Olivia Richman, General Assignment Reporter:
Singers, dancers and actors, oh my! This isn’t just any triple threat: it’s Northstar, a group of Southern students ready to impress fellow students and talent scouts alike in the Lyman Center on April 1 and 2. Led by artistic director Akintunde Sogunro, North Star’s performance will be made up of different choreographed dance numbers, theatrical monologues and singing solos.
“Actors will be doing their best monologues and scenes,” said Sogunro, a theater major at SCSU. “Singers will be doing songs and dancers will be doing dance numbers. We have two parts: one to perform for the public, a showcase of talent. And two, to invite casting directors and agents to view the performance.”
Danielle DeMaio is an elementary education and theater major at SCSU who is acting and singing in the performance.
“I’m doing a scene, ‘Crack Walker,’ with a friend,” she said. “I’m also singing in the opening number.”
“Crack Walker” is an “intense drama,” said DeMaio, about a mentally challenged prostitute who comes to DeMaio’s character. She doesn’t understand, but the prostitute slept with DeMaio’s husband.
“(The prostitute) is also a pathological liar and says that (my husband) raped her. At the end, I take the back of my heel and ripped the holy (crap) out of my husband’s back with it.”
DeMaio said she became part of Northstar because she wanted to support SCSU students and their visions. It was also for personal reasons, being that she wants to do a little more with theater before she starts student teaching. She believes people must do everything with their hearts and souls.
“I’ve been acting since first grade,” she said. “It was my first show, ‘Mrs. Piggle Wiggle,’ a book series. I’m very energetic and outspoken.”
“That’s so cute,” said Amanda Meador about DeMaio’s performance in “Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.”
Meador and DeMaio were standing inside after partaking in a photo shoot for promotional posters for their performance later on this week. Meador is an exercise science major at SCSU who choreographed the opening number and is performing a dance of her own later on in the performance.
Meador has been dancing since the beginning of sixth grade. She said she believes dancing gives her a chance to express herself in ways words cannot.
“A different side of me comes out,” she said.
“I thought Northstar was a really good opportunity to perform something I’ve wanted to do for a while,” said Meador. “I think (the performance will) be really fun, very entertaining, and it supports a local student production.”
Christoph Whitbeck, physics major, arrived late to the photo shoot but still got a chance to participate in a “High School Musical” look-a-like shot: the performers jump off the brick wall near Engleman and the photographer takes a picture of everyone as they leave the ground and pose in the air.
“I’m doing a musical number I wrote myself called ‘The Dream,’” said Whitbeck. “It’s about the worst wedding ever, but the song ‘The Dream’ is about wanting a good marriage.”
Sogonro said he feels as though the performance is more than just a showcase of student talent.
“What’s unique about us,” said Sogunro, “is that Northstar SCSU Student Show is a movement representing a mentality, a state of mind, where performers treat their work seriously, not just as a job but as a craft that needs to be diligently owned in order to be successful.”
Whitbeck said he feels the same.
“It’s the only chance you’ll have to see students doing exactly what they want to do. Everyone chose their own song or monologue to perform to showcase their abilities. It’s the best of the best,” said Whitbeck. “I’m excited.”
