The University of Central Missouri’s Department of Theatre and Dance allows free admission to students for this year’s productions. This is the first time in history that the department has allowed students free admission for its shows.
The department is in between show weekends for their musical performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. This is one of two main stage productions shown this semester, both of which allowed for free admission for the first time.
Cast Member, Chris Schilligo, who plays Lord Pinkelton, shared his thoughts on the free admission affecting the audience attendance.
“I think it’s a good thing for sure… The people who aren’t sure if they like theatre, or like musical theatre specifically, a lot of the times what hinders them from even giving it a chance is that it’s behind a sort of a paywall and allowing it to be free has less risk to it,” Schilligo said.
“So whether you like [the show] or not, money wasn’t wasted,” Schilligo said. “I think especially because of the show that we’re putting on, I think people are gonna end up really liking it and I think that it’ll draw more people in.”
The department typically puts on two main stage shows a semester, typically one play and one musical. The cast and crew of these productions are made up of students. This change allows students to come and support their peers without having to pay for a ticket, allowing the students to support each other in their performances in a more accessible way.
Assistant Professor of Theatre at UCM, Aaron Scully, is the director of this show. He spoke of his gratitude to the Provost for allowing the department and giving his support to allow this free admission.
“We’re really pleased and we’re really grateful to the Provost. Without the Provost we wouldn’t have been able to make this happen,” Scully said. “So with his support, we’re able to allow UCM students to come in for free, and we’ve already seen an increase in the student numbers for our first show. So we’re hoping that continues for Cinderella as well. And making theater more accessible to everyone has been a mission of ours.”
Continuing this mentioned reach of accessibility to theater, the department has made it an objective to have at least one show per run with an ASL interpreter. They sit near the stage, with a spotlight, allowing for accessibility to those who need that interpreter to enjoy the shows. They are also allowing free tickets for veterans, military, and their families.
Reagan Medlock, freshman, said, “I love it so much. I think it makes it more accessible because obviously, we are students paying a lot in tuition, but also it just makes more kids want to come to theatre.”
Sophomore, Sophia Gregory, shared similar thoughts. “I think it helps fill out theatre that students can have free admission into our productions….I think just being able to get more people to see our productions is a great thing,” Gregory said.
This production highlights the talents of many students, actors and crew members alike. Senior theatre major, Gracie Heath, is responsible for the lighting design for this production. Heath has spent an estimated total of 750 hours on the design for this show.
“Cinderella is a big show. Anything Disney adjacent is going to be magical, big, bold and colorful,” Heath said. “I think that everybody, not just me, every single area of design and all the actors have put a lot of work into this, and we’ve come up with a pretty good product.”
