The Spring 2012 production of Ragtime offered many new beginnings for the University of Central Florida Theatre community.
From March 22-24 and March 29- April 1, the University of Central Florida hosted its own production of Ragtime, the classic musical, at the UCF Theatre.
It was the first time that a full 20 piece orchestra had been used on stage alongside the actors. All of the performers, both musicians and singers, were UCF students.
“It’s been so great collaborating,” said Earl Weaver, Program Coordinator for Musical Theatre and Director and Choreographer of Ragtime, “And those music kids are stellar.”
According to Weaver, two weeks of the production process were dedicated to the music exclusively.
In addition to a collaboration with the UCF Music Department, the UCF Theatre also collaborated with a local group of Steam Punk artists to create art work pieces to display in the Theatre lobby as an accompaniment to the show.
Steam Punk is, “…an aesthetic and literary movement that its roots in science fiction,” said Christie Hudson, who along with her husband, Spencer Hudson are a part of that movement.
Hudson is considered the visionary between the two, while her husband is the actual artist who takes her ideas and brings them to life by various means of nontraditional invention or conventional drawing.
To give an accurate depiction of Steam Punk, she asks the question, “What if in a Victorian world, they had steam technology?”
Both Hudsons are alumni of the University of Central Florida.
In order to offer audience members more historical context and understanding of the performance, this production was also one of the few to be included in Theatre UCF’s new pre-show discussion events.
Before every performance, a discussion was held in Technology Commons near the Seattle’s Best Coffee, hosted by Theatre UCF and facilitated by a Performing Arts staff member.
The goal of these discussions, which were orchestrated to resemble an intimate class setting with an instructor surrounding by attendees, was to offer unique points of view, historical facts and production insight into the show attendees were about to see.
It was a group dialogue that all received an invitation to and in which all could choose to participate.
“Some of the language is not pleasant, but it is history,” said Theatre professor James “Jim” Brown, the resident Musical Theatre and Classical Theatre specialist.
Brown was one of the instructors asked to conduct a discussion session, and in fact did so his first night in the absence of another instructor.
There were many students who participated in this pre-show discussion, such as excited Social Science freshman, Caitlyn Ramirez, “It’s so good. Oh my gosh!”
“The harmonies are so pretty,” said Ramirez during the discussion, “ I know the whole plot and everything already.”
Yet, there were even more students in attendance during the show and their reactions at the intermission and conclusion of the event were almost standard.
“My face is gonna look like I’ve been crying for the rest of the night,” said Kelsey Carriere, a Valencia student attending with her friend, Danielle Raniere, a senior UCF Theatre Management student.
“I thought it was absolutely incredible,” said Raniere.
According to Ross Alagna, a senior Cinema Studies major, “I’m a big fan of the music. I always have been, and they did a good job of portraying that.”
But the audience was not the only group who felt the force of the show.
The cast was equally as moved and motivated by the experience.
“It was a pretty cool experience. It was fun,” said 12 year old actor Gabriel Quijano who played Little Boy.
“It’s one of my favorite shows, so I love doing this every night,” said Cornelius Davis who played Coalhouse Walker Jr.
Ragtime is a famous historical production based off of a 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow. It first appeared on Broadway in 1998 and has won numerous awards since.
