Performing Arts Students Taking Talents on the Road This Summer
It’s summer, which means Emerson College Performing Arts students are spread out across the country, working for theater companies, educating children, working behind the scenes, and performing in shows.
Emerson Today checked in with students to learn what they’re performing, who they’re working with, and how they’ve been putting their Emerson education to use. Many of them gave a shout out to Associate Professor Scott LaFeber, chair of the Auditions Committee for the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC), who encourages all students to audition.
Sofonyas ’26
Major: Acting
What are you doing this summer?
This summer I am playing Romeo in Lucien Theatre Company’s Romeo & Juliet. I’m also a co-founder of Lucien. Previews are happening at the Foundry Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then the show will open in November in New York.
How has your time at Emerson helped prepare you?
My time at the school has really taught me how to value my own artistry and voice through everything I do. I definitely owe it to my mentors who were willing to push me, because they believed there is more to me than I thought of myself.
To be honest, I began to nurture an everlasting love for an art form that makes me think the most, which is frightening, for sure. To think. But I am surrounded by such innovative artists that I consider it a blessing to think.
Andrew Limansky ’27
Major: Musical Theatre
What are you doing this summer?
I am working at Anakeesta [a theme park in Gatlinberg, Tennessee] as a singer and dancer. I’m performing in a show called Grooveline. It’s an a cappella-style show.
How has your time at Emerson helped prepare you?
Voice lessons helped me with the proper technique to get through five shows a day, five times a week, along with dance classes helping me be familiar with certain dance moves that helped me learn the show quickly. I got my contract from my Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) audition.
Emily Coolidge, MA ’25
Program: Theatre Education & Applied Theatre
What are you doing this summer?
This summer, I have been working on my thesis project, which included teaching a responsive theatre class to two different groups of students at High Point Academy (based in Pasadena, California) after they had been displaced for several months due to the Eaton Fire back in January.
Additionally, I have worked as a movement teacher and choreographer for A Noise Within Theatre’s Summer With Shakespeare camp, located onsite at their theater space in Pasadena.
How has Emerson prepared you?
Without Emerson, I would not have had the practice or exposure to extensive devised theatre practices and methods for working with students, as well as theatre and drama-based curriculum such as DBP (drama-based pedagogy). These opportunities to learn and practice these disciplines have extensively provided me with an abundance of resources at my disposal for co-creating and facilitating theatre and drama work for both my thesis and movement class at A Noise Within.
Amelia Duval ’26, Kylee Majkowski ’26, and Emily Barnett ’26
Major: Musical Theatre (all three)
What are you doing this summer?
Duval: [Myself, Kylee, Emily and other people are] working as tour actors/directors with The International Red Truck Tour Project with Missoula Children’s Theatre in Missoula, Montana. We travel around in a little red truck, and each week we’re in a new location. Throughout the week, I, along with my tour partner, audition kids and teach them a show in five days.
Some weeks, I am onstage with the kids, and other weeks my tour partner is on, and I am directing the kids. It is such rewarding work. On the last day, we have a performance to showcase all their hard work!
Majkowski: We pack everything you need to put on a show (costumes, set, lights, props, etc.) into the little red truck and drive town to town bringing our shows to children ages 5-18.
Barnett: I am driving around the country with one partner and teaching a musical version of The Wizard of Oz to a new group of around 20 to 60 kids every week. My tour has brought me through Mississippi, Georgia, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, but there are various tours across all 50 states and 16 different countries!
How has Emerson prepared you?
Duval: My time at Emerson has prepared me by teaching me how to pick up material fast, how to think on my feet, and how to be prepared for anything. All of my classes and professors have helped greatly in preparing me for my first professional contract.
I attained this position through my SETC audition. I got a callback for Missoula Children’s Theatre and had a short interview with them.
Majkowski: I would say Emerson prepared me in certain technical aspects like music preparation, line memorization, and general organizational skills. Beyond that, I feel Emerson instilled me with the confidence required to take on a job like this. There’s a whole lot of ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ involved. I got this opportunity from SETC. From there, MCT called me back and the rest is history!
Barnett: I’ve gotten various chances at Emerson to work behind the scenes on different productions thanks to our various student theatre organizations and my job as a Campus Centers Event Technician. Since there are two of us in charge of putting on the show every week, all of the set building and directorial work as well as sound and lighting set-up falls to us.
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Sydney Hoffman ’26 and Zeke Manry ’26
Major: Hoffman — Musical Theatre, with minors in Hearing and Deafness, and Dance; Manry — Musical Theatre
What are you doing this summer?
Hoffman: I am an actor in The Lost Colony [in Manteo, North Carolina]. In addition to performing in The Lost Colony, I have had the opportunity to perform in additional shows that are put on at the Colony. I was in Ordinary Days, where I played Deb, and She Kills Monsters and played Farrah/Evil Tina.
Through The Lost Colony, I also have had the opportunity to get certified in stage combat. I am now certified through SAFD (Society of American Fight Directors) in unarmed and single sword.
Manry: I’m in the ensemble for the The Lost Colony, the nation’s longest running It’s a theatrical retelling of the famed Lost Colony of Roanoke.
How has Emerson prepared you?
Hoffman: My professors have really helped me grow into the performer I am today. They have pushed me and helped me find myself. My time at Emerson also helped me prepare for working in a professional environment and picking up directions.
I attended the SETC, which was recommended to me by one of my professors at Emerson, who helped prep my audition package and talked me through my contract.
Manry: I believe the audition prep taught throughout Emerson’s courses has allowed me to adequately know how to market myself for a variety of different theaters. I got this position through a cattle-call audition at SETC.
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Gabriella David ’26
Major: Theatre, with a concentration in directing
What are you doing this summer?
This summer, I’m working at Theatre Aspen [in Colorado] as their writing/directing apprentice. I’ve had the opportunity to assist in writing three original cabarets performed at the historic Hotel Jerome, and I’m also assisting Emerson alum Michael Bello ’12 on Mamma Mia. It’s been an incredible experience collaborating with industry professionals—including Hunter Foster—and creating theatre in one of the most beautiful places in the country.
How has your time at Emerson helped prepare you?
Emerson has given me invaluable hands-on experience. I’ve directed student theatre productions like Rabbit Hole and Tanner Maverick’s Book of Sound, and I’ve also assistant directed on Emerson Stage productions. With mentorship from professors like [Performing Arts Senior Affiliated Professor] Joe Antoun, [Performing Arts Assistant Professor] Ilana Ransom-Toeplitz, and many others, I’ve been able to immerse myself in the art of directing. Emerson has helped me discover my voice as a director, shape the kind of work I want to create, and grow alongside a community of passionate, like-minded artists.
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