Laura Osnes to Appear in Musical Theatre Series with SDSU
As an alternative to his Theatre 627 course, MFA Theatre Program Director Robert Meffe with the help of Stephen Brotebeck, Devon Hunt, and Eden Hildebrand, created the new SDSU Studio Series.
SDSU Studio Series consists of free online interviews with top musical theatre industry professionals. Each episode will be an informal conversation and Q&A sessions about the craft and the business of Broadway, utilizing the free online platform, Zoom.
The episode featuring Laura Osnes will air on Wednesday, April 8 at 1 p.m.
Meffe was inspired by the show Inside the Actors Studio, formerly seen on Bravo, which featured in-depth interviews with actors and industry professionals about their acting process and craft.
“I want educators to incorporate this series into their curriculum and use it as a replacement for a class they can’t teach. It is a different, but very valuable learning outcome for students worldwide,” said Meffe.
Meffe said he wanted to give hope to everyone who was blindsided by having to learn how to teach virtually in such a short amount of time due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“I wanted to do something big and show that SDSU is a leader in MFA education, and anyone who teaches musical theatre can count on us to help,” said Meffe.
Combining Meffe’s and Brotebeck’s contact lists from their work on Broadway, they reached out to all of the industry professionals they knew to be a part of this Studio Series.
“The response was overwhelming,” said Meffe. “Within minutes I heard back from people. Tom Kitt was the first to respond. He wrote the score for the musical Almost Famous.”
Each episode will air at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and last about 90 minutes. All of the episodes will be recorded and posted online in a free archive for anyone to access, anytime.
Below are some of the upcoming guests. For a full schedule visit the SDSU Studio Series website.
Tom Kitt
Tony Award-winning Broadway composer, orchestrator, music director, and conductor.
April 6, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
Laura Osnes
Broadway’s original Cinderella, Bonnie Parker, & Julia Trojan.
April 8, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
Mary-Mitchell Campbell
Broadway composer, orchestrator, music director, conductor, and the founder and co-executive director of ASTEP – Artists Striving To End Poverty.
April 10, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
Richard Maltby, Jr.
Tony Award-winning Broadway writer, lyricist, director, and producer.
April 13, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.