As fall quarter winds down to a close, the Seattle Pacific University Theatre Company featured the Holiday Cabaret, their first production, on Wednesday, Dec. 3. The performance consisted of six stand-alone acts. The audience totaled at 92, leaving only standing room.
Associate Producer and Marketing Director Josephine Partridge, a senior majoring in theatre performance and honors, could not have been prouder.
“I was very pleased, it brought tears to my eyes. I had to contain it because I was about to go on stage, but seeing the room full after everything that’s gone on, it was so fulfilling and really encouraging for the rest of the year and the years ahead for this club,” Partridge said.
Much of the cast and crew took time out of their evenings to be a part of the cabaret, with directors having to work around conflicting schedules. Alamea Hill, a sophomore visual communications major and one of SPUTC’s performers, talked about how much more difficult finding time was without the department to back rehearsals.
“There have been challenges with the club because it is student run and we have to be more flexible with finding times to meet each other, especially with classes and different schedules. With the department it was easier to have set aside committed times for rehearsals and for meetings. So it’s been a little bit of a challenge, but for me it’s worth it. We get to do theater, we get to do what we love, we get to share these stories with an audience and hopefully they walk away feeling changed and feeling different,” Hill said.
From the audience, spectators agreed that it was well worth the effort to put this performance together, and expressed a desire to come again. Sophomore Charlotte Halula, a biology major, talked about possibly joining club productions in the future.
“I would love to be in future performances if my schedule allows it, but if my schedule doesn’t allow it, I’ll be at every one supporting either way,” Halula said.
The Theatre Company has high hopes for the future as they finish up the quarter and plan their next production. Partridge was excited to share SPUTC’s hope to use the main theater for future productions in order to have more elaborate performances.
“We are excited for the hope of using the upstairs theater in the next two quarters for the rest of our productions. It’s lovely using this space, but we also hope to have full productions. So having access to the upstairs theater would be fabulous,” Partridge said.
Theater is alive and well at Seattle Pacific University, and it will continue to live on into next year as the club leaders are looking for actors and directors to participate in winter quarter’s student-directed one-act performances. You can keep up with SPUTC at their Instagram @sputheater for more updates on meetings and productions.
