Theatre Arts

Super Sunday at WCSU

Join us on Sunday, October 12, 2025 for a Super Sunday with the Department of Theatre at WCSU! All high school juniors and seniors, and college transfers, are encouraged to attend this free eventAt Super Sunday, you will get a look at our facilities including our state-of-the-art Visual and Performing Art Center, take workshops with our esteemed faculty in your area of interest, get to know our current students, and see a matinee of our mainstage musical American Psycho: The Musical for free!

Registration will open at a later date.

 


Full schedule of Super Sunday

8:00am-8:30am – Check-in with Coffee and Pastries Provided

8:30am-9:20am – Welcome by WCSU Dept. of Theatre Faculty

9:30am-10:50am – Workshop 1* (Your choice from below options)

11:00am-12:20pm – Workshop 2* (Your choice from below options)

12:30pm-2:00pmLunch Provided with Current Students and Faculty

2:00pm-4:30pm – American Psycho: The Musical performance

4:30pm-5:00pm – Q&A with Cast and Technicians, Wrap up


Options for Workshop 1

  • Flashing Lights! Lighting Your Own Musical (Lighting Design)
  • How to Survive Culinary Murder Mysteries (Edible Props, or Are They?) (Props)
  • Stage Management: More Than Just Calling Cues (Stage Management)
  • Nail That Audition! (Acting and Auditioning)
Options for Workshop 2
  • See How The Magic Happens (Rigging, Scenery, Props, Lighting)
  • Creating Character Through Costume (Costumes)
  • There’s No Tune Like a Showtune – How Songs Tell More Than They Tell (Analysis and Dramaturgy)
  • Nail That Audition! (Acting and Auditioning)

About the workshops & faculty

Options for Workshop 1

Flashing Lights! Lighting Your Own Musical
A Lighting Design Workshop

How do lighting designers create the exciting and eye-popping lighting required for a musical? In this session you will get to explore the lighting plot for American Psycho, and then get a chance to create your own lighting for a musical sequence using the state of the art lighting equipment. Hosted by Oliver WasonCoordinator of the BFA Theatre Arts – Design/Tech program. His designs have been seen at Lincoln Center Theatre, Atlantic Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, and more.


How to Survive Culinary Murder Mysteries(Edible Props, or Are They?)
A Props Workshop taught by Visiting Assistant Professor Maureen Freedman.

Stage Management: More Than Just Calling Cues
A Stage Management Workshop

Come join Equity Stage Manager Casey Cook, Instructor in the BFA in Theatre Arts – Stage Management program for an informative and interactive session of practical suggestions, concrete tips and experienced advice in how to succeed in the creative, technical, fast-paced (and seemingly impossible) world of stage managing. In this workshop, you will:
  • Hear about all the things that a Stage Manager does.
  • Walk through the typical Stage Management process, from Auditions to Closing Night.
  • Learn many of the ins-and-outs of working in live theatre.
If you are interested in becoming a leader of creative, sensitive, insanely wonderful people, this is your career. That standing ovation the actors just received couldn’t happen without You. Come to this workshop to learn how.
Casey has stage managed in New York and around the country for well over 25 years.

Nail That Audition!
An Acting and Audition Workshop

Improve your audition skills. This is a workshop in sharpening your audition techniques. Learn how to prepare and perform better. We will go over script breakdown skills prior to performance and then tips and tricks on performing. Other areas covered will be material selection, relaxation and how to begin to approach the material. Please prepare a short monologue to perform with a short feedback section to follow.  Or just come watch! This workshop is hosted by Professors Sal Trapani (Law and Order, One Life to Live, Circle East Theatre Company) and Pam McDaniel, Coordinator of the BFA Theatre Arts – Acting program.


Options for Workshop 2

See How The Magic Happens: Mounting a Mainstage Musical
A Behind the Scenes Technical Theatre Workshop

This workshop will take you backstage before the matinee performance of American Psycho, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at our state of the art equipment and facilities.  See and learn all about the craft of technical theatre, ranging from stage rigging, scenery and props, to lighting. This workshop is hosted by Theatre Production Coordinator and Technical Director Tom Swetz.


Creating Character Through Costume

A Costume Workshop

A costume says a lot about a character before that first line is spoken.  Through costume choices, a costume designer helps the actor to connect the character they are playing with the audience, identifying status, age, time, space and emotion. Come try your hand at creating a character through costume choices that make a statement even before any words are spoken! This workshop is hosted by Professor Joni Johns Lerner (Broadway: Textile Artist The Lion King, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Wicked).


“There Is No Tune Like a Showtune”: How Songs Tell More Than They Tell
A Dramaturgy and Analysis Workshop

Want to write a great musical? Let’s listen to some songs from Hamilton and Follies to see how both the lyrics and the music work together to move audiences in ways that even the audience itself may not perceive.  This workshop is hosted by Professor Dr. Don Gagnon (Author: The Politics of Oscar Hammerstein II).


Nail That Audition!
An Acting and Audition Workshop

Improve your audition skills. This is a workshop in sharpening your audition techniques. Learn how to prepare and perform better. We will go over script breakdown skills prior to performance and then tips and tricks on performing. Other areas covered will be material selection, relaxation and how to begin to approach the material. Please bring your audition material to perform with a short feedback section to follow.  Or just come watch! This workshop is hosted by Professor Sal Trapani (Law and Order, One Life to Live, Circle East Theatre Company) and Pam McDaniel, Coordinator of the BFA Theatre Arts – Acting program.

 

For questions regarding Super Sunday, please email us at svpca@wcsu.edu.