Senior Phoebe Hailu sings “I Love You I Do” from the Dreamgirls soundtrack in Waco Hall at last year’s After Dark Rehearsal.
By James Herd
Reporter
When the sun sets on Parent’s Weekend, students will rise up and show everyone what they can do.
After Dark, the annual campus variety show gives students the opportunity to display their various talents before and audience and judges.
Auditions begin next week
The event will be integrated into the Parents and Family Weekend schedule, an effort to encourage parents and students alike to come see the variety of talent at Baylor.
“After Dark has been a tradition here at Baylor for a number of years and I think what makes After Dark so special compared to any other event on campus is that it’s a select group of people…who have gone out and auditioned and made the show,” said Cheryl Mathis, assistant director of campus programs. “Think of it as ‘America’s Got Talent’ for Baylor students.”
“The biggest thing is that we’re looking for variety,” said Sarah Pullin, graduate apprentice for student productions. “We get a lot of singing, guitar playing, which is great! But we just get a lot of those. What we’re looking for is something different.”
An example that both Mathis and Pullin referred to in reference to “something different” is the act that Uproar Records group O, Loveland performed last year.
“[They] covered on piano and guitar, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’,” Mathis said. “It was phenomenal. They interpreted it in a way that was their style.”
The biggest factor in doing well at auditions, Pullin said, was the memorability of the act.
“We’re looking for something that catches our attention,” said Pullin.
“We always have quite a few people who are singers and instrumentalists and so when it gets time to narrowing it down to those specific acts that we want in there, it can get pretty cutthroat because there is so many to choose from,” Mathis said.
According to Mathis, while the judges are “trying to decide on what variety needs to be in the show, there’s gonna be some talent that outshines some other ones.”
“The audience is full of parents and students, and some of these parents, this is their first time at a Baylor show experiencing what campus has to offer, so we’re looking to show them this is the type of experience your student’s gonna get, these are the people that your students are meeting, this is the kind of talent and exposure that your students will get to experience while they’re here,” Mathis said.
Auditions for After Dark 2012 are set for Sept. 18-19 at Waco Hall. All interested participants can visit the After Dark website to sign up for an audition slot, which are available in increments of ten minutes each.
After Dark will take place at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12 at Waco Hall.
