Written by Maggie Samples and Kenzie James // Photo by Macy Cox
Traditionally, Spring Sing is hosted by four students. Two men and two women. The 50th annual Spring Sing brings on an additional two students, rounding off at six hosts. Senior Eli Smith, senior Emma Myhan, sophomore Anna Wright, senior Anna Grace Haley, senior Jackson Samuel and freshman Weston Eades plan to entertain the audience between shows with their individual love for theatre and the arts.
Jackson Samuel
Senior Jackson Samuel was chosen to be one of the six Spring Sing hosts for the Centennial show after participating as an ensemble member for three years.
Samuel is an integrated marketing communication major who first saw Spring Sing when his older brothers performed before he was a student. In 2022, he served as Spring Sing director for men’s social club Chi Sigma Alpha, directing their show “To Bee Determined.”
After hearing he was chosen to host, Samuel said he was excited for the future.
“While I was proud of myself for accomplishing what I had been preparing for, I also felt honored to be able to host in such a monumental year with it being Spring Sing’s 50th anniversary and Harding’s Centennial year,” Samuel said.
Easter’s early date gave the cast less time to prepare for the show, Samuel said, but the hosts and ensemble met the challenge.
“In the words of Dottie Frye, we have often had to ‘divide and conquer,’ splitting up to accomplish a large amount of work in a small amount of time,” Samuel said. “Overall, we have trusted the process and are now ramping up to perform a solid show that we are excited to share.”
Samuel said he considers this year’s Spring Sing to be a celebration that attempts to bring joy to the audience.
“This show pays homage to numerous Spring Sing shows of the past while also looking to the bright and exciting future of this revered Harding tradition,” Samuel said.
Eli Smith
Senior Eli Smith has spent most of his performing career at Harding on the Benson stage during Spring Sing.
A member of men’s social club Omega Phi, Smith participated in his club’s show his freshman and sophomore years with women’s clubs Delta Gamma Rho and Phi Kappa Delta. Smith was a member of the ensemble in last year’s Spring Sing show, “Stand Out,” and is now a host as a senior.
“There’s electricity that runs through the entire auditorium during Spring Sing that I can only describe as God being present within that space of us glorifying him through these talents, and it’s just an incredible opportunity,” Smith said.
This is also his third year choreographing a dance for one of the songs in DGR, PKD and OPhi’s show. Smith said he choreographed the zombies’ dance in “Haunted Harding,” the song “Live in Living Color” in “Living Color” last year and the song “Fabulous” in “The Tales of Camp O-Lock-Choo” this year.
Smith said he is thankful for all the talented people he has worked with in Spring Sing this year and that he is excited to perform.
“It is a celebration of all of the work that people for 50 years of Spring Sing have put into it,” Smith said. “We get to share with them a culmination of our work but then also honor the culmination of work that they’ve put in, which has been a really cool opportunity for us.”
Anna Grace Haley
Senior Anna Grace Haley was chosen as a Spring Sing 2024 hostess. Haley has spent time participating in theatre at Harding, despite being a computer science major.
Haley first saw Spring Sing when she watched her older brother perform in 2014. Before college, Haley was involved in theatre and said she knew when she got to Harding that she would be participating in Spring Sing.
Haley participated in 2021 as a member of women’s club Phi Kappa Delta and in 2022 co-directed the winning show, “Haunted Harding.”
Haley said she found out she had been cast as a host during chapel and was completely shocked.
“It was just such a crazy experience to be like, ‘Oh, that’s my name,’” Haley said.
The rehearsal process has been difficult but will be worth it when the show is finished, Haley said.
“I know next week, it’s gonna just all come together magically, because that’s what shows do sometimes, and it’s going to be amazing,” Haley said.
Haley said she appreciates that theatre is not major-specific, considering she is a STEM major.
“A show is like a puzzle where you have all the pieces and then you put it together at the end,” Haley said. “That’s kind of the same thing with a lot of the sciences and computer science as well, where you have pieces of a program and then you put it all together at the end and it makes this complete thing.”
Anna Wright
Sophomore Anna Wright stepped onto the Benson stage this semester in one of her dream roles: Spring Sing hostess.
Wright has been in previous Harding Theatre productions including “Cinderella,” “The Rivals,” “Mary Poppins” and “The Little Planet That Could” in last year’s Spring Sing production.
Being a hostess fulfilled a dream Wright had since she started attending Spring Sing shows in middle school, she said.
“Ever since I saw, I guess it would have been ‘The Greatest Show’ in 2018 or 2019, I was like ‘Oh my goodness, it would be such a dream come true to be a hostess,’” Wright said.
Wright also helped bring Spring Sing to the stage from the design shop, where she has worked this year to create costumes for the different theatre productions.
“Seeing everything being built from in the shop versus rehearsal is so interesting,” Wright said. “I have never seen so many sparkles in my life, and everything’s golden.”
Wright said making some of her costumes helped her to envision what she was wearing when the hosts and ensembles would rehearse numbers, so she knew if she needed to adjust her movements.
“I always feel like putting on the costume and stepping out on stage and the shoes and the hair and the makeup and everything is really like the last thing it takes for me to get in the zone for performance,” Wright said.
Weston Eades
Freshman Weston Eades made a decision four days before host auditions that changed his involvement in Spring Sing.
Eades said he was originally planning to audition for ensemble, not host. He changed his mind when Dottie Frye, the director of hosts, hostesses and ensemble, told him that those auditioning could use a microphone in the audition.
“Being a bass and being able to get your sound to travel further, that just changed my mind,” Eades said.
Eades said he started his performing career when he was 5, and his first show was a musical his dad wrote. His first performance at Harding was in “Mary Poppins” last fall as the park keeper, but being in Spring Sing is a little different than other shows.
For most musical productions, the cast and crew have the entire script at the beginning and slowly block scenes and learn the songs until the whole show is done.
Eades said Spring Sing is different because members of the show are working to build it up rather than chip away at parts of it.
Eades has not seen a Spring Sing show in person, so being a host and celebrating the anniversary will be his first experience with the show.
“It’s going to be a beautiful moment getting to be up there on stage with them with 50 years of all that history,” Eades said.
Emma Myahn
Senior Emma Myhan is one of the 2024 Spring Sing hostesses after being in the 2023 ensemble.
Myhan’s first Spring Sing experience was seeing Spring Sing: “Larger Than Life” in 2013. Ten years later, she was cast as a member of the Spring Sing: “Stand Out” ensemble.
“Being chosen as a host was a huge honor,” Myhan said. “The excitement was huge. I was so thrilled to not only be selected to be a part of such a massive production, but to be given the opportunity to host the 50th anniversary and be a part of such an extensive history.”
Myhan said the preparation has been rewarding and that the cast is encouraging. She said the cast’s encouragement has made the process rich and effective.
“It has truly been a representation of a Spirit-centered creative process,” Myhan said.
The most difficult part of the lead up to Spring Sing has been the mental preparation, Myhan said.
“The responsibility and legacy are both weights that we are blessed to carry, but they come with the need to work up to the confidence to step onto the Benson stage on opening night,” Myhan said.
Myhan said she has really appreciated the five other hosts throughout the preparation and feels that the dynamic has been one of the best parts of the months leading up to Spring Sing.
“We are all so close, and it has made the experience so enjoyable,” Myhan said. “Every rehearsal feels like hanging out with some of my very dearest friends.”
