Guest Contributor, Antonio Walters

Jason Beckner, a musical theatre major at Emory & Henry College, is currently working on his senior art project while reminiscing about his time in the theater department.

Beckner had a lead role in the department’s production of “Spring Awakening.” He is grateful to spend his last year at E&H doing in-person performances, since COVID-19 precautions put that aspect of theater on hold.

“Doing live theatre was nearly impossible during a pandemic, so our department shifted more towards multi-media production, which was super interesting,” Beckner said. “Now that things are somewhat back to normal, though, we’re back on stage and the process of putting up a show is more or less what it was before. Although, now I have to get my nose probed at the chapel three times a week. We did a full set production, with orchestra and lights and a full cast. We haven’t done that since ‘Legally Blonde’ two years ago.”

As Beckner enters his last semester at E&H in the spring, he has multiple responsibilities regarding his current and future performing goals.

“Now that the ‘Spring Awakening’ show’s over, we’re gearing up for Juries, which are end of the year evaluations for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama Department to see where they’ve improved over the last semester,” Beckner explained. “We’re also currently submitting to regional theatre conferences like UPTA and SETC in hopes of landing summer jobs.”

Throughout their senior year, theatre students search for job opportunities after graduation. As Beckner finishes his final year at the College, he has started to develop his post-graduation plan.

“Oh goodness, I have no idea and that terrifies me. COVID has put the entertainment world in chaos and it wasn’t necessarily easy before. My plan is to graduate sometime in the next year, god-willing, audition around, and see what happens,” Beckner explained.

The theatre department has one more upcoming show in the spring, a play titled “Look, We are Breathing,” which Beckner hopes to participate in.