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Exposure provides a forum for student groups and area non-profits at Michigan State University and the Greater Lansing area. On the show, you'll hear discussions about the groups themselves as well as the relevant issues of today.
From WBDME Slancing, this is Exposure, a biweekly news feature show that lets you know everything happening at MSU that you otherwise might not know about. I'm your host, Duffield, and welcome to Exposure. Welcome to the premier season of 17 of Exposure. I'm Amelia Duffield. Today, we're shining a spotlight on Second Stage Musical Theater, a student organization dedicated to providing anyone and everyone interested in musical theater a place to study and perform their craft.
Speaker 1:Joining me today is Nicole Merchant and Anna Zakari. Thank you guys so much for joining us on WDBM FM.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you. This is so nice. Thanks for having us. Absolutely. You guys mind
Speaker 1:introducing yourselves to our listeners? Let us know what grade you're in, what you're majoring in, and your roles in SSMT.
Speaker 3:Amazing. Yeah, no problem. My name is Nicole Merchant, and I'm currently a senior, and I am currently the president of Second Stage Musical Theater.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Alrighty, I'll go next. My name is Anna Zakari. I am a sophomore, BFA acting major with minors in musical theater and dance and I am the organization's choreographer,
Speaker 1:which is super fun. Amazing. So if you guys wouldn't mind telling me, what are some of the responsibilities both of your positions might entail in SSMT?
Speaker 3:I can go first. I kinda do a little bit of everything. I kind of except for choreography. I can't really do that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:No. So, basically, I've been planning meetings and kind of getting everything organized, setting up a team of people who are all interested in musical theater as well, including Anna and who's been very lovely to work with so far. And kind of just getting events scheduled, getting plans made for upcoming events like our Cabaret coming up later in December. And yeah, just kind of keeping the club moving and grooving and also taking on some social media responsibilities with some campaigns and some takeovers and stuff like that. So just very busy all around trying to get it all going.
Speaker 2:Amazing. And I, as a choreographer, I am in charge of course all of the choreography, all the dance aspects. So I do I will be doing hopefully in some future meetings, gotta get that scheduled. I will be doing dance workshops where I choreograph some little I choreograph dance combos to be taught as if, like, you're at a dance call for an audition. So I'll be doing that.
Speaker 2:And then also I will be helping choreograph the cabaret which is very exciting. Yeah. Super fun. And, Nicole and I talk a lot about, like, ensemble numbers that would be good and things like that for cab for cabarets. And yeah, I basically just handle all the dance aspects which is really awesome.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 1:Amazing. If you guys wouldn't mind telling me a little bit more about what the organization is as a whole. I know you have second stage in your name, obviously. So how does that tie into the other second stage organizations?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I can kind of go into that a little bit. Second Stage is our parent association for it, which is also another student run organization here at Michigan State University that also specializes in more student hands on productions, especially with plays and musicals. Each semester they put on one musical or one play. This semester we're doing The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, which is in November. So we kind of try to create a little bit of a collaboration for people who may not be as familiar, let's say, with musical theater, and who may be interested in auditioning for those pieces, and try and give them the best outlet that they can to try and feel confident in their singing and their acting.
Speaker 3:And especially like for people who may not be familiar with the second stage, it's a nice resource for us to kind of work together on that. And also look at some potential future projects for collaboration, like a cabaret or possibly working on a musical together would be really nice. Something that we've been looking to do in the future. But yeah, just kind of just, it's a bit of a teamwork effort where they've been super supportive of us and letting us to explore our creative efforts in the musical theater world and also giving them a little bit of a boost for their shows as well. So hopefully we can deepen that collaboration further.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Thank you.
Speaker 2:She said it perfectly. So I
Speaker 1:know you mentioned the cabarets. What I I understand a ton of effort goes into the song selection and the casting and then the performance of a whole, obviously. So what do those usually look like?
Speaker 2:Well I can tell you. I'll start off a little bit. I mean, will be my first cabaret that I am, like, on, like, the other side for. I was in the Sega Stage Musical Theatre cabaret last spring. Will be my first time kind of on this side.
Speaker 2:And so there's just it's months in it, like months in advance you're prepping, finding like themes, finding songs that go within those themes. And then Nicole, do you wanna add on to that?
