Outcomes (For Performing Arts Majors) 2016

Outcomes

OCU GRADUATES FIND SUCCESS

100+ employers visit OCU each year to recruit graduates

A career you’re passionate about.

An Oklahoma City University education is just the beginning. Having a career you’re passionate about is the result. Whether it’s on stage, in front of a camera, in a studio, in Los Angeles or New York City, OCU graduates excel. They are leaders in their professions and enrich their communities.

Tony Award winners Kristin Chenoweth (left) and Kelli O’Hara (right).

Professors who count your success as their own.

“I tell my students that I am their teacher forever and if they ever need anything, I’m just a phone call away. Soon, though, a rather wonderful and sweet switch occurs wherein I am no longer the teacher, but rather the student. Hundreds and hundreds of eyes, ears, hearts, and minds send back

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their stories and perspectives of the art and industry that connected us in the first place. It is the simple, yet significant cycle of teaching.”

Dr. David Herendeen

Professor, Bass School of Music

Tony Award winners and 4 nominees are OCU music alums

• Disney Entertainment • Walt Disney World

Career Services that go beyond the basics.

• Utah Festival Opera Co. • Box Talent • Oklahoma City Thunder • Oklahoma City Civic Center • Oklahoma City Children’s Theatre • Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre

If you want to go beyond basics in your search for the right internship or career opportunity, the OCU Career Services staff is ready and willing to assist. Career Services provides a wide range of resources including individual career advising, resume and cover letter development, personal statement critiques, career readiness workshops and seminars, on-campus interviewing, employer

information sessions, and career and internship fairs. OCU students and alumni can register for the online database where you can search for jobs, internships, alumni mentors, as well as on-campus and workstudy positions.

Learn More:

okcu.edu/careers

• Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma • Oklahoma City Ballet • El Sistema Oklahoma • Oklahoma Youth Orchestras • Canterbury Choral Society • Kennedy Center • Austin City Limits • The Tony Awards • OKC All Sports Association • Tulsa Ballet • Jacob’s Pillow Dance • Sandy Hillman Communications • Creative Arts Agency • Arts Council of Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City University students take advantage of hundreds of internships and partnerships with a variety of companies and organizations.

stumbled upon a Christmas parade in Killarney. These unexpected and spontaneous experiences are some of my most precious memories.

The faculty and students at Edge Hill made me feel so welcome, and the facilities were wonderful.

Learning aerial dance was challenging but rewarding. This program gave me a new skill set, required me to create original work, and provided professional artistic connections. Members of the aerial faculty are current working professionals and they foster a professional training environment. We spent time training at their dance company’s facilities in Liverpool and used their company’s workout regime. I continue to keep in contact with my professors and the many friends I made while abroad. I was very inspired by how creative the performers are in England. I challenged myself to combine the creativity I explored and experienced while at Edge Hill with the discipline and technique of the OCU performing programs. I believe that I am a better artist because of this.

It is impossible to sum up my experience in just a few hundred words, because it was such an intense and wonderful stage of personal, artistic, and spiritual growth. Even though I have been home for almost a year, I still reflect back in amazement at all of the wonderful sights, experiences, food, and people that I encountered. Studying abroad gave me a compassion and curiosity for the world. I am eternally grateful for my time in England and I can’t wait to travel again!”

Lizzie

Senior, Acting

Study Abroad “I spent the fall semester of my junior year studying aerial dance at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, England. My journey abroad began because I was interested in traveling and wanted to study something that I couldn’t study here at OCU. The Study Abroad office helped me find the perfect program that would expand my creative capabilities and knowledge of the world. In addition to the Study Abroad Office, the OCU School of Theatre, and the Edge Hill faculty worked very hard to help make this a reality for me. I was the first OCU student to participate in the Aerial program, so it was a new experience for everyone involved. It was the most rewarding risk I’ve ever taken. Those three and a half months abroad were the best of my life!

I lived on the Edge Hill campus with British students and other international students, which really immersed me

in the local culture and helped me plug into social events happening on campus. Edge Hill is in the charming village of Ormskirk, which is just a short train ride from Liverpool.

