the auditions.
“I think it’s a right fit for students and familiarizes students with this art form in terms of all the things that make up drama or theater,” Trevino said.
Dramatic arts is not an easy-A class that students can find on the university’s academic catalog; this is a developing program, and a growing community interest highlights their success.
“This is our first time seeing what interest there is around UTSA as far as theater programs go, and we’ve had an incredible turnout as far as auditions go,” Freeman said.
It is not just UT San Antonio’s theater program that is uniting a community, but all theaters. Theater brings others with a common interest: the desire to create.
“It’s like everyone commits to do the same thing, not for money, not for gain, just to gain happiness and a belonging with each other,” junior marketing major Clarissa Cortez commented.
The production brings together people from all walks of life to put on the best show they can. All participants work through the laughter, stress and pain that comes with theater, trauma-bonding them to the stage. It can even pass down through generations.
Freshman business management major Dean McElyea said that his father, who did theater in both high school and college, took McElyea and his brother to a short film audition where they both tried out.
“I’ll still do theater because why not? They said I was good,” McElyea reflected.
Theater is an outlet for people. It provides an immersive experience to foster empathy, creativity and community.
“It’s the immediacy,“ Trevino stated. “It’s the energy and the connection with the audience. When you walk on, the lights come up, the stage opens. For me, live production is you have this captive audience who is ready and willing to go on this journey with you.”
Theater and the love of the stage bond members of the thespian community by creating a link that attaches itself to others, bringing them under the same roof to honor the art. Of course, there are still barriers that come with it.
“It can be hard to get support for something that nobody has any evidence of being good. And what we’re doing with this show is trying to prove that we are a program to be taken seriously.” Freeman stated.
Little Shop of Horrors provides a chance to prove that the dramatic arts program is worth investing in, and the program’s big debut as a new working facet of UT San Antonio. It is another field of study, another opportunity that could open doors to all students, both present and incoming.
When posters start to line the bulletin boards of Main Campus, consider making a trip to see the musical, which will play from April 9 to May 3, Thursdays to Sundays at the Buena Vista Center on the UT San Antonio Downtown Campus. Support a growing program that could change a life, whether it be through the program itself or from watching the passionate performers and crew members debut.
