October 4, 2022
Shawnee State University student Madeline Sherck has had some exciting experiences while enrolled in the Musical Theatre program. In her junior year, the Dayton, Ohio native is now getting the opportunity to travel halfway around the world as part of the program.
“This major, and theatre in general, is all about experience: being able to grow into a character and translating that experience to continuous regrowth as you perform more characters throughout your career,” she said.
This past summer, Sherck starred in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at La Comedia in Springboro, Ohio. The show is a musical comedy about a fictional spelling bee set in Putnam Valley Middle School and Sherck had the opportunity to play middle-schooler Logainne SchwartsandGrubenierre, the youngest girl in the spelling bee, who has two bickering fathers.
“She has been groomed by her dads to be perfect at everything, so she really wants to live up to her expectations,” Sherck said. “They bicker a lot, and so throughout the show the audience sees how their bickering stresses Logainne out and eventually she breaks down.”
Sherck said she had a lot of fun performing a solo she described as a “big, belty power-ballad” called “Woe is Me” that displays her character’s breakdown. Being able to perform at other theaters, Sherck could see how the SSU program has helped her in her Musical Theatre career.
“Shows at SSU have given me the space to be able to explore and fully grow into characters so I know how to do that when I’m doing a show that has limited rehearsal time,” she said.
In addition to performing at other theaters in the region, Sherck’s adventure in this major is going international. In autumn 2022, she will be traveling to England through the SSU Center for International Programs & Study Abroad to continue studying at the University of Essex in Colchester, England.
“I’m really, really excited!” she said. “I’m going to spend weekends in London to see shows there. I knew coming into college that this was something I wanted to do. I’m also really excited to see the theater-history in England – all of the places that I read about in my theater-history classes.”