Four NSU alumni to serve on Stagedoor Manor camp staff

Tahlequah, Okla. Bearing a wealth of acting and technical stage experience, four Northeastern State University alumni will travel to Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., this summer to offer instruction at the prestigious Stagedoor Manor theater camps.

Israel Lister, a 2010 NSU graduate from Tulsa, and 2011 graduates Jeremiah Stuart of Eufaula and Trey Clark of Vera will serve on the Stagedoor staff. Tim Dickey, a 2008 alumnus from Tahlequah, will be the production manager.

I will oversee the technical staff, which is about 40 people, Dickey said. We will build sets, do the lighting, costumes, sound, everything. We will produce 39 shows over the summer.

Robyn Pursley, theatre instructor, said the four alumni are exemplary representatives of the NSU theatre program.

They each held leadership positions as students in our program and we are so proud to have them represent NSU Theatre in the professional theatre workforce, she said. "They all gained a lot of valuable hands-on experience while here at NSU through our mainstage productions, Stars in the Summer series and the Galaxy of Stars series produced through the Sequoyah Institute. All have also been active members of Alpha Psi Omega, our theatre honors society."

Stagedoor Manor camps are immersive and attendance is prized. Campers ages 10-18 attend one of three sessions lasting three weeks. Alumni include Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Downey Jr., Natalie Portman, Jon Cryer and Zach Braff.

Its a pretty big deal in the theater world, said Dickey, who earned a bachelors degree in theatre from NSU and also holds a masters degree from Louisiana Tech. Less than a thousand campers attend per summer. Ive heard some refer to Stagedoor as a secret handshake in the industry.

Classes are offered in facets of theater including acting, dance, voice and television. Technical courses include stage management, decoration, costume, lighting, choreography and writing. Stagedoor Manor combines the stage instruction with summer camp-style activities.

As production manager, Dickey will deal with a myriad of circumstances. Shows range from Shakespeare to Broadway musicals and Stagedoor employs 16 venues, eight indoor and eight outdoor.

Its a lot of work but it is also a lot of fun, Dickey said. Its a big opportunity for all of us because we will get to work with a lot of professionals.

While at NSU Dickey excelled in scenic design and technical direction, serving as student foreman in the scene shop and working on several NSU Theatre Company productions.

Clark also served as scene shop student foreman and acted. He performed in his final NSUTC production, Noises Off in April and was chosen in May by theatre faculty as Outstanding Theatre Student.

Lister and Stuart worked mostly in sound and lighting, gaining design experience through regular NSUTC productions and assuming technical roles with NSUs River City Players performances during the summers. Both were also versatile actors. Listers senior Capstone project was a one-person show lauded by theatre faculty and Stuart assumed a leading role in Noises Off, turning in an outstanding performance with just two weeks rehearsal.

I believe professional theatre companies and organizations find our theatre graduates to be well-prepared to step into a variety of production roles due to the vast hands-on experience they acquire through our program, Pursley said. Our mission is to prepare our students to be versatile theatre artists and opportunities like the summer season at Stagedoor show that we are indeed accomplishing that goal.

Visit the Stagedoor Manor website to learn more.

Visit NSU's theatre program website for more information.