Students make their own scripts in Brick Road Productions

At Brick Road Productions, students aren’t just performing—they’re running the show. The student-led theater company allows SEMO students to write, direct, and produce their own shows.

Brick Road Production is only in its third season. It has produced plays, musicals, cabarets and dance performances. Some of the most recent shows they have put on are “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals,” “Forevermore,” “Powerplay,” “Diva’s Through the Decades” and most recently, “Queer Valentine’s Day Stories.”

Kait Dexter, BFA musical theater and TV film double major and creative director of Brick Road Productions, said Brick Road Productions is essential for getting students extra experience outside of what Dobbins Conservatory can provide.

A student performs in Brick Road Production's "Queer Valentines Day."Photo by McKenzie Nelson

Senior BFA musical theater Syd Gregory has been a performer, director and choreographer in Brick Road Productions since they were founded last Spring. They said Brick Road Productions is a unique experience because of how frequently they can perform.

“There are not a lot of schools that have as active of student organizations and student-created and produced theater,” Gregory said. “A lot of schools that have student-produced work is one or two [shows] a year, and saying that we can do like five shows in a semester that are like fully produced productions is something that not a lot of places have.”

Additionally, Brick Road Productions gives students the opportunity to learn how to plan, finance and market an upcoming performance.

Executive producer of Brick Road Productions and Senior Musical Theater major Josh Neighbors said the Music Conservatory did not give Brick Road a large budget, so they had to find ways to generate revenue through ticket sales and donations to keep producing shows.

“Our first season was pretty low budget. We were looking at about $1000 to $1,500

which for a full theatrical season, is pretty low, but for a student production company that is starting with $0 in the bank, it's a little daunting, but we had a really successful crowdfunding campaign,” Neighbors said.

A group of students sing together.Photo submitted by Josh Neighbors

Anne Helmer-Larsen, sophomore acting major and a student director in Brick Road’s recent production of Queer Valentine’s Day Stories, said Brick Road has allowed her to explore new pathways as a director rather than an actor.

“I feel like I have a kind of different view on directors now, and I'm very happy that I have it now, and also that I'm able to build on it a little bit more that now I have this one experience is going to help you with the next one,” Helmer-Larsen said.

Helmer-Larsen added because she and the actors were her fellow students, they had a more laid back and friendly approach to directing.

“As an acting major, I have experience with being one of the actors as well. So it's a very open and equal floor, I don't feel like I'm like above them in any way, which just creates a nice friendship,” Helmer-Larsen said.

Gregory said working with the playwright and director allows performers to dive deeper into their roles.

“We were able to talk to the person who wrote the character about the character,” Gregory said. “And being able to talk to the writer directly about ‘what did you mean by this line?’ or, ‘What did you base this character off of?’ and things like that. It's just such a different experience than having it already pre-written for you.”

Brick Road’s next shows are the thriller, “Trap,” on March 28 and 29, Saplings on April 2 and 3, Merciful Construction on April 28-30 and Brick Road sings Billie Eilish on May 5.