By Madie McGuire The irnprovisational children's theatre troupe, Pied Pipers, was a, tight-knit group ofstudents that specialized in telling interactive stories to younger audienc s. The troupe traveled together from places as close as the George S. Benson Auditorium stage, all the way o a church in Petersburg, Scotland. The group typically had between eight and 12 members, with J 2 being rarer, according to Dottie Frye, assistant professor and idirector ofP1eg Pigers. She said she had a very big passion for the gnoUJ). Fryt was a Pied Piper for three years at Freed-Hardeman Uniyersity, and was involved iri starting troupes in several different locations. \\Then picking11ew Pipers, Frye told the old members not to let her pick more than 10. This year after seeing the amount of talent iu auditions~Frye retracted her statement. ''There's so much talent and the hearts [of the students] are fabul0t1 '," Frye said. "It seemed foolish to say that there had to be an ~roitrary numbet." Se ior Vjc oria DeBoefgot "piped" d11ring her sophomore year in 2014, and said she saw the group adapt and grow. "Every y~ar the tl'oupe changes," DeBoef ·aid. "This year. it i a lot louder," i\.fter the tro pe gained new members, they took a weekend to have a retreat at Camp Tahkodah, located in Floral, Arkansas, which allowed them to became better acquainted with each other and start pr4cticing for their upcoming shows. "[During] my sophomore year, we would use our free time to just sit, chill and play cards," D eBoef said. "This year, every time we had a break, we would have a dance party and it would be crazy, fun, and everyone would bejoking around." Sophomore Justice Laws was one of the new Piper chosen for 2016 -2017. "I was nervous with five new Piper coming in," Laws said. "I thought [die older members] would think that there was a weird dynamic, but we gelled very well. It was nice to ee that they let the new members have just as many ideas as the old members did." Sophomore Cassie Houck, Pied Pipers member since fall 2015, said the group was diverse and thought they each brought something unique and special to the table. "It has been really cool to see the dynamic stretch [within the troupe]," Houck said. "It is still a very close-knit group and we have a lot offun with each other. It'sjust more people to laugh at and with." Houck said her favorite thing about being a Pied Viper was being able to impact the life of a child. "It is the coole t thing when you 0 tart talking to a child who may not be super outgoing, [or] maybe a little shy, light up because you noticed them and [cared] about them," Houck said. "The main goal of Pipers is to make a child feel loved and valued, and that is the whole reason I love it so much. '
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