Theater was one of my biggest concerns and interests when starting college. Coming from a competitive high school, I knew I still wanted to be able to do shows in college. Large universities with theater majors make it difficult for the average non-theater major to participate in their productions. I had already ruled out being some sort of theater major, so when looking at Lyndon, I noticed they only offered a theater minor. That stood out to me and was exactly what I was looking for.
As I was making my college decisions in 2017, I was not in my senior year musical. My high school decided to do Seussical that year and I was not interested in committing my time and energy to a show I wasn’t 100% into. Because I was not in the show, I had a lot of free time on my hands. I worked a few days a week after school, but I spent most of my free time searching around the internet at the colleges I was interested in. I decided to go to Lyndon because of the Music Business and Industry (MBI) program and the fact that it made the most financial sense. I would be two and a half hours from home, and when I had toured with my sister in 2013/4, I already knew I liked that campus.
Enter: The Twilight Players. In the spring of 2017, at the beginning of my April break, my mom and I came up to Lyndon, not because we had a tour or Accepted Students Day. No, no. My mom graciously drove me up, got us a hotel room, and went with me to see the Twilight Players’ production of Heathers the Musical. Why? Because after being at a school with massive competition and high stakes theater, I wanted to know who I was up against. What kind of theater was I getting myself into? Who would I be competing with for roles?
My mom hated Heathers, but I am not about to give a full review. Needless to say, I didn’t think it was amazing. I knew the show and I knew my mother would hate it, but I was not expecting to see a downgrade of quality to what I was used to as far as production goes. From the outside looking in, I couldn’t stop thinking about how there was only one girl who was on par with me singing-wise and how easy it would be to get a role.
That was the absolute wrong mindset to have coming in as a first-year student trying to make friends in theater. I will 100% admit that I was a cocky jerk my first year. I had some friends, but only a few in theater. It was very lonely and even though I was casted with a decent role in the play, I couldn’t stop thinking about how it didn’t seem right to me. Doing a show without my high school peers and directors felt wrong. The spring rolled around and I was so nasty because I didn’t get the role of Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. I got Beadle Bamford. With that role, I got to work alongside Judge Turpin, who just so happened to be Josh Bautista, a senior who I had gotten close to through the a cappella club.
After Sweeney was when I really started to find my footing with the Twilight Players. The next school year, I assistant directed the play and joined the cub’s Executive Board. It was a crazy year, but I will never forget the night that Micheal Bachand, Kaio Scott, Geena Duffy, Atticus Gonsalves, Billy Tallmage, and I were in the Student Center in the Hornet’s Nest waiting for our casting emails for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. We ended up migrating to the Crevecoeur lounge, and receiving that email with everyone became a sort of tradition. It was a stark difference after receiving my Sweeney Todd email alone in my dark residence hall room. We did the same thing for Carrie the Musical casting a year later at Billy’s apartment, which I would end up moving into just a few months later.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is my most favorite show with the Twilight Players. It was the show that truly taught me what the club and organization was all about. The Twilight Players is not your average club on campus. First of all, it is one of the oldest. In the fall of 2019, we celebrated its 50th anniversary during Homecoming Weekend. Second of all, it is more than just a club. It is a Student Government Association (SGA) sanctioned club. We have an SGA representative and receive funds from SGA, but we are also a community theater group. We accept auditions from people in the community (the students
get priority, of course). Most importantly, the course THA 2840 or Theater Performance is offered every semester and can be repeated. Enrolling in it means you can get 3 credits for being involved with the Twilight Players’ show. The hours of rehearsal can go towards getting some credits.
“Theater is something so special and with the pandemic, has been something that has been missing from the world.”
The thing that separated the Twilight Players from any other show I have been in are the expectations. I remember crying my eyes out after rehearsals in high school, because there was so much pressure to be perfect. Granted the shows were incredible and that was the expectation, it became more about putting on a perfect show than having fun. We were having fun, but it was more of an afterthought. The Twilight Players put on a show because it is what they love to do. It is because we want to spend hours together after class working on something we love. We do these shows because it is fun. The shows are never perfect, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to work together, learn about how to put on a show, and to have fun with each other. That is the core of the Twilight Players, and it has taken me three years to realize it.
I have so many more stories of crazy show shenanigans I could include in this piece, but I want to get to the nitty-gritty. COVID-19 and health challenges have made life for the Twilight Players very different. We were not able to do Carrie the Musical last spring and only managed a Dance Company recital in the fall. The other major situation revolves around the director and advisor of the Twilight Players, Gianna Fregosi. She suffered from a major health crisis right before we left campus due to COVID and has not been able to return to school. She has joined us on Zoom to check-in on the group, but she has taken a leave of absence for the time being.
With the help of our costumer and alum Ursula Spiecher and alum Rachel Fauci, we have been spending months preparing for this upcoming semester. The end goal is to do some form of Carrie the Musical. We have rights for an in-person show and a livestream. Obviously, with this pandemic, things can change in an instant, but we are really hoping to put on some sort of show on April 10, 2021. If you want to be involved, please reach out to me at katherine.henriques@northernvermont.edu or our club president, Geena Duffy, at geena.duffy@northernvermont.edu.
Look out for our posters and flyers coming very soon with more information such as audition dates and times. Also, follow the Twilight Player social media’s @nvutwilightplayers on Instagram and on Facebook. Please reach out and join us if you can.
Feature Photo provided by Twilight Players || Crenshaw Lindholm (left) and Kate Henriques (right) on the set of Edwin Drood.