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TCU 360

TCU 360

All TCU. All the time.

TCU 360

Students discuss religious topics in a small group. (Photo courtesy of tcuwesley.org)
Wednesday nights at TCU’s Methodist campus ministry provide religious exploration and fellowship
By Boots Giblin, Staff Writer
Published Mar 27, 2024
Students at the Wesley said they found community on Wednesday nights.

    Broadway actress works and performs with theatre students

    Broadway+actress+works+and+performs+with+theatre+students

    Susan Egan, Belle from Broadway’s original cast of “Beauty and the Beast” and the voice of Megara from “Hercules,” will perform in a concert with theatre students Sunday evening.

    Egan also came to campus this week to teach a master class for the students. 

    Egan travels across the country and works with aspiring actors in colleges and high schools. In her program “On Stage With Susan,” Egan works with students on a selection of songs for a couple days and then creates a concert where she performs with the students.

    Egan first came to campus in the fall of 2013. She performed with Penny Maas, now a theatre professor, in the production of Cabaret on Broadway. This relationship brought her to campus.

    After her first visit in 2013, Egan immediately took a liking to TCU.

    “I loved the students here,” Egan said. “They were eager, wide eyed, talented, malleable and polite.”

    Egan said that the size of the university creates a unique learning environment and fosters a successful program.

    “The department here is marvelous,” Egan said. “This program is intimate. I think a lot of kids in bigger programs get lost, and I feel like here they accept you as an individual. They are looking at each student as a unique person and how can they best help them. I am very touched by how personal it is here.”

    Theatre students will accompany Egan in the concert Sunday evening and several students will be singing duets with her. Some of the music for the program will be songs from “Wicked,” “Hercules,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Rent” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

    Getting the opportunity to sing a duet with Egan is an exciting opportunity for senior musical theatre major Shelby Ringdahl.

    “I am singing ‘For Good’ with her from ‘Wicked,'” Ringdahl said. “My dream role is to be Elphaba in ‘Wicked,’ so it’s really special I get to sing this with her.”

    Senior Kyle Montgomery got the chance to work with Egan in the fall of 2013 and is looking forward to singing “Suddenly Seymour” from “Little Shop of Horrors” with her.

    “When I’ve seen her perform, she is phenomenal,” Montgomery said. “It’s exciting and terrifying performing with a person who knows exactly what they are doing and has done it for 30 years.”

    Egan said that she got where she is by working hard and being determined.

    “I’m a testament to the fact that if you’re focused and you work hard, I think you can do quite well for yourself,” Egan said.

    The experience of teaching and working with students in theatre is very special to Egan.

    “It’s one thing to be the student teacher relationship, and it’s another thing to be partner dancing on a stage,” Egan said. “It transcends any other teaching experience I’ve ever had. It becomes more of a teamwork, which is what teaching and learning always is, this just magnifies that. I like seeing that light bulb go off in their eyes.”

    TCU Theatre Department has brought in several big names in the industry over the years including Jodi Benson, Shirley Jones, David Friedman and Shuler Hensley.

    “It’s opportunities like this that help us get connected and help us get better when they bring in all these people that have had such incredible success,” Ringdahl said.

    The concert is benefitting TCU’S Trinity Shakespeare Festival. It is Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in PepsiCo Recital Hall in the Walsh Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10 for students and $25 for community members can be purchased online or by calling 817-257-4196.