Amidst the senior graphic design thesis displays in the center of the Fogelson Library, the performing arts students in the musical theater workshop class will be presenting pieces from the “classics” in Lost and Found: The Journey We All Take. Hosting a variety of workshop veterans/seniors including Stefanee Chevalier, Liz Anderson, Bekah Vega, Shenyse Harris and Danielle Reddick, this year’s performance spans from Lost in the Stars to Sound of Music. Interwoven with the selected songs are separate story lines discussing sexual assault, homesickness and various other meaningful dialogues. As always, an integral part of the workshop are the transitions, which give context to each song despite having been taken from different musicals. Utilizing the spiral staircase, pastel beams and the graphic design seniors’ work as a backdrop, Fogelson provides an adequate space for these pieces, though the talent would work seamlessly on a main stage. Featured pieces include “Rain on my Parade” performed by junior Andi Starr, “Lonely House” performed by freshman Lebraska Washington and “Some Other Time” by senior Stefanee Chevalier to name a few. Chevalier and Washington are no strangers to musicals, either. Chevalier performed an outstanding rendition of “I’m the Greatest Star” from Funny Girl at last spring’s workshop in addition to working on this year’s I love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change on the Garson’s main stage along with Washington. After proving himself in last semester’s run of Hotline, Washington displayed his acting, singing and dancing prowess in this year’s main stage musical and executed the workshop in the same manner. Just a freshman, he’s certainly bound for more roles to come. Reddick performed “Good Morning Star Shine” from Oliver after a mesmerizing story about meeting indigenous elderly women at Four Corners. Reddick manages to not only captivate with her presentation, but mystify with tone and movement. This year’s workshop runs around 45 minutes and will be shown at the Fogelson Library at 7 p.m., Friday, May 8 and 2 p.m., Saturday, May 9. An additonal 7 p.m. show May 9 will take place at Pranzo’s...
Q/A w/ Shenyse Harris...
posted by Zoe Baillargeon
From art school to graduate school: With graduation on the horizon, Shenyse Harris, a senior in the Performing Arts Department, recently joined the legions of graduating students from this school and around the country auditioning for graduate performing arts programs. Harris, a BFA Acting major, has appeared in a number of productions during her time at SFUAD, including Dracula, Our Lady of 121st Street, Some Girl(s), and Once on This Island. Harris sat down with Jackalope to discuss the audition process, her prep work with PAD faculty member Jon Jory, and her successful audition for one prestigious MFA program. Jackalope Magazine: Why did you want to become an actress? Shenyse Harris: Mostly it was because I missed my sister a lot growing up. My sister is about 13 years older than me, and she moved away to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. I think for me, acting was something that made me feel closer to her and gave us something to talk about, because, you know, when you have an older sister, you sometimes don’t really have a lot in common or a lot to talk about, so it was a common ground for us. Then, from there, it kind of grew and progressed into something that I was good at. I always wanted to do sports. I danced, I did sports, and then acting happened. JM: Why did you choose Santa Fe University of Art and Design? SH: The financial aid packet was pretty bomb! (laughs) But at the time, I was in a mindset of just trying to leave the house and I auditioned for a lot of schools at the International Thespians Festival, and I got callbacks…but for some reason my mind wasn’t set on going to a...
Let’s Hear it For Some Girls
posted by Nick Martinez
Neil Labute’s Some Girl(s), opened Oct. 17, presents a marked script improvement over PAD’s previous show The Cave Dwellers, and boasts strong performances from its four female leads. Senior Jade Scott Lewis does an affable job as Guy, a struggling writer on an apology tour to four former ex-girlfriends, before his upcoming nuptials. Lewis is perfectly cast as the bumbling heartbreaker, equally selling the charm to win women over, as well as the selfish streak to ruin them. Again, Lewis does a great job as the scoundrel Guy, but the real stars of the show are his former lovers, all vulnerable in their own ways, and with enough hurt that reveals more about Guy than Guy ever could. The story is told in four scenes, each with Guy and one of his ex-girlfriends as the onlycharacters in the scene. Two emotionally wrought scenes bookend the show, but the middle two play as a bizarre psycho-sexual power struggle. Senior Shenyse Harris plays Tyler, an art school free spirit who is the only girl Guy didn’t leave with a permanent scar. Harris imbues what could have been yet another slut caricature with confidence and hints at a deeper motive that she and Guy may share. Each girl is given roughly sketched lives outside the scenes, but emotional scars run deep, perhaps none more so than suburban housewife Sam, played by junior Tristine Henderson. Sam and Guy’s relationship was high school puppy love, a concept likely still fresh in the mind of many of the SFUAD audience members. Henderson ably portrays the stretched-thin mom, and her increasing desperation and past digging leads to great tragicomedy. The show itself ends on a grand joke, one I won’t spoil, but the final scene is heartbreaking in its escalation. Bobbi, played by senior Shelby Gray, has the best chemistry for Guy, and the reunion produces unfortunate revelations. Each character, at one point or another, gets to play the victim, but Grey’s Bobbi refuses to play Guy’s role. Her Bobbi is smart, and the most put-together of the other women, but her confrontation with her past produces emptying tear ducts, and not just for the character. Not me, of course, I just had something in my eye. PAD has been killing it this semester, and Some Girl(s) is a major reason...
Some Girls Q&A
posted by Nick Martinez
Some Girl(s) opens Oct. 17, so Jackalope sat down with two of its leads, senior Jade Scott Lewis and senior Shenyse Harris, to discuss the show, playing unlikable characters and favorite recreational activities. Jackalope Magazine: Tell us a little bit about Some Girl(s). Jade Scott Lewis: It’s a show done in four scenes. Each scene contains the main protagonist named Guy, who interacts with one of his ex-girlfriends. So there’s only two actors on stage at a time. The show is about a writer who goes off in search of something, searching for some kind of connection. He’s foraging and looking for something interesting in each relationship. Shenyse Harris: What’s really interesting is that each scene is completely different. Each of the four girls reflects a different time that he was living in. It’s a lot of fun. JM: Shenyse, tell us a little about your character. SH: Each girl, Some Girl, shares once scene with Guy. My character’s name is Tyler, she is an art student. Tyler is very into herself, she’s a very strong headed, emotional person who tries logic, but can let her emotion get in the way. Because of that she acts as though those things don’t affect her. JSL: And she’s raunchy, and sexual, and she likes drugs. SH: Thank you, Jade. (laughs) Yeah, she is very raunchy, very sexual. I wouldn’t even say raunchy, she’s very blunt and open about her sexuality, she’s very comfortable in her own skin. She’s out there, if you ask Tyler to do anything, if you’re like ‘hey Tyler, let’s go streaking,’ she’ll be the first one with her clothes off. But, she’s also very guarded. She definitely uses her openness as a defense mechanism to hide the melancholy of who she really is....
Shenyse Harris Q/A
posted by Nick Martinez
Shenyse Harris discusses acting, SFUAD’s Performing Arts Department and her role in Our Lady of 121st Street.
Jackalope Magazine is the student magazine of Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Building on the interdisciplinary nature of our education, we aim to showcase the talent of our university and character of our city.
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