By Rylee Seavers | Broadcast Reporter
Every year during Family Weekend students take to the stage to showcase their talent at After Dark.
“We had about 23 performers audition, some are groups, some are duets, some are just individual performers, and then we had to cut it down to about 16,” said Paula Logsdon, Executive Producer of After Dark and Thousand Oaks sophomore.
Logsdon was involved in theatre in high school, so getting the chance to work with Student Productions is a way for her to stay connected with the arts, she said.
Logsdon said her favorite part of producing After Dark was seeing how talented Baylor students are throughout the audition process.
“It was really eye opening to see just how unique Baylor’s talent is and it was so hard deciding who was going to be in the show because every single person that auditioned was so phenomenal,” Logsdon said.
Students audition for After Dark only two weeks before the show is performed during Family weekend. This year, Student Production was looking for truly unique talents to be included in After Dark, she said.
Sam and Brianna Johnson were the only duet performing in After Dark 2017. They sang “Secret Place” by Phil Wickham.
Sam and Brianna met in concert choir and started leading worship together and “the rest is history”, Brianna said. They are now married and both working on graduate degrees at Baylor.
“Any chance we get to sing together, to worship alongside one another, we jump at it because it’s what we’ve always done since we’ve known each other and we love it,” Sam said.
Cheryl Mathis is the assistant director for campus programs. She said that even though the acts and casts are different each year, the tradition of giving families a glimpse into Baylor’s talent at After Dark stays the same.
“The students that come out to After Dark, to audition and to performing in the shows, are always some of the most passionate and talented students on this campus,” Mathis said.
Her background is in higher education and music, so working with student productions like After Dark is the perfect job for her, she said.
“I was a part of some of the shows when I was in undergrad and when I was in grad school and so getting to see it all come together from year to year with a different talented group of students and group of performers in all of the shows is kind of surreal,” Mathis said.
All 16 acts included in After Dark performed in Waco Hall on Friday and Saturday night and the show was hosted by Lafayette, sophomore Caroline Munsell.
