Senior Showcase

The Senior Showcase is an important final step in the professional training programs for graduating senior actors and musical theatre majors at the ACU Theatre and, for many, the beginning of successful professional performance careers. Learn more about Senior Showcase and meet our next showcase members at the button below.

2025 Senior Showcase

Tepper Semester

Study in NYC through this unique residency program from Syracuse University’s Department of Drama. Advanced-level undergraduate students can take full advantage of New York City’s rich cultural community while immersing themselves in a rigorous artistic training program.

More about Tepper Semester

Greenhouse Arts & Media

The Greenhouse Arts & Media offers a three-week LA experience where students write and film a 10-minute short film, as well as engage with faith-based LA industry professionals. A red-carpet screening is held in December.

Greenhouse Arts & Media

USITT

ACU Theatre faculty and students attend USITT conferences each year. The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc. (USITT) connects performing arts design and technology communities to ensure a vibrant dialogue among practitioners, educators, and students. (USITT.org)

USITT

Research

ACU Theatre students participate in research through the ACU Office of Undergraduate Research, Creativity and Innovation. UGRCI supports the participation of undergraduate students in scholarly research and creative projects through grant funding, hosting the ACU Undergraduate Research, Creativity, and Innovation Festival, and other collaborative initiatives.

Research

Forms & Applications for Current Theatre Students

The ACU Theatre encourages all majors to engage in various areas of production and theatre events. Students can submit a form to request consideration to stage manage, lead a theatre chapel or serve as a dramaturg among several other interests.

Forms & Applications

ACU FilmFest

ACU Theatre students may pursue film opportunities through the annual ACU FilmFest held each spring. Students are encouraged to compose original screenplay content, direct, produce, and perform in original student shorts.

ACU FilmFest

The Greenhouse Arts & Media

Earn three hours of Theatre or Film Credit during the Summer!
Establish Your Roots in the industry and earn three hours of theatre or film credit during a summer session through a co-department agreement between ACU’s JMC and Theatre departments and The Greenhouse Arts & Media. Greenhouse provides college students with opportunities for personal and professional development, practical experience, and strategic planning for life after graduation.

The course is led by Shun Lee Fong, director of Greenhouse Media, along with ACU alumna Sommerly Simser of Netflix. In this three-week LA experience, students write and film a 10-minute short film as well as engage with LA industry professionals of faith. A red-carpet screening is held in December.

More about Greenhouse

ACU Theatre and Journalism students at The Greenhouse Arts & Media Summer Program.

ACU alumna Sommerly Simser from Netflix, made participation in Greenhouse possible.

Research

ACU Theatre students participate in ACU’s Undergraduate Research, Creativity and Innovation Festival

The ACU Office of Undergraduate Research, Creativity and Innovation supports the participation of undergraduate students in scholarly research and creative projects through grant funding, hosting the ACU Undergraduate Research, Creativity, and Innovation Festival, and other collaborative initiatives.

Alex Dulske – Behind Closed Doors
(playwriting)

Lila Griffith – Choreography and History of
“The Sound of Music.”

Nathaniel Riechle – Choreography and History of
“The Sound of Music.”

Kinsey Herbel – Lighting “A Doll’s House”: Bringing Clarity to the Ideas that Keep
Us Trapped

Maya Padilla – Voice for the Stage
(singing vs. speaking)

Ashton Taylor – Mothman in Heels
(playwriting)

Winner: “Outstanding Oral Presentation in the Arts and Humanities”

Christian Scholars Conference

The Dutch Lady
A semi-staged presentation of scenes and research on June 5, 2025, in the Culp Theatre
Historical research reflection:

Professor Dr. Joe Stephenson
Director: Dawne Swearingen Meeks, ACU Theatre chair
Performers: Layla Leveret, Rose Lee-Alliston, Ryan Shupe, Will Thompson, Spencer Spinola-Kasselman, Ty Naicker
Production Team: Téa Merchant, Devin Braswell, Catherine Baumgardner, Eric Pitney, Josh Hervey

USITT

The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc. (USITT) connects performing arts design and technology communities to ensure a vibrant dialog among practitioners, educators, and students. (USITT.org)

ACU Theatre faculty and students attended the 2025 USITT Conference and Stage Expo in Columbus, OH, March 5-8. In attendance were Eric Pitney, assistant professor of Theatre; Josh Hervey, Theatre technical director; and students Eva Barnard, Rayne Harris and Haley Johnson.

Forms & Applications for Current Theatre Students

Applications

Theatre Forms

2025 Senior Showcase

2025 ACU Showcase

The Senior Showcase is an important final step in the professional training programs for graduating senior actors and musical theatre majors at the ACU Theatre and, for many, is the beginning of successful professional performance careers. The showcase is the capstone for performers to participate in before they graduate. During the spring semester students perform and audition for invited agents, managers, casting directors, producers, musical directors and industry professionals in New York City and then make themselves available for callbacks, interviews, future auditions and representation. The senior showcase is an essential bridge in establishing a connection with industry professionals and ACU Theatre seniors who are ready to move into the marketplace.