Speaker 3:I can give it a try. Yeah, basically a lot of, especially what I've been looking for, because this is also one of the Cambrellas. Last semester I worked very close with our Vice President, Reese Verlinde, who was the director of Love Letter to Life. But yeah, no, we both worked really close with each other to kind of try and find songs that not only fit our theme, but also was able to accommodate a lot of people, especially ensemble songs, and maybe looking at dance numbers if you wanted, if we had a lot of possible dancers that we wanted to feature, which we did, and it was very exciting to see all of that come together. So kind of just thinking along the lines of like, how does this fit into our theme?
Speaker 3:Do we have the certain student population for this? Like, let's say, like, we want a soprano for a soprano song, like, do we have the students for that, especially looking at who's auditioning and stuff like that. So I think those are important. Also making sure that we have enough gender inclusivity and also making sure to be front conscious of who's auditioning, and all of those aspects. So there's a lot of different aspects is what I'm getting to.
Speaker 3:But it is a really fun collaborative process. But it can also be a little crazy because you're cutting down from like 50 songs to like 20 songs, and see how it can make that work as far as like, how many solos, duets, and especially ensemble numbers.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Thank you. I feel like collaboration and inclusivity is just so crucial at a theatrical space, so it's amazing to see that you guys are prioritizing that. So what does a SSMT meeting usually look like and how often do they occur?
Speaker 2:So SSMT meetings oh, sorry, Nicole. I'm gonna No problem. No. You guys are good. Team meetings, they are biweekly.
Speaker 2:Yeah. They are biweeklys ever on Fridays, and they kinda look like we all kinda gather in the auditorium in the MSU Auditorium. You'd have to take a look at our socials and our emails to see where the location is because sometimes it changes, but it's always in the auditorium. And, we sometimes we have, like, a slideshow that we go through. So, like, we did, like, a audition workshop for our first one first meeting because the guy who didn't like musical musicals auditions were coming up.
Speaker 2:So we have, like, a slideshow that have, like, tips and tricks, like, some, like vocal health stuff, like how to do song selection and stuff. But then other times we'll do like maybe we'll do, like a musical theater, like karaoke session and just kinda hang out and let people just go up and sing. We did that at our last meeting. And then it just kinda depends on what's gonna happen. Maybe we'll do, like, an acting with musical theater workshop, with, like, Nicole front running it or maybe, like I mentioned earlier, doing the, like dance call workshops for auditions where I will be front running that into or like music workshops with our music director Kirsten as well.
Speaker 2:So there's just a lot of different things that we will do, pending what is kinda happening that week. But that's kind of the basis of like what a meeting is. We'll gather, we'll like talk a little bit, kinda lay out a plan for the day and then we'll just hit the ball running with that plan. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, don't know about you guys, but for me, it feels like we're just getting started in this semester. So if you don't mind me asking
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Do you
Speaker 1:have any highlights at Second Stage Musical Theater from last year?
Speaker 2:The cabaret. I just The cabaret. The cabaret was just so good. It was so fun from and Nicole and them, they let me take on a little bit of choreography for the like, in the cabaret as a wee little freshman and it was amazing and so fun. So I'd say the cabaret 100%.
Speaker 3:Honestly, a big highlight for me is just seeing how many people are interested in doing it and the collaboration efforts that all came together in the end to put on this production because we were kind of, as some people might not know, we were kind of at a standstill for a little bit. We didn't really have like the ability to put on a cabaret in the last couple semesters. So being able to do a production like this again was something that was really meaningful to me and being able to see how creative and talented these people are, especially knowing that how many people worked on it and put it together was really exciting. So just like the community aspect is always been something that's been a highlight, and I'm sure it'll even grow even bigger as it goes on.
Speaker 1:Well, that's wonderful to hear. I'm so glad that it seems like there's just been so much growth and productivity that's been happening for you guys. I know we've talked a lot about collaboration since Second Stage Musical Theater is such a lucrative participatory based organization. How many people are involved in SSMT? And does it depend on a cabaret or casting?
Speaker 1:What project you're working on at the time? Or does the same sort of amount show up for meetings biweekly?
Speaker 3:Say we're kind of, especially in the beginning phase, like you said, we're really, it does feel really early in the semester. So it kind of trying to feel things out, we had to take a little bit of a break from meetings for the first couple of weeks just with scheduling. But other than that, I would say that there is a bigger population when it comes to the cabarets, kind of like seeing how auditions go, where usually we see a bigger influx of auditions for those and especially our workshop days that we do are pretty popular, but I would say like we have an, like a average amount of people that come in occasionally. But yeah, just depends on the maybe the activity that we're putting forth for a week, or, like, what events are scheduled that week, because everybody's super busy. But I mean, we're just trying to get our see our regulars and see how they come in and see what we can do for Yeah.
