Within the walls of the Department of Theatre and Dance, a spring semester dawns for a reactivated theater chapter for the first time in almost 80 years.
The Mu chapter of Alpha Psi Omega at the University of Texas at Austin begins its second active semester since 1937. “Alpha Psi Omega is a national academic co-ed theater society,” said Katy Wicker, the current president of the Mu chapter and second year theater major.
She and two of her fellow theater majors, Martin Rodriguez and Oscar Franco, are the three founders of this reinstated chapter at the University of Texas.
Wicker says they wanted another outlet for theater students so they can have as many opportunities as possible. The three came across Alpha Psi Omega through research and thought the co-ed theater fraternity was perfect.
Learning from their first semester, a few things have changed for this current spring semester.
One of which is that six more officers have been elected instead of the original three founders as the chapter’s only officers.
“It’s simply been a big weight off my shoulders,” said Wicker. “Because instead of now three people trying to do everything we have elected other officers … so we can disperse tasks and who does what.”
Another event they are learning from for this semester is Rush Showcase, a night where those pledging for Alpha Psi Omega put on various kinds of theatre.
Last semester, the pledges were split into six groups and had two weeks to come up with a performance piece.
This semester, Wicker said, “We’re gonna try and group people into groups so that’s evenly dispersed as who likes to do what. Not like a group of all actors, group of all techies or something.”
She is not alone in thinking Rush Showcase can be improved upon.
Looking back at last semester, Carson Campbell, the public relations officer of the Mu chapter and a second year theater major, said, “Since it was new and we didn’t necessarily know everyone and it was a very rushed process in the sense that we didn’t have a lot of time. But that was just how it had to be done.”
Campbell believes that it went very well for the first time, but it will be even better this spring.
Alpha Psi Omega is also hoping to have in the future is bigs and littles when the numbers allow for it.
Lauren-Nicole Martin, a theatre studies major, is excited by the idea of bigs and littles in the future.
“What Alpha Psi already does that I think is amazing is that it’s already a way for me to see people that I don’t get to see on a daily basis or that I don’t even know within the department. So I think that it’d be a great way to build on that.”
Martin also likes the idea so she can have someone to talk about the issues of theater to and about the unique stress that theater involves.
Service is one large aspect of Alpha Psi Omega. Although they did not do a whole lot last semester because they were new, the fraternity has helped around the campus especially with the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Martin helped out with the university’s parents’ weekend as well as the auditions for incoming freshmen with the Theatre and Dance Department.
“It was cool because I was getting to meet kids who will be the grade below us next year so I might get to meet the next generation.”
This semester the fraternity hopes to serve the theater community by hosting a spring carnival in the newly renovated area in front of the F. Loren Winship Drama building.
The big performance that Alpha Psi Omega is putting on this semester is the musical Spring Awakening.
It is a production that the cast and other members of Alpha Psi Omega are excited about. There were almost five hundred people who auditioned for it according to Ian Eisenberg, a first year theatre major.
He plays the role of man in the production, and says that one struggle has been addressing the subjects in Spring Awakening sensitively.
Eisenberg said, “The material is very sensitive because of its content, but we’re figuring out ways to be able to put on this show in a very mature manner.”
The organization has a few changes ahead as well as a schedule of what they want done, but Wicker seems positive about the future.
“We started this organization hoping to bring a positive impact to the department. We care about this department and the people in it so we wanted this to be something beneficial to them, and we’re doing our best to follow through with our word on that.”