Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Planning a Show: An Interview With Aubrey Bryan

With Rampage Show Choir’s Cabaret coming up, (today actually, 7 pm in the C Walsh Theatre!!!) I thought it would be a good idea to sit down with Rampage Show Choir President, Aubrey Bryan to learn more about just what it takes to put on a show at Suffolk University. Being in Rampage myself, especially with my experience on the cabaret committee and now as treasurer of the group, I   already had a pretty good sense of what goes on. So, between the two of us, we’re going to try to shed some light on how to make a show go on.

Cabaret, in Aubrey’s words, is “a performance that showcases everything Rampage has to offer from single members through to the whole group performances, it is our pride and joy. That’s what cabaret is.” Cabaret this year consists of three numbers featuring the entire group, one number featuring all the girls, one number featuring all the guys, and nine individual acts, including solos duets, and even a dance trio.

So that’s a lot of rehearsal time. However, there’s more to putting on a show than just what you see on stage. The show itself is an hour and fifteen minutes, but the planning took much, much longer. When I asked Aubrey how long it takes to plan cabaret, she responded, “logistically, we’ve been working on it since the end of last semester, but it’s something that we keep in mind all year. It’s everything we work towards.” That’s right. It’s takes an entire year to plan out one show. But it’s totally worth it.

Not everything is easy when it comes to show planning. Aubrey has a few things to say about that. “It’s just keeping track of all the details. Every step of the way, there are new waves of like, something else you forgot. And like, getting everyone to do everything on time, you know, with ad money and everything. Even now when everything seems to be all set we’re still realizing, like, gotta do a bow, gotta do this. There’s always the panic that you’re forgetting something significant that’s going to be the one thing that makes it not go well.”

What helps ensure a smooth planning process? Two things. Team work, and planning ahead. “We have to trust that the team is thinking about it so that all the details come together.” In my own experience, nothing I’m responsible for would ever get done with out the help of my eboard team, as well as the rest of the group.  When I asked Aubrey what advice she had for other performing arts groups who are planning their shows, she said, “definitely starting early. That was something that we are still learning. In previous years, Rampage was still learning numbers down to the wire, like, on the day of tech, or we’d be pulling together the food order day of. There’s so much that can be accomplished and put together in the fall or early spring. That kind of proc-activity is so essential. And having a team of people who care.”

Rampage Cabaret isn’t a huge event. The whole campus isn’t getting hyped about it, we haven’t sold out tickets or anything, but it is a huge event for us. “We are a newer group, and this is only our second year in the C Walsh. We kind of have to be humble in that regard, but I do hope people are interested in us.”

One thing that’s really cool about Rampage is that we’re the only group on campus able to put on a show featuring only our members. “That is one of the things that makes me so proud of Rampage. Especially this year, how we’re not having anyone host us, like, we’re hosting us. And the fact that we’re at this point where we completely believe that we can put on a show all by ourselves, it just makes me so proud to be in a group like this. And to think that a whole two hour even is going to be entertaining just with show choir stuff. We can pull that variety. It’s not going to be just show choir on show choir, but we’re such a diverse groups. There’s going to be pop ballads and Spanish songs with guitar and  show tunes. We could literally do everything. It’s an awesome thing that we respect the individual members as well as the group effort. ”

Cabaret comes together tonight at 7 pm in the C. Walsh Theatre. You can pick up your free tickets in the Performing Arts Office on the 4th floor or at the door tonight. Although the show is free, Rampage is collecting canned goods and gently used clothing at the door to donate. There will be a reception after with free food and a performance by Suffolk’s one and only Jazz band! This is a show you don’t want to miss!

Any final words Aubrey? “Everyone’s awesome in Rampage. Everyone rocks. The end.”

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Planning a Show: An Interview With Aubrey Bryan