Later this week, when the curtain rises on the Shoreline College production of Cabaret, audiences will see more than just a classic American musical. They’ll witness the collaboration that revived Shoreline’s musical theater program.
After the former musical theater director left during the Covid pandemic, the college stopped producing musicals. Without musicals, Shoreline theater began losing students and audiences. Theater professor Duygu Erdogan Monson was determined to bring these productions back to the college, but she knew the task was too large for one person.
“It’s complicated work,” she said. “The artistic decisions, the dances, the music…it’s impossible to do it alone.”
Undeterred by the complexity of the project, she approached Matt Jorgensen in Music Technology, who was interested, but realistic about the challenge of reviving the musical theater program.
“It requires a very unique skillset, which we didn’t have,” he said. “We don’t have someone who can do all of it.”
What they did have was a community of talent to draw from. With Duygu overseeing the actors and Matt managing the musicians, they enlisted the help of Anjali Chudasama to coach the vocal performances and John Nold to co-direct.
“Instead of having a jack-of-all-trades who does everything, you have four experts handling all the parts,” said Matt. “It’s the dedication of all these departments that got this program back on its feet.”
This collaborative model first came to life last year with 9 to 5, the college’s first musical since the pandemic, and its success was immediate. Along with the musical theater program, students and audiences returned.
“To see a full theater for a Shoreline production was incredibly rewarding,” said Matt. “I’d never seen that during my time here.”
This quarter, the collaboration continues with Cabaret. And unlike the pre-pandemic musicals, which relied on professional musicians, this show is student powered.
“One of the goals when we restarted this program was figuring out, how can we feature and train as many students as possible,” said Matt. “So, in the orchestra, it’s almost all Shoreline students. The lighting design is being done by a student. The set designer is a student.”
Music students playing in the show’s orchestra pit not only have to learn the score (the piano book alone is 190 pages of music), but they also develop the discipline required of professional musicians. Theater students are also immersed in the full production process as they develop their craft, from auditioning and rehearsing, to learning how to take direction.
“It’s a complete professional experience,” said Duygu. “They’re building resumes while they’re learning.”
Set against a backdrop of social and political tensions, the thematic content of Cabaret is increasingly relevant. Choosing to tell this story at this time, “was really scary when we decided,” said Duygu. “But now it’s even more scary.”
“We decided a year ago to do this,” Matt added, “not knowing it would take on even more significance with current events.”
Duygu’s goal is to make the story feel real, so audiences can relate to the characters. She’s also being intentional about giving a fuller voice to the female characters, whose agency and activism are often downplayed in traditional productions.
And while Cabaret raises many difficult and complex issues, Duygu reminds her students that, rather than providing solutions, their job is to present the audience with honest questions.
“If [the audience] understands what we are questioning, then they can start trying to find answers. What is happening today? What is relevant from the past? What can we do? We can just start some gears, some questioning gears, so it pushes us to find answers.”
More than just a catalyst for reflection, this production of Cabaret is a testament to the power of collaboration. A singing and dancing example of people coming together to accomplish something greater than any of them could have achieved alone.
“We’ve been thinking about this since fall quarter,” said Matt. “It’s a lot of dedication from a lot of people. It couldn’t happen without everyone on the team.”
Shoreline’s production of Cabaret runs at 7:00pm on 2/26, 2/27, 2/28, 3/5, 3/6 and 3/7; or at 3:00pm on 3/1 and 3/8. Tickets are available now – $30 General Admission, $20 Seniors 60+ and Employees, and $10 Students.