Wabash College students are involved in the Crawfordsville community through service, jobs and internships, and, as it turns out, through theater, too! The Vanity Theater, located at 122 South Washington St., is a homey, local mainstay of Crawfordsville which has historically been a place for the public to come together and enjoy productions of their favorite musicals and plays.
This year, The Vanity Theater will be putting on Disney’s High School Musical featuring two Wabash students: Reed Hepburn ’12 and Kevin Billups ’10. High School Musical for anyone who’s been living under a rock for the past two and a half years, is Disney’s wildly successful movie franchise, the third in the series having just come to theaters last week, debuting at number ne in the box office while also holding the new record for opening weekend for a musical ($42 million).
Director John Blair said that The Vanity Theater will be putting on a stage adaptation of the original movie. It hasn’t been easy to do, though, by any means.
“The biggest challenge, I would say, would have to be time,” Blair said. “We’re putting this production together in such a short amount of time. We’ve had some long, long days; once going 12 hours from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. By the time of our first showing, we’ll only have been rehearsing for two weeks.”
Wabash has had a history of being involved, and the theater is no exception. Hepburn and Billups have helped to make the rehearsals thus far a success, and have made an incredibly positive impression with Blair, who enjoys working with them.
“I love working with youth on stage,” Blair said. “And Wabash students bring a lot to the table; they’re helping with the show immensely and have much to be proud of.”
High School Musical’s influence has spread not just to its targeted audience members, but others as well. Billups, who plays Coach Bolton, has always enjoyed the spirit of the movie, and is excited to have the opportunity of bringing it to the stage.
“I had been a big fan of High School Musical, the movie,” he said. “Being a part of it now is like living in a dream. Surprisingly, doing this show has helped me grow as an actor.”
Hepburn, a Crawfordsville local by birth, is playing Ryan Evans and has been in 15 productions since he got into theater— most of which have been at The Vanity. He so far has one especially memorable moment from working on this production.
“For once, there’s one outstanding memory that immediately comes to mind for this show,” Hepburn said. “In one of our first complete run-through’s, we were in the middle of one of my songs, ‘Bop to the Top.’ I’m supposed to spin around a couple of times and wind up at the front of the stage, but this time I misjudged exactly where the front of the stage was and ended up flying off, nearly kicking the assistant director in the face!”
One of the biggest difficulties for both Billups and Hepburn, as any student reading this can attest, is balancing schoolwork with their extracurricular activities.
“It has been a challenge, but I see it as a healthy one because it forces me to manage my time better,” Hepburn said. “When I’m not at rehearsals I work a bit more efficiently [on assignments] because of it. The hardest part has been learning all the dances and lyrics in such a short amount of time; most shows rehearse for around six weeks!”
Disney’s hit theatrical adaptation of High School Musical opens at The Vanity Theater on October 30th, and will run on the 31st, as well as November 1st and 2nd. Tickets are available through the telephone number 765-362- 7077, as well as at the door. The production promises to be excellent and, with two students of Wabash in prominent roles, it would be difficult for it not to be.