Spotlight Variety Show
An End-of-the-Year Musical Theatre Showcase
Join the Department of Theatre and Dance at Northern Michigan University for a weekend of celebrating our brightest stars! The BFA Musical Theatre students and BA Theatre students will perform a 1-hour concert of various musical theatre solos and duets to close out our 2020-21 academic season and show off what they’ve been working on this year. This production will be live streamed.
Thursday, April 15 at 7:30pm
Friday, April 16 at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 17 at 7:30pm
Tickets are $17 General Public, $12 NMU Employee/Senior/Military, and $5 NMU Students.
A link to the live stream of the performance will be emailed to ticket holders before their chosen date.
Download the digital program here!
Cast List
Magic to Do
From Pippin
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Leading Player.............Megan Hibbard
Fastrata........................Sophie Shrauger
Berthe...........................Gracie Fries
Girls..............................Kaylie Goodno, Rebecca Piepszak
Lewis............................Ethan Puisto
Charles.........................John Fatla
Chorus..........................Bailey Barthel, Sylvia Gravel, Makenzia Rea, Kristi Falardeau, Dustin
Golden, Noah Proctor, Kyra Skinner, Zoe Zimmer
Reflection
From Mulan
Music and Lyrics by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel
Performed by Kaylie Goodno
Agony
From Into the Woods
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Performed by Dustin Golden and Noah Proctor
Wig in a Box
From Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Trask
Performed by Ethan Puisto
Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat
From Guys and Dolls
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
Nicely Nicely..............John Fatla
Chorus........................Megan Hibbard, Gracie Fries, Bailey Barthel, Sylvia Gravel, Makenzie Rea,
Kristi Falardeau, Ethan Puisto, Sophie Shrauger, Rebecca Piepszak, Kaylie
Goodno, Dustin Golden, Noah Proctor, Zoe Zimmer
Someone Gets Hurt
From Mean Girls
Music by Jeff Richmond, Lyrics by Nell Benjamin
Performed by Megan Hibbard
Lovely
From A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Performed by Keely-Shaye Hanson and Noah Proctor
One Perfect Moment
From Bring It On: The Musical
Music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lyrics by Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda
Performed by Sophie Shrauger
I Wanna Be a Producer
From The Producers
Music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks
Leo Bloom.....................Ethan Puisto
Chorus Girls..................Megan Hibbard, Gracie Fries, Bailey Barthel, Sylvia Gravel, Makenzie
Rea, Kristi Falardeau, John Fatla
Never Enough
From The Greatest Showman
Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Performed by Rebecca Piepszak
Marry the Man Today
From Guys and Dolls
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
Performed by Kate Karling and Keely-Shaye Hanson
Back on Base
From Closer Than Ever
Music by David Shire, Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.
Bassist: Oskar Martinez
Women........................Gracie Fries, Megan Hibbard, Sophie Shrauger
She Loves Me Not
From Closer Than Ever
Music by David Shire, Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.
