Campus Players, a theatre organization, will hold a showcase titled “Let’s Be Honest” tomight to provide the opportunity for students to be honest about talents, disorders and fears in a public form. The showcase will serve as a fundraiser to provide royalties for the production Campus Players will hold in the fall semester.
Campus Players’ vice president sophomore Sydney Sanford encourages students to learn more about Campus Players by attending “Let’s Be Honest.”
“We love to get to know people, and I’d say this showcase also is a good way to come see everybody, because it’s about half the club,” Sanford said.
“Let’s Be Honest” is a theme created by Campus Players president and senior Kara Treadwell. Treadwell said honesty has always been something she has taken incredibly seriously. She said she never wants to be viewed as dishonest, and has always felt comfortable being open with people. Treadwell said when she came to Harding, she found the Christian university environment a difficult place to be honest. She wanted to create a way for students to feel comfortable being entirely honest with their audience without feeling alone or judged.
“I just thought we needed a place where no one had to put on a mask,” Treadwell said. “There’s something freeing about knowing you’re not the only one.”
During auditions for “Let’s Be Honest,” the group was surprised by the turnout and the talent. Campus Players sponsor and assistant technical director Seth Fish said the students have taken the theme of the showcase seriously in a way that he had never expected.
“We have a lot of students with talent that we didn’t know and they’re showing a side of themselves that we weren’t aware of,” Fish said.
Treadwell said this production will be unlike others in that it will showcase students and friends who have never performed on the Benson or Ulrey stages. The group performing is unique, and each person has a true reason for doing what they will be doing. Treadwell said “Let’s Be Honest” will be both comedic and touching.
“People are really going to be blown away,” Treadwell said.
Through Campus Players, a self-funded organization, students come together to be themselves, or confidently be someone else. The group performs two shows each year, from improv to movie critiques. The organization uses money raised from the spring production to pay for the fall production, whose proceeds then go to the charity the organization has chosen to work with that specific year.
The organization set a goal of $500 for the upcoming showcase. Cost is $5 at the door. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show will begin at 7 p.m.