Speaker 3:Awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, I know you guys are president and choreographer respectively. So are there other positions in SSMT, in eboard or otherwise? And like, what are some ways students can get involved?
Speaker 2:So our other positions that we have right now, we currently have our vice president who is Bryce Lang, our music director, Kirsten, and then we have Sarah.
Speaker 3:Sarah is our secretary for our club and she does a wonderful job. And then she and then yeah, that's pretty much our team.
Speaker 2:Our meetings are all welcome to literally anybody to participate and join in on as well. But those were kind of the solid like e board positions that we have right now. But yeah, and then I'll probably ask for people to help me choreograph for the cabaret and things like that too. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And we're always open to seeing if we need to add any positions or anything like that later on. So keep your eyes peeled.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And you may have mentioned this already, but is it possible to be involved with more than one thing at once at SSMT? Like, can you help choreograph and star in the cabaret or help maybe on the technical aspects like muse or music directing and still have your chance to shine. What does that kind of look like?
Speaker 2:Oh, 100%.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:100%.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And
Speaker 2:like Nicole Yeah. We don't as president last year, she had her own solo. It was amazing. I cried every night.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Star. So good. But yeah. No. You have those opportunities to do literally all of the things that you want.
Speaker 2:So, like like I said, I'll probably ask somebody to help me choreograph, but they'll also probably be in a lot of the dance numbers as well too with the cabaret if that's something that they're interested in or else like if they're interested in doing music, Kirsten would love to help with music and, tech too. We've already had some people come up to me, asking about tech for the cabaret as well. So there are those opportunities to dabble in everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I think we definitely are a very relaxed space where everybody can kind of try their hand at anything like maybe if they want to try out choreography with Anna, like absolutely we want to encourage that. And also reflect like all of our different skill levels. I mean, if somebody's interested in technical direct technical theater, also maybe wants to have a solo, we'd love to see explore opportunities for them, see them be able to have their moments in both aspects. So yeah, just kind of all coming together.
Speaker 3:And it's been really great to see like the interest for that already.
Speaker 1:Hypothetically, in your, you know, in your dream realm, is there a particular show or production or cabaret you would like to see Second Stage Musical Theater produce?
Speaker 2:I was just talking to Nicole about this because I'm not doing it. So like we were talking about the theme for December, which I'm not disclosing. Sure. However, I would love I want to do like a miscast one so bad because there are so many like male identifying songs that I wanna sing.
Speaker 3:Oh, want to do a mythical Come on.
Speaker 2:I'm alive from next to normal. Be so for Yes.
Speaker 3:That would be really good.
Speaker 2:Put me
Speaker 3:in. Put me in coach. I would really like to see us do a musical at some point. Once we get ourselves going and being more established as a group. I think that would be really great to do like a smaller musical, maybe like more of like a improvised piece.
Speaker 3:Maybe that'd be something really interesting or maybe take on
Speaker 2:a new piece. Maybe like like an Alice by Heart.
Speaker 3:Maybe. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Maybe a little Heather's wink wink. Nudge nudge.
Speaker 2:Would love that.
Speaker 3:That'd be fun. Like, I can imagine it being in the arena. That could be yeah. That'd be fun.
Speaker 1:Well, what goes into a selection process for any sort of cabaret or performance? Like, those songs and those themes. How do you guys deliberate?
Speaker 2:Usually, it's like, you just kinda get a you gather, like, a bunch of themes, list them all out and you just kind of start there with those themes and be like, okay, like, do I want to do this theme or what do we want to do this theme? Or like, how are we going to narrow this down? Or like, can we mesh something and stuff? And then we, talk about it like as like the board and see like what works and stuff. And then we once we like sit down and really like like pick one and choose that theme, Then it comes down to like finding shows that fit into that theme and like listing out those shows and seeing what songs from those shows fit, what songs don't.
Speaker 2:Maybe we could use maybe we can't use this song in this cabaret, but maybe if we did this other theme we could use that song there and stuff. So it's just a matter of like that and then also how many like ensemble numbers are gonna go into this from within this theme. How many solos and stuff? All of those aspects to kind of come down with the selection as well.
Speaker 3:It just me jotting down a bunch of random things in a notebook to be like, does this work? Maybe? I don't know.
Speaker 2:Nicole and I are in a class together. I would sit there and Nicole be like, hey, Anna. Give me give me some shows. Give me some shows in this theme. Like, what what do you think?
