Spring 2020 Bethel University Magazine

6 %(7+(/81,9(56,7< ('8̌0$*$=,1( In January 2020, senior Stephen White made Bethel history when he won the Musical Theatre Intensive (MTI) at the Region 3 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). At the annual festival, Bethel students compete against both public and private colleges from Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, including Ball State, Michigan State and Taylor University, to name a few. For three consecutive years, White, a WKHDWUH DUWV PDMRU KDV EHHQ RQH RI ƃQDOLVWV LQ WKH 07, HYHQW EXW ZLQQLQJ IRU WKH UHJLRQ PDNHV KLP WKH ƃUVW %HWKHO VWXGHQW WR ever qualify for nationals. The national competition was set to take place April 6 in Washington, D.C., but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis. White says festival leadership is looking to arrange alternate, comparable professional development experiences for everyone who planned to compete, which will happen later in the year. He says he'll rely on skills developed at Bethel and during the KCACTF to prepare for this experience, including how to tell a story through song. Ţ(YHU\RQH WKDWŠV VHOHFWHG WR EH D ƃQDOLVW FDQ GHƃQLWHO\ VLQJŨEXW [ judges] want to be able to see you tell the story when you sing. They want to see a sense of trueness, of sincerity, of transparency and vulnerability,”White explains. Through the KCACTF experience, White has also learned how to EHWWHU KRQRU KLV JL̃ “I tend to mix being humble with not being good enough or >QHHGLQJ WR@ UHPDLQ ORZŨEXW , OHDUQHG ZKLOH EHLQJ DW WKH IHVWLYDO WKDW WKHUH VKRXOG EH VRPH NLQG RI FRQƃGHQFH , KDYH LQ P\ JL̃ , shouldn’t be afraid to step into that,” he says. White’s love for music and theatre developed at a young age through experiences at church, in community theatre and with his musically oriented family. His love for theatre began when he got involved with a community theatre production of "Dream Girls" around the age of twelve. Though White had a surface understanding of music and theatre, he says, “there was still so much foundation that needed to be built.” #9 &.*-9 0-*7&3 d MAKING BETHEL THEATRE HISTORY Stephen White is pictured in "The Drowsy Chaperone"