Performed by Dustin Golden, Kate Karling, and Noah Proctor
Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today
From Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek
Seasons of Love
From RENT
Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson
Chorus..........................Sophie Shrauger, Rebecca Piepszak, Kaylie Goodno, Megan Hibbard,
John Fatla, Ethan Puisto, Dustin Golden, Noah Proctor
Pit Orchestra
| Reed 1 | Abby O'Connell |
| Reed 2/Organ | Owen Edwards |
| Reed 3 | Amorette Languell |
| Horn | Janae Peterson |
| Trombone | Arabella Olson |
| Trumpet | Yrsala Peterson |
| Bass | Oskar Martinez |
| Guitar | Luke Fritz |
| Percussion | Ryan Wilson |
| Keyboard | Anna Morrison |
| Piano | Erin Colwitz |
Creative Team
| Director | Paul Truckey |
| Music Director | Anna Morrison |
| Choreographer | Jill Grundstrom |
| Pit Conductor | Erin Colwitz |
| Sound Designer | Dan Zini |
| Lighting Designer | Megan Hibbard |
| Properties Artisan | Keli Crawford-Truckey |
| Technical Director of Broadcasting | Dan Zini |
| Production Stage Manager | Clair Kaminski |
Additional Artistic Staff
| Assistant Stage Managers | Emma Block, Aubrey Wolck |
| Rehearsal Accompanist | Anna Morrison |
| A/V and Broadcast Engineer | Dan Zini |
| Master Electrician | William Squires IV |
| Spotlight Operator | Seth Bowen |
| Audio 2nds | Ryan Harvey, Anna Morrison |
| Audio Mixer | Dan Zini |
| Audio Assistant | William Squires IV |
| Camera Operators | Adam Diaz, Sarah Nelson, Joseph Sigourney |
| Camera Switcher | Ryan Harvey |
| Costume Coordinator | Ann Juidici |
| Lead Flyman | Paul Truckey |
| Rail 2 | Aubrey Wolck |
Forest Roberts Theatre Staff
| Director of Theatre | Bill Digneit |
| Production Manager | David Pierce |
| Costume Shop Supervisor | Ann Juidici |
| Scene Shop Foreman | Ross Johnson |
| Properties Artisan | Keli Crawford-Truckey |
| Lighting Supervisor | David Pierce |
| Sound Supervisor | Bill Digneit |
| Marketing Manager | Lilith Kontos |
Cast Bios
Gracie Fries is a senior here at NMU from Kingsford, MI pursuing a bachelor's degree in dance with a business concentration. Her passion lies in the musical arts with twenty years of dance instruction and vocal lessons. She spent four years teaching and choreographing at Julie’s Top Hat Dance Studio and is currently choreographing at Dawn Dott Dance Studio. She was a pro-dancer in the 2019 “Dancing With Our Stars Marquette County Style, Disney Edition” and co-choreographer for SAYT's 2019 production of Frozen Jr. Gracie has performed in several FRT productions including, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, the 2018 Fringe Festival, What We Leave Behind and hopefully more to come! Her hobbies include singing, playing bass, baking, gardening, and spending time with the people she loves. Being one of the first of her family to attend college, she is proud to be a Wildcat with much support from her family, friends, and the Theatre and Dance Department faculty!
Sylvia Gravel is a second-year student studying dance with a minor in biology. She is incredibly excited to be a part of her first production at NMU, as well as her first real venture into musical theatre! Sylvia has been dancing her whole life, and is a second-year member of the NMU Dance Team. She is looking forward to a new and challenging experience of performing via livestream, and would like to thank Jill Grundstrom and her classmates for being a major source of positivity and support during an unusual time.
Megan Hibbard is a junior pursuing her BA in theatre with a focus in lighting design and a minor in art and design. She loves to be on and behind the FRT stage! In the past she has been Lisa in Mamma Mia!, a dancer, choreographer, and assistant lighting designer for What We Leave Behind, Bombalurina and assistant lighting designer for Cats, and the head lighting designer for North x North Coast. She is so excited to be creating with everyone again, and wants to thank the entire team, her family, and her friends for encouraging her throughout this process!
Ethan Puisto is a music major at NMU, but has many years of theatrical training under his belt. He has attended the esteemed Chicago College of Performing Arts as a musical theatre major, as well as Northwestern University's Cherubs Theatre Intensive. Ethan has been a lead singer in many bands, and releases self-produced music independently under the project alias "Fidget Bleach." He enjoys drag performance, music production/songwriting, found fashion, and pushing the limits of the performing arts.
Sophie Shrauger is a freshman musical theatre BFA candidate and is so excited to be performing in the Spotlight Variety Show! Sophie hopes to pursue a career in musical theatre or film acting, and will likely be moving to New York or LA after graduating from NMU. She will be performing in a multitude of numbers, including her solo “One Perfect Moment” from Bring It On: The Musical! She hopes that audiences will enjoy all of the cast and crew’s hard work, and bask in some real live(streamed) theatre!