Speaker 2:What do you think? Or like, what are some songs in this theme that we could do? And yeah.
Speaker 1:Hey, it's all
Speaker 3:in the
Speaker 2:it's all
Speaker 1:in our creative process. The creative juices are flowing when they flow and you can't control that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Clearly, it's when we're water coloring something.
Speaker 2:When we're water coloring. There you go. Costumes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Exactly.
Speaker 1:Well, tell me, what are some lessons or experiences you've gained from your involvement in second stage musical theater?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm just thinking. So go ahead.
Speaker 3:All right. I got you. I think especially with everything last year, and also getting into the new semester, I think it's given me a lot more of like a confidence level because, at least in my abilities, because I've never actually been in a leadership position before and I was very nervous about it And kind of just not sure if I was going to be able to do it or set a task. Honestly, it's been really rewarding, maybe helped give people advice and stuff like that. And that's something I've never really thought I would be able to do as far as like, are the things I'm saying actually useful.
Speaker 3:So it's been really nice to find that new thing out about myself and kind of just keep going with it. I mean, we're starting to look at maybe doing voice lessons, or is this something that I've never done before, but I would really, I'm really interested in trying to try out and see what's going on. So yeah, just a lot of like, seeing myself in a different way and also just being able to see what we can accomplish together.
Speaker 2:I think for me, just a truly the, like, the wonderful thing that is collaboration and creativity. I have oh, I've never been, like, a big person. I was never, like, a big choreographer person in high school. Like, I was on dance team and, like, I, you know, was one of the big time dancers in, like, my musicals and stuff, but I never had, like, taken on the role of choreography and actually, like, had that creative aspect of it until last year when they asked me to take on one of the songs for choreography. And I was like, oh, this is something that I'm really, really like to do.
Speaker 2:This is it's so creative, and and I can also, like, collaborate with other people and be like, okay, like what can you do? What you can't do? How are we gonna mesh this together? Like, what like, what are you comfortable with? Like, maybe we can do this or maybe like do that and stuff or maybe on this account and it's just having such a great community of collaboration as well as a great community that really advocates for creative freedom has been really rewarding for me now being the new resident choreographer.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, for any interested student, would you give them any advice and how can they contact you guys?
Speaker 2:My advice is please come hang out with us.
Speaker 3:Yes. Great advice. Come hang
Speaker 2:out with us
Speaker 3:bi weekly Fridays from three to 5PM. It's at 03:00 in the auditorium. And yeah, just come hang out with us. Check us out on Instagram. We're at second stage.
Speaker 2:If you can't make it to the meeting, DM the Instagram, we'll get you covered.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're probably thinking about making a group me so we can probably have conversations there. So you can reach out to us at any time. But yeah, and we can also we have a linktree in our Instagram so you can join our email list and all that stuff to find out when upcoming things are happening. So yeah, just stay informed with us and come hang out with us.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, one last question. What are you personally looking forward to for the future of Second Stage Musical Theater?
Speaker 2:Nicole, do you want to go first?
Speaker 3:I am well, as a soon to be graduating senior, I'm very excited to see how the club grows and keeps expanding when I'm gone and kind of just like see leaders, like Anna and Bryce. Just seeing like our underclassmen, like grow into their roles, especially once I move on from here. And just it's been really exciting to see them grow in these roles already. So just seeing how that keeps going, maybe some future potential musical projects would be something cool to look out for. And especially the cabaret at the end of the semester.
Speaker 2:I am very excited and looking forward to deepening that connection with Second Stage Productions and doing possibly like a joint musical together. I think that would be super fun and amazing and that's something that I really love in the future. I mean, once like Nicole is graduating and stuff, like really love really try and front run that connection and get that to happen and work together for that to happen too. So I think that's something that I would really look forward to in the future.
Speaker 3:SSMTs in good hands.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 3:Drive done.
Speaker 1:Lovely. Well, thank you guys so so much for joining me today. Anna Nicole, you are the best. Thank you, guys. You are the best.
Speaker 3:You're the best. Well,
Speaker 1:that is it for the show. If you've liked what you heard, be sure to tune in next time. I'm Amelia Duffield, and this is Exposure. Bye. Bye.
Speaker 1:You're listening to Exposure. Please keep in mind, opinions expressed on exposure are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff at impact eighty nine FM. If you're interested in going back and listening to our archive of stories, feel free to check out our website at impact89fm.org. You've been listening to exposure.