New BA Musical Theatre degree is one of only a few in California

Audrey Deubig stood silent. She was an 18-year-old freshman in her first week at San Diego State University, looking to impress the theatre faculty at an audition workshop. Deubig was shaking and could not get a word of her song out.

“I remember thinking, ‘Great, now that they've seen this, they're never going to cast me like, they're never going to want to work with me,” Deubig remembered.

Robert Meffe, head of SDSU’s Musical Theatre program, invited her to begin her song again. 

“[Meffe] said, ‘Wait one second,’” Deubig recalled. “‘Let's all just take a breath.’ We all took a deep breath – everyone in the room took it with me – and I was able to reground myself. He saw that I was nervous, and saw, ‘This is not who she is. She's just really nervous.’ He looked past it and he let me take my time.”

Since then, Deubig has flourished in SDSU’s new Musical Theatre B.A. program and has become a performer regularly cast in university and professional productions including a star turn as Janet in the Rocky Horror Show at the Cygnet Theatre this fall.

The B.A. in Musical Theatre allows for flexibility. Deubig is one of several students who balance professional and university productions with her coursework. Meffe, a double major in Music and Pre-Med from the University of Notre Dame, designed the program with that flexibility in mind.

“I wanted a degree that represented more of the performer today, which is someone who's interested in a lot of things, not just one thing,” he said. “I wanted to create a program that was for and by people who were interested in a lot of things.

Whether it's performing in professional shows, acting in club shows, pursuing a second major in nursing or chemistry, or adding a minor in another field, the Musical Theatre major is made for multifaceted people.

“Even the greats have a way to create revenue that's not just performing,” Meffe shared. “Our students are fantastic public speakers. They are people who do presentations really well. They are people that know how to collaborate, and are really great, creative problem solvers.”

The program currently has 27 enrolled students and is among the few musical theatre programs for undergraduates available in California.

“There's a whole state of California… lots of people in it, a lot of people want to study musical theatre, but then they're all traveling out of state to get their degree,” Meffe said. “There's a place for them here at San Diego State.”

Similarly, SDSU has a one-of-a-kind Musical Theatre MFA program that is designed for professional performers who want to transition into teaching and directing. MFA students have performed on Broadway, national tours, and other professional venues.

“They teach our classes; they teach our voice lessons,” Deubig highlighted. “While they are our teachers, they also act as friends. In many cases, l need advice with an audition song, or I'm going to rehearsal and I feel really nervous. Many times, I have reached out to the Master’s students.”

“No other undergraduate program has this mentorship capability,” Meffe said.

As the undergraduate musical theatre program is still young, students have helped shape their degree. Students asked for and were given more voice instruction and recommended that Dr. Katie Turner’s Theatre of Diversity course be a required part of the new curriculum. 

“They felt like that was a really important thing to bring into the curriculum,” Meffe said. “To diversify it and to give us different perspectives than just the Western European point of view.”

Undergraduates also benefit from SDSU’s MFA New Musical Initiative, where students help collaborate with aspiring writers to debut a show. Deubig worked on the most recent project, which brought unique challenges.

“You can't watch the YouTube clip and see how Idina Menzel did it,” Meffe explained. “It's completely being created on you, on your body, on your lived experience.”

“Audrey [Deubig] was with it from the beginning to the end,” Meffe recalled. “Just enchanted the writers. Now the role that she created is just something that they will always have.”

Deubig’s coursework, which includes several workshop classes, has helped her evolve into a better singer and dancer.

“Those classes really helped me get over my audition anxiety,” Deubig said. “Just getting up every week in front of my peers. Getting feedback each week on how you're doing.”

Meffe is one of the many faculty members who have helped shape Deubig into the performer she is now.

“[Meffe] taught me so much about this industry, how it is as a business,” Deubig said. “He's taught me so much about auditions, resumes, reels. Everything that I know about musical theatre is from Rob.”

“I just love the diversity of thought and interest that the students have,” Meffe said. “It's the kind of program I wanted to be a part of, and it's the kind of program I created.”