2025 Senior Showcase Performances

March 3, 2025
9 p.m. seating; 9:30 p.m. performance
54 Below (Cabaret Venue)
Tickets required. To purchase a ticket click on the link below

March 4, 2025
Performances at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Actor’s Temple Theatre
No ticket required for Showcase performances

Denim Atkins

rESUME

Adunni Rose Talent Agency

Zola Feasel

rESUME

Haven Foster

rESUME

Hannah Galambos

rESUME

Adunni Rose Talent Agency

Taylor Herndon

rESUME

Ainsley Houghton

rESUME

Spencer Kasselman

Layla Leveret

Patti Maisano

Jilly Nickens

Ella Root

Adunni Rose Talent Agency

Madi Sipe

rESUME

Adunni Rose Talent Agency

Courtney String

rESUME

Will Thompson

rESUME

Adunni Rose Talent Agency

54 Below

MORE About 54 below

Broadway Host Ben Jeffrey (Pumbaa in The Lion King) performs

Haven Foster

Patti Maisano

Will Thompson

For more information, please reach out to Theatre Chair Dawne Meeks.

Senior Showcase Credits

Director/Showcase Coach – Joey Banks
Producer/Theatre Chair – Dawne Swearingen Meeks
Musical Director – Chris Hollingsworth
Accompanist – Marc Sanders
Showcase Coordinator – Devin Braswell
Industry Liaisons – Kat Hargrave, DGRW NY talent agency;
Ally Beans, Ally Beans Creative LLC, U.S. operations at Lindsay Nicholas New York

54 Below Credits

Cabaret Director/Producer – Dawne Swearingen Meeks
Assistant Producer – Madi Sipe
Musical Director – Chris Hollingsworth
Accompanist – Marc Sanders

2024 SHOWCASE HIGHLIGHTS

Tepper Semester

ACU Theatre majors in performance and design tracks have the opportunity to spend their final semester studying with Broadway and award-winning instructors in New York City.

The Tepper Semester – a unique residency program from Syracuse University’s Department of Drama – takes full advantage of New York City’s rich cultural community and offers undergraduate students in advanced levels of acting, musical theatre, design, and stage management the opportunity to immerse themselves in a rigorous artistic training program. The ACU Theatre has an affiliation agreement with Syracuse University allowing ACU Theatre majors to attend the Tepper Semester.

As a student in the Tepper Semester, you work closely with an accomplished faculty of professional artists who nurture your creative, intellectual, and personal growth. Musical theatre students take dance classes at Broadway Dance Center. The program also guides you in understanding the business of the industry, which is essential for a rewarding and successful career in the performing arts. As an immersion experience, the professional preparatory semester creates the base of a national arts network for emerging young artists. Residency in New York City is an integral part of the Tepper Semester. Students live and study in the heart of New York’s theater district and attend studio classes in Syracuse University’s Fisher Center located at Madison Avenue and 31st Street in the heart of Manhattan. The program also takes advantage of the vast cultural and educational resources the city has to offer. Students learn from exposure to a broad spectrum of world-class theatres, museums, libraries, and numerous entertainment venues so vital to artistic training. Students attend Broadway or Off-Broadway theatre productions each week.

For more information, check out the Syracuse Tepper site.

ACU Theatre seniors, Madi Sipe and Taylor Herndon join their classmates along with NY director Daisy Prince and Emmy-winning composer Lance Horne at Tepper’s Fisher Center in NYC after their voice class.

“I’m really excited about who we’re going to be working with, both the professors and also the other students and getting to be around people who love to create…Every year when the seniors come back from Tepper, they always seem to have an elevated sense of permission about pursuing their craft. They feel more confident about going forward, and they feel like they can really do this, so I’m excited to embrace that.”

-Andrew Gilliland

“I am so excited to be sharing this experience with all of my really close friends. I am so thankful that this opportunity allows me to experience what it would be like to live in New York as well…. Being able to have the opportunity to perform for some casting agents is so exciting … while auditioning whenever we can is super helpful too.”

– Payton Reeves

ACU Senior Theatre majors – Ella Root, Hannah Galambos, Taylor Herndon and Patti Maisano in Times Square

Taylor Herndon at Broadway Dance Studio where Tepper musical theatre track students take dance.

Madi Sipe prepares to attend Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Madi Sipe, Taylor Herndon and classmates in NY subway.

Madi Sipe and Taylor Herndon in Central Park.

FilmFest

EPIC – FilmFest 2025

ACU Theatre is delighted to seize the opportunities presented to ACU students through the annual ACU FilmFest held each spring. Under the guidance of Dr. Kyle Dickson and the Learning Studio team, students are encouraged to compose original screenplay content, direct, produce, and perform in original student shorts. ACU Digital Learning Spaces facilitate access to cameras, green screens, and other film equipment, enabling students to create their films with the support of outstanding ACU staff and faculty.

ACU FilmFest assembles an esteemed team of industry professionals who provide film workshops, Q&A sessions, and feedback for each student film submitted and selected for the Red Carpet FilmFest evening. The red-carpet screening is held annually at the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Abilene. Melissa Henderson (Empty Nest), an alumna of ACU Theatre, serves as FilmFest Director. Additional industry support often includes Matt Maxwell, Kyle Pinson, Jason Baumgardner (Run the Race, Samson, Matter of Time), Randy Brewer (CEO Revolution Pictures, Taylor Swift), and Brett McCorkle (Director; Jesus Revolution).

ACU Theatre believes deeply in the transformative power of storytelling. Through ACU FilmFest, that mission is extended by offering a dynamic platform to tell compelling stories through the lens of digital media.

Theatre Students awarded:
Best Picture/Best Director (Thumbs Up) – Caleb Shields
Best Actress (Sleep When You’re Dead) – Ainsley Houghton