Holiday Haunting Each fall, hundreds of students, staff and faculty work together to put on a Homecoming lllusical. This past year Home – coming fell on H alloween weekend, making the production "Scrooge" an appropriate choice to kick off the holiday season. "This show begins the holiday season by being a traditional fall ghost story that uses the holiday of Christmas as its subject," profes – sor of communication and musical dire ctor Robin Miller said. "It becomes a way to start what is for most people a very busy season of the year with a reminder of what is important." Before the curtain rose on opening night, however, much ef– fort was put forth by the directors and producers. After selecting a show and acquiring the contract and clearance for it came the detail work. "[We] get together as a production team and break the show down," musical producer Cindee Stockstill said . "No matter how many times we have seen a show, we will break it down to see what story we 're telling." There were several considerations that went into selecting "Scrooge." Among them, was keeping in mind the students who would be performing in the musical. "First, we are an education theatre ," Miller said . "Our first re – sponsibility is to teach our students. It is co - curricular. This work in some way relates to their chosen career. They will be teaching, [working] in [the] arts and musical theatre; this is a huge part of our training." Senior theatre and business major Aaron Tucker was one stu– dent who benefited from participating in several musicals during -, Senior Mary Kyle Walker of De lta Gamma Rho walks off t[1e football field after being crowned Homecoming Queen, fo llowed by seniors Jessie and Spencer Wilson on Oct. 31. The crowning took place during halftime of the football game against Henderson State; Harding won 27-22. Nick Michael In the locker room, freshman Jasper Bodiford, senior Jeremy Townsend, sophomore James Fener, freshman Marshall Hughes, sophomore Joey Stullings and freshman Kris Wildman prepare for the Homecoming game on Oct. 31 . The team discussed their pregame defense strategies while doing stretching exercises. Nick Michael During a Pied Piper show, seniors Mary McBride, Megan West, Seth Bowden and Megan Leonard act out an impromptu version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" on Oc t. 31. The Pipers always had a home show during Homecoming weekend . Nick Michael his Harding career . An ensemble member of "Scrooge," he also helped on the set building crew this year and was in previous years' shows "Beauty and the Beast" and "Oklahoma!" "Since being at Harding 1 know 1 have grown being in the mu – sicals," Tucker said. "1 have always challenged myself to be a better dancer when it comes to choreography and to be the best r can be on the stage. I feel 1 have grown in other ways such as being more engaging while doing crowd scenes, [and] I have learned how to be able to throw focus to lead characters or other important moments that happen . " Along with the musical being an educational experience for stu– dents, the production team sought to select musicals that an audi – ence would enjoy. "We look for a show that would be good for onstage, working on the show in technical areas [such as] the [orchestra] pit, etc.," Miller said. "We want to do something that would be engaging to our audience." This year at Dr. Burks' request, the cast and crew of "Scrooge" did an extra performance in honor of the Christian College Presi – dents' Conference hosted at Harding. The extra performance was free and open to the public allowing more people the chance to see the production and the cast an additional opportunity to perform together and hone their presentation . "Getting to do the extra performance was a huge opportunity and honor," Tucker said. "It was a lot of fun because Tgot to see the cast one more time, fix anything I had missed during Home – coming, and it was for a completely different audience than what is typical for a Homecoming weekend." Emily Hauptli and Jen Gibson homecoming 19
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