Lakeland student helps lead theatre revival
This semester, Alyssa Voigt, a sophomore from New Holstein, Wis., majoring in marketing, is creating content for the Lakeland blog. This is the first in a series of blog stories she will write.
Lakeland Excels at Arts and Drama (LEAD) is a new opportunity for Lakeland University students that focuses on the betterment and advancement of theater at LU.
LEAD was created through the shared beliefs and efforts between Lakeland sophomore Bella Geishardt and faculty member and Chair of Humanities & Fine Arts Karl Kuhn, Ph.D. LEAD gives students representation on Lakeland’s Theater Task Force.
Geishardt felt compelled to take on more of a leadership role after her first show “Puffs.” Through first-hand experience with the theater, Geishardt began efforts to improve structure and involvement from the theater students. Kuhn assisted her in her efforts, and they are working together to improve the theater experience for students at Lakeland.
“LEAD was created because after being a part of my first show here, I wasn’t sure who was really in charge,” Geishardt shared. “It seemed to me like there wasn’t much structure in the way the theater was run, and I wanted to change that. Dr. Kuhn agreed with many of these sentiments, and we worked together to figure out how we could fix this.”
Geishardt's inspiration and drive are the main reasons why LEAD was created. Geishardt shared how challenging it was for her to watch something she was passionate about be disorganized. She shared her empathy for the director trying to do it all without a group of individuals designated to assist.
“I am definitely a ‘type-A’ individual, so it was hard to watch many aspects of ‘Puff’ struggle,” Geishardt expressed. “We had a hard time with all things theater -- set, props, costumes, lights. It seemed like there was little structure in the way things were run.”
Geishardt saw the potential for Lakeland Theater through its diverse attributes and wanted to help bridge their efforts to create a more cohesive theater unit.
“I saw various aspects of what Lakeland offered (director, tech crew, Bradley staff, president of Arts and Humanities, Stagecraft class, Theater Lab credit) and felt that they were all disconnected.”
This experience, along with past experiences, is what created her passion for change. Geishardt subsequently consulted with her vocal coach, who encouraged her to take further steps, leading her to collaborate with Kuhn.
“I was encouraged by my vocal coach that if I had concerns and ideas of how to help, that I had a place and a voice to change that,” Geishardt shared. “I spoke with Dr. Kuhn about my worries, and he immediately took action and brought me along with him. We created LEAD and made sure to have representation from all areas of theater, including students.”
LEAD holds many opportunities for the students at Lakeland because their highest value is the students involved and the betterment of Lakeland theater.
As Geishardt voiced, “LEAD is an incredible team because our main goal is to work for students. We want theater at Lakeland to be something students want to participate in and want to come watch. We are working to become a cohesive team so that students who help out or participate in the show in any way feel that they are supported, heard and understood. We want theater to be fun and a creative outlet for busy students to de-stress.”
After Geishardt created LEAD, she went one step further and created the Theater Club. This semester is its first full, official semester running. Theater Club is a group of students who are theater performers and/or enjoyers. It is a low commitment club that is meant to assist in strengthening the theater program.
Geishardt said members are interested in tech, painting/creating, acting, singing, playing instruments and much more. “Some of our members will be in ‘Shrek the Musical’ or Stagecraft, but many will be working behind the scenes to assist with painting the set, organizing/cleaning the theater, putting up posters, spreading the word about the show, choreographing, selling tickets and learning anything and everything about theater here,” she said.
LEAD and Theater club allow extensive opportunities for Lakeland students involved in theater or interested in becoming more involved in fine arts. Students involved in these great organizations get to expand their knowledge and experience of being part of a theater community and fulfill their artistic passions.
To learn more, an interested incoming or current Lakeland student can contact Bella Geishardt at geisthardtb@lakeland.edu.
