By O’Connor Daniel | Reporter

As Baylor prepares for Homecoming and Pigskin Revue returns to Waco Hall, Greg Rogers’ artistry will once again take center stage — quietly, from behind the scenes.

But for Rogers, the hours spent painting each backdrop aren’t just about the artwork, but about the relationships he builds with the students.

“The painting is fine,” Rogers said. “But the best part is the conversations.”

Those conversations unfold over long, paint-splattered hours — sophomores who return as seniors, students balancing stress with excitement and countless questions about faith and purpose.

“We end up talking about some pretty deep topics,” he said. “The paradoxes of Christianity, what’s going on in their lives, and how to put Christ at the center of it.”

This fall, Rogers’ work will be featured once again as students perform their Sing acts in Pigskin, a long-standing Baylor tradition. And looking ahead to spring, he’s already preparing to paint 16 out of 20 backdrops for next year’s All-University Sing, making this weekend’s performances a preview of what’s to come.

Rogers spent nearly three decades working in healthcare before discovering an artistic talent he didn’t know he had. His journey into scenic painting began when he sought to connect with his sons at Trinity Christian Academy in Dallas.

“One was in art class, so I started doing the same sketches,” he said. “The other was in drama, and like every parent, I showed up on set build day.”

That one Saturday snowballed. Rogers began drawing and building sets for school productions and churches. Eventually, he left his healthcare career to pursue art full-time.

“It was one of those ‘God gave you a talent and you didn’t know’ moments,” he said.

Rogers started painting Baylor Sing backdrops in 2019 after his son joined Phi Kappa Chi. His first project was the backdrop for their act, “So Tied Up“— a design that spilled onto the stage with real cornrows and immersive visuals.

“It was really special to see what they did with the message,” he said. “The whole thing came alive.”

Each November, Rogers said he temporarily moves to Waco for peak production. Once the banners are sketched and blocked, he raises them on a stage in Dallas, five feet at a time, like a typewriter, to add layers of depth.

“When you do that, you’ll see floors fall down, buildings separate,” he said. “It becomes a scene.”

In Chi Omega’s 2022 act, “Taken for Granite,” Rogers said the effect made it feel like the portico was standing up, facing the audience.

“That was one of the first times I realized I was seeing in 3D before I even started,” he said.

Even the backdrops that didn’t reach an audience, like a Phi Kappa Chi design from 2020, remain special to him.

“You felt like you could open the gate and walk into a world that went on for miles,” Rogers said, describing the scene that included a chain-link fence and a bridge.

For Rogers, there’s no better moment than the audience’s first reaction when the curtain opens.

“What I tell students we’re aiming for is to hear an audible sound — that ‘ah’ from the crowd when they see it for the first time,” he said.

Though the quality of his work has led many to say it belongs in a gallery, Rogers never paints with permanence in mind. His banners are temporary by design, each one on display for just a couple of weeks before disappearing behind the curtain again.

“The real magic of it isn’t in the art exhibit at all,” Rogers said. “It was really the time spent leading up to it. Because what we do together — me and the students — outshines any of the art.”

Alpha Chi Omega took home the Best Backdrop award for their Sing performance in the spring, and McKinney senior and chapter president, Ella Schmidt, said the recognition was all the more meaningful because of the collaboration with Rogers.

“We love working with Greg Rogers to make our ideas come to reality,” Schmidt said. “The most rewarding part was when the backdrop was done being painted and the Sing team saw it completed for the first time. It was surreal.”

Their act, themed around the French Revolution, featured a hand-painted Versailles palace backdrop that anchored their storytelling.

“With our theme, we knew it had to be Versailles to really convey our story,” Schmidt said. “Seeing the backdrop again brings us back to Sing and all of the memories and hard work that go into each act.”