Alumni Cabaret

A little late, but still cool.

On Saturday October 27th, 2012, AAT hosted its first ever Alumni Cabaret. With the much appreciated help of Carol Biddle, we were able to throw an event unlike any other that I've seen in my time with AAT. Students current and old gathered downtown at the Eccles Arts Center and began to socialize. The goal of the event was to get graduated, alumni, students to have conversations with current students about success. Perhaps discuss what they didn't know but wish they did when entering the theatre world outside of Weber.

Carol graced us with enough funds (with the help of the Alumni Center, Lucky Heath, and many others, I'm sure) to have the event  catered with Wine and little snacky-bits from Roosters. The cabaret tables were set, candles lit, and Nic Maughan played beautiful undertones for our conversations to flourish.

David Spangenthal was our special guest for the evening. While no one alumni is more important than the other, David was our resident artist for the department. He was visiting from NYC to teach master classes and show students that success can happen to those that try.

Having David was such a treat. One AAT member, Rachel Schull, attended as well. This was especially exciting for me, personally, because Rachel had never been to a Cabaret before. I was determined to get her excited. I think I did, because she wrote this for me:

   For all my time here at Weber, this was my first cabaret experience. With how much I was truly impressed on this evening, I can only look back on past cabarets as missed experiences. I was so happy to see Weber alumni that have kept up their talent and passion for theatre. Each performer filled the room with their own energy and music. It was great to see my peers perform along side successful and seasoned actors including David Spangenthal. It was even more pleasing to see the performing similarities that only prove what we’re learning here at Weber is the path to a successful career in performing.

            Of coarse all the performers were amazing. From the jazzy melody by Jenny Carver Land, to my “secret” crush’s self written love song, to Maddie’s perfected performance of Meadowlark- everyone shined. The grand finale brought the house down as Spangenthal took us play by play of one memorable Broadway performance of Beauty and the Beast; and now we may never hear the lyrics “No pain could be deeper” ever the same.

            I thoroughly enjoyed myself that night and couldn’t be more proud of my peers! Great job everyone and thank you AAT for putting this together!

Thank you, Rachel, for attending. We really all had a blast. I look forward to seeing Alumni Cabaret become a yearly event. Maybe one day you will come back and showcase your success. Because we know you're going to be so successful! We all are!

Keep your schedules open for the Holiday Cabaret on December 8th. It will be held in BC230 at 8pm. More information to come!

Love always,

Derek Williamson

P.S. I'll add pictures later!