A saluki is seen walking down the aisle of an auditorium.

September 19, 2024

SIU theater majors to showcase their talents at ‘New Faces’ on Saturday

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Theater and Dance will introduce audiences to this year’s new theater majors with the annual “New Faces” showcase on Saturday, Sept. 21. The free performances will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Communication Building’s Christian H. Moe Laboratory Theater, Room 1045.

The production is generated from the freshman theater seminar. The showcase features first-year and transfer students in a variety of monologues, scenes, songs, dance and drama, said Matthew Williams, an assistant professor in performance and movement and the performance’s artistic director. He noted he has incorporated upper-class students to help coach and collaborate with the new students.

“It’s a really fun inclusion and becoming more of a training process,” Williams said. Fifteen students will perform, which provides a “nice mixture.”

The student directing coaches are Allison Weaver, graduate student in theater; Olivia Manning, Bella Morris and Sawyer Richman, seniors in musical theater, and Malia Jones, a junior in musical theater.

The showcase also “serves as a benchmark for their starting points about where they are in process and training,” Williams added.

“Then we are able to compare and contrast their progress, and we see the incredible development in the artists’ physical and emotional journeys,” he said. “This also serves to introduce them to the rest of the department and the school to see who they are and what they bring to the table as artists. It’s always an exciting time.”

Here is a list, by hometown, of the 15 students who are 2024 “New Faces.” All are musical theater majors unless noted. 

ILLINOIS

  • Algonquin: Lucas Thiesse, exploratory.
  • Anna: Elizabeth Back, theater.
  • Chicago: Noble Madden, theater.
  • Pomona: Madi Herzog.
  • Ridgway: Addison Bean.
  • Springfield: Yasmin Martinez-Powell.
  • Springfield: Ray Meyer, theater.
  • Staunton: Jack Sigafoos, pre-music.

ARKANSAS

  • Hot Springs: Lilie Lim.

MISSOURI

  • St. Louis: Blue Byers.
  • St. Louis: Charlie Kerpash.
  • St. Louis: Colette Mobley.
  • St. Louis: Ori Mobley.
  • St. Louis: Q Smith, theater. 

TENNESSEE

  • Millington: Kyla Hunt.