Kyra Skinner is a sophomore at NMU from Pickford, MI. She is a double major in dance and psychology with a concentration in development. She has been dancing for 17 years now, and is very excited to be performing again after taking a very long break along with everyone else due to COVID. She is also a part of the NMU Hip Hop Dance Crew and after the Spotlight Variety Show wraps up, she will be performing in the North Coast Dance Festival. She cannot wait for everyone to see the talent NMU has to offer and for her whole family to be cheering her on back home every night via livestream!
Creative Team Bios
Paul Truckey (Director): As a Director, Paul has staged over 30 productions including Romeo and Juliet, Cats, Noises Off, Building Madness, Into the Woods, A Paper Tiger in the Rain, A Comedy of Errors, 1776, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, A Flea in Her Ear, The Mousetrap, ACTletes, The Foreigner, The Full Monty, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Paul's acting credits include leading roles in over 50 productions, most notably the roles of Grantaire, Javert, and Thenardier in the Broadway and national touring companies of Les Miserables, Fredrik in A Little Night Music for the Pine Mountain Music Festival, Pete the Barber in the world premiere opera Rockland, George Jr. in the original company of Utah! The Musical at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre, and Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Paul is currently a professor of theatre at Northern Michigan University, and a member of the Actors Equity Association.
Jill Grundstrom (Choreographer) has a B.S. from NMU in Secondary Education with majors in English and French, and a M.A. in Dance Education from New York University. She is also certified in the Luigi Jazz Technique, American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum, and is a Certified FLX Conditioning Specialist. She is currently pursuing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, as well as writing new Character Dance and Partnering curricula for American Ballet Theatre (America’s National Ballet Company®) in New York City. Jill has choreographed over 30 full-length musical and dance productions in New York City, Los Angeles, Italy, and here in the Upper Peninsula, including a full-length, original ballet, East of the Sun, West of the Moon (NMU), and recently choreographed an independent feature-length film, Our State Fair. She has also previously worked with Superior Arts Youth Theatre, the National Dance Education Organization, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance.
Clair Kaminski (Production Stage Manager) is a junior at NMU working towards a BFA degree in Theatre Technology and Design for Stage Management. Clair has worked on several shows at NMU including What We Leave Behind (ASM), Significant Other (PSM), and Romeo and Juliet (Costume Designer). Going back to in-person rehearsals in the theatre and dance studio has felt like coming home to Clair, and she has loved every minute of working on the Spotlight Variety Show. The livestream aspect of the this production is new to her, but she looks forward to trying new things like this in theatre.
Megan Hibbard (Lighting Designer) is a junior pursuing her BA in theatre with a focus in lighting design and a minor in art and design. She loves to be on and behind the FRT stage! In the past she has been Lisa in Mamma Mia!, a dancer, choreographer, and assistant lighting designer for What We Leave Behind, Bombalurina and assistant lighting designer for Cats, and the head lighting designer for North x North Coast. She is so excited to be creating with everyone again, and wants to thank the entire team, her family, and her friends for encouraging her throughout this process!
Keli Crawford-Truckey (Properties Artisan) serves as a teacher, director, and properties master at NMU. Recent FRT directing credits include The Full Monty, Proof, Sweeney Todd, Bears, Doubt, Harvey, and Into the Woods. She has worked as a stage manager/staff member on the Broadway and national touring companies of Les Miserables, and on off-Broadway productions including And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little at the Producers Club and Cloud Nine at the Bank Street Theatre in NYC. Keli holds a degree in Directing and Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Oskar Martínez (Bass) is a third-year music major at Northern Michigan University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree with an emphasis on bassoon performance. Oskar is the bassist for the NMU pit orchestra this semester and plays bass for other ensembles like the jazz band and combo. He has done pit music on multiple instruments for high schools, the Vista Theatre in Negaunee, and the Superior Arts Youth Theater. Additionally, he is the principal bassoon for the Marquette City Band, second bassoon/contrabassoonist for the Marquette Symphony Orchestra, and plays bassoon and bass in the Negaunee City Band.