For many Birmingham-Southern College theatre students, summer jobs and internships look more like getting into a costume and jumping into a new world. These students take on characters in shows throughout the school year, but summer productions give them the chance to work as professional actors and explore parts of theatre that they haven’t before.

Here’s how six musical theatre majors spent their summers.

Returning to Red Mountain

Grace Vaughan and Annie Norris stayed close to BSC this summer, in more ways than one.

As part of the ensemble in “Matilda The Musical,” Vaughan and Norris, senior and junior students, respectively, performed in the Red Mountain Theatre Company production directed by BSC Theatre Professor Michael Flowers. Both students have been involved with RMTC since elementary school, so the stage (along with their director) had a familiar feel.

“The production elements, the amount of people, the sets, the costumes — the show feels so big,” Vaughan says. She remembers watching the “Matilda” film at her grandmother’s house and later seeing the musical on Broadway.

For Norris, “Matilda” has been the longest running show she’s ever been a part of, and the experience has only confirmed that she wants an on-stage career.

“I’ve loved getting to work with Michael Flowers, stand on the Red Mountain Stage, and meet other college students and professionals in the Birmingham area,” Norris says. “I’m using all of the skillsets that I’ve learned at BSC.”

In the adult ensemble, the students played older school children, judges, and even dancing cupcakes, which happens to be a Red Mountain addition. Vaughan says that there are quite a few twists to their production that differ from the Broadway version, often changes that use the talent within the adult ensemble to a greater extent.

However those changes look, RMTC is definitely doing something right with so many sold-out shows.

A Hometown Stage

Grace Glasgow and Aislinn Cain returned closer to their hometowns to join in community theatre productions – shows that inspired nostalgia for each.

Cain, a junior at BSC, has been a part of the ensemble in “Grease” with Theatre Tuscaloosa.

“I grew up watching the movie every weekend growing up. It’s been on my bucket list of shows,” Cain says.

One highlight for Cain was getting to dance on top of a cherry red 1949 Chevy during “Greased Lightnin’” in one of her most challenging numbers. “It’s like being an athlete, mentally and physically,” she says.

In another 1950s setting, sophomore student Glasgow played Rosalia in the Ritz Theatre’s production of “West Side Story” in Sheffield, Alabama. Her ditzy character provided comic relief in the heartbreaking story.

“I really like playing bubbly, stupid characters. They’re just really upbeat and funny,” Glasgow says, with other characters like this under her belt, including Ado Annie in “Oklahoma!”

Glasgow and Cain were both impressed by the dedication involved in a short, summer production with people from all parts of their communities.

Behind the Scenes

While Matthew Torbett usually finds himself on stage, his educational administration internship didn’t put him under the spotlight.

“It’s something a lot of theatre professionals don’t get to do,” Torbett says about his off-stage experience. As an intern at the Derby Dinner Playhouse in Louisville, Kentucky, he sat in on theatre camp classes and supported the office staff as they prepared for 72 new student campers each week.

Torbett also picked up the position of assistant stage manager at night, when day camps turned into evening productions six times a week. He most often assisted backstage with the company’s production of “Shrek the Musical.”

“I got to know a wide variety of people, especially the people backstage who are making everything happen,” he says. “I channeled my creativity into supporting everyone, not just one sect of theatre.”

One of these sects included the elementary, middle, and high school students who attended theatre camp. “These kids really want to be there and learn. I see a lot of myself in them, and I want to give back the way my mentors taught me,” Torbett says.

Torbett sat in on rehearsals for “Shrek” and gained valuable directing insight that will serve him well in his senior year. He’ll direct BSC’s “35mm: A Musical Exhibition” in the spring.

“I saw what worked, what didn’t work, and what I can apply,” he says.

Front and Center

Louisa Davis had just finished her first year at BSC when she auditioned for a show in Baltimore and scored the lead.

Davis starred as Emma in the Artistic Synergy of Baltimore’s production of “EMMA! A Pop Musical,” a modern telling of the Jane Austen novel. The prep school story features the work of female artists through the decades, including Whitney Houston, Shania Twain, and Katy Perry. Davis loved it immediately because of the musical’s strong sense of girl power.

“I’ve enjoyed singing songs that everyone will recognize this summer. There’s already a connection in place,” she says.

Davis grew up around music and theatre – her dad, BSC alumnus Theodore Davis ’85, is a professional organist, conductor, and harpsichordist – but, after working mainly with technical theatre at BSC last year, taking on the lead role in a musical was a surprise.

Now Davis is ready to audition for more roles when she’s back on the Hilltop in just a couple of weeks.

Watch for these theatre students and others in BSC’s 2019-20 season. And, if you know another student who had an interesting summer experience, we’re all ears! Let us know your idea.