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About

1. What is MTC?
2. When's the show?
3. Who is in the ensemble?
4. How do I audition for the ensemble?
5. How else can I be involved if I'm not in the ensemble?
6. When do you rehearse?
7. How exactly does the club work?
8. Who are the officers? What do they do?
9. Who does the website?

What is MTC?

Musical Theatre Club, or "MTC" as it's more well-known, is a student-run organization at SUNY Geneseo that provides students with opportunities to sing, dance, act, choreograph, direct, organize, and design. Advised by faculty member Dr. Melanie Blood, MTC puts up a musical revue - completely student-produced - each semester, consisting of a variety of song and dance numbers, as well as numerous skits. The show, while free, frequently "sells out". Auditions for MTC's performing ensemble are held at the beginning of each semester, with the size ranging anywhere from 40 to 50 members. In addition to the performing ensemble, members of MTC help with costume design, stage-lighting, soundboard operation, and other duties involved in producing the show. MTC's mission is to encourage an interest in musical theatre and to develop performing and producing skills, as well as aiding the campus in general cultural enrichment. MTC also co-sponsors the Mainstage production each semester, and is funded by mandatory student activity fees.

When's the show?

MTC's spring show (name: TBA) take place April 3rd, 4th, and 5th, ay 8:00 pm in the Alice Austin Theatre.

Who's in the ensemble?

MTC auditions its ensemble each semester, and all returning members (with the exception of the officers) must reaudition. Here's the Spring 2008 roster:

Lauren Alaimo, Sara Barton, Kim Benkert, Leora Bernstein, Chris Blasting, Ed Brady, Norma Butikofer, Danny Carroll, Marc Cataldi, Rebecca Chambers, Amanda Cotrupi, Anna Crowley, Alex Cupelo, Debra DeAmicis, Michelle Geisler, Dana Giglia*, Dave Gordon, Lucas Groth*, Chas Hannum, Lisa Hatzinger, Chantel Helbig, Becky Hoffman*, Liz Hoffman, MaryElisabeth Kimbark, Ben Kneeland, Amanda Konopa, Alyssa Kostiner, Antonia Laruccia, Sean Lessard*, Rob Line, 'Xander MacDonald, Andre McDuffie*, Eleni Mickles, Amanda Pelcher, Michael Radi, Sarah Rychlik, Jamie Sacca, Ellyn Sanger*, Lexi Schuessler, Christiana Shorter, John Snyder, Rebecca Stern, Julie Thiry,

How do I audition for the ensemble?

MTC holds auditions each semester for the ensemble, and, as mentioned above, all returning members must audition. For more information on auditions, click here.

How else can I be involved?

Putting on a full-fledged revue each semester requires a lot of work outside of rehearsals, and MTC offers many opportunities for tech positions, including light design, soundboard and lightboard operators, spot operators, stage managers and assistant stage managers, and ushers. If you'd like to help out with any of the above positions, please contact us!

When do you rehearse?

MTC rehearses on the weekends, often from around 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM both Saturday and Sunday (see below - members are not required to be in attendance the entire time). Additionally, beginning the Sunday night before the show, members are required to attend additional rehearsals as part of intensive tech week preparations for the show.

MTC also meets each Monday evening at 5:15 in the Brodie Commons.

How exactly does the club work?

The process MTC uses to put together its show can be a bit intimidating and confusing to someone who's never seen it before, but here's a very shortened version of what we do:

First, auditions for the ensemble are held at the beginning of each semester. For more information about auditions, click here.

Following auditions, members of the club choose to direct songs in the show. For example, I could choose "Seasons of Love" from Rent. Provided the song has not be been performed by MTC or in Brodie within the past four years, any song is acceptable. Songs may be co-directed, as well. When directing a song, the member also chooses the type of the number, which can be any of the following:

1. Open: The song uses the entire club.
2. Open - Boys: The song uses only the boys (may be be directed by girls)
3. Open - Girls: The song uses only the girls (may be directed by boys)
4. Closed: The song uses only certain members of the ensemble, chosen by the director(s). There must be a minimum of 5 members.

Once the song has been "put up" (mentioned at a specific meeting) the director is then responsible for obtaining sheet music for the number, choreographing it, and working on the music with the ensemble, as well as the accompanists.

Each weekend, all numbers are given half an hour each to rehearse, and all members of the number are required to be present for any rehearsal they are part of. However, if a member is not in a particular number (for instance, I, as a guy, would not be in the open girls number) then they are not required to attend that specific rehearsal.

Periodically throughout the semester, the MTC Officers review all the songs currently in rehearsal and check their progress. Because we cannot have a four hour show, the officers must unfortunately "cut" songs, which means they will no longer rehearse for that semester.

Finally, during tech week, the club kicks into high gear and rehearses intensely for the show, which has always opened on a Thursday night. Additionally, the club integrates light designers and tech during this stage, as well as the pit. Tech week is the most trying portion of being in MTC, but is also the most fun :)

Who are the MTC Officers? What do they do?

Like all SA-funded organizations, MTC has an executive board made up of elected members of the club. In addition to handling all SA matters, the MTC officers are in charge of organizing rehearsals, publicity, and the majority of production duties.

President: Chas Hannum (2008)

Vice-President: Chris Blasting (2008)

Secretary: Amanda Konopa (2009)

Treasurer: Debra DeAmicis (2008)

Who designs the MTC Website?

The MTC Website is designed and maintained by myself, Dave Gordon, and was created using notepad (yes, windows notepad). All graphics were designed in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Fireworks. The site itself uses XHTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and AJAX. Additionally, a members only section (implemented Fall 2007) makes use of the SQLite embedded database engine. Though mildly off-topic, I'm looking into teaching web-design seminars in the fall, where I'll cover a portion of the techniques I used in designing this site... yay.