I loved having the quaint weekly markets and historic Ormskirk outside my front door, while also having easy access to the bustling city of Liverpool. The people in Liverpool are incredibly friendly and loyal. I felt welcomed as an outsider and proud to be a Liverpool FC fan! Liverpool was also my gateway to the rest of the UK. I decided to focus my time and money on exploring as much of the UK and Ireland as possible. I spent extensive time traveling alone throughout the south of England, and made trips to Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and other places with friends. One of my favorite traveling memories was spending Thanksgiving and my birthday in Cork, Ireland. I ate Thanksgiving dinner in a famous pub, kissed the Blarney stone on my birthday, and

80+

of dance graduates have performed on national or international tours

Wherever they go, OCU graduates find success.

Lora Anderson

Lyonel Reneau

BS Dance Management ‘97

BFA Acting ‘11

Anderson is one of nearly 50 alumni who have worked with the Radio City Rockettes. During nine years with the worldrenowned precision dance company, she never missed a show. She now owns four pilates and movement studios in Los Angeles and Austin.

Reneau is a New York City-based actor, singer, dancer, and voiceover artist. He is currently a student in Matthew Corozine’s Acting Studio and a resident actor for Sanguine Theatre Company. Reneau received a 2014 New York Innovative Theatre nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.

Meredith Ziegler BM Vocal Music Education ‘10 Ziegler currently teaches music at Wilson Arts Integration Elementary School in Oklahoma City. Additionally, she also directs the Apprentice Choir as part of the Canterbury Youth Choruses.

Brian Shepard BA Dance ‘10 Shepard is a Broadway dancer who has been cast in such shows as “Peter Pan,” “Spamalot,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Follies,” and “Something Rotten!”

Lara Teeter

Destan Owens

BA Theatre, ‘78

BM Musical Theatre ‘91

Teeter, a Tony-award nominee in 1982 for his role of Junior Dolan in “On Your Toes,” now is head of the musical theatre program at Webster University.

Owens is a Broadway veteran, whose roles have included Tom Collins in “RENT,” Billy Flinn in “Chicago,” and Adrian in “Smokey Joe’s Café.”

Jack Yates

Kristin Chenoweth

BFA Theatrical Design and Production ‘10

BM Music Theatre ‘91, MM Opera Performance ‘93

Yates, who previously worked in Michigan as a design associate for the Kalamazoo Civic Center, now is the resident scenic designer at Theatre Memphis in Memphis, TN.

Lindsey Lively BS Entertainment Business, ‘14 Lively is the event and destination manager at Factor 110, which plans and manages events in Oklahoma City.

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Chenoweth is a singer and actress, star of the 2003 Broadway production of “Wicked” and Tony Award winner for “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” She has appeared in many television shows, including “Glee,” “The West Wing,” “The Good Wife,” “Sesame Street,” and a starring role in “Pushing Daisies”—for which she won a 2009 Emmy Award. Her movie credits include “RV,” “Deck the Halls,” “Bewitched,” “Four Christmases,” and “You Again.”

219+

companies employ OCU dance graduates, including 73+ Broadway shows Marcel Wilson BPA Dance Performance ‘98

Tori Schelling

Kevin Wilson

BPA Dance Performance ‘10

Jess Palu

Radio City Rockettes are OCU graduates

BPA Dance Performance ‘12 Schelling and Palu are Radio City Rockettes. The Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Entertainmenthas produced 48 Rockettes.

Sasha Hutchings

Rick McKee BM Music Composition ‘09

BPA Dance Performance, ‘11

McKee works as a music producer out of Orlando, Florida. His works range from television specials to theme parks, firework shows, parades, commercials, jingles, ride soundtracks, and cruise lines. He served as an arranger on both an Emmynominated song in 2009, and an Emmy Award-winning song in 2011. His music can be found on over 30 Walt Disney Record releases.

Hutchings is a Broadway performer in New York City and is currently an ensemble member of the hit new musical “Hamilton.”

Kelli O’Hara

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theatre showcases for graduating seniors in NYC, LA, Dallas, and Chicago each year

The Wilson brothers have performed with artists such as Madonna, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz, Mandy Moore, and Mary J Blige. Kevin has been an associate choreographer on the hit TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.” The Wilsons also own their own entertainment company, Mister Wilson Entertainment.

Emily Ritter BS Entertainment Business ‘12

Beach is currently principal trumpet in the Alabama Symphony.

Kelsey Griswold BFA Acting ‘13 Griswold was named Miss Oklahoma in 2013 and was the 2nd runner up to Miss America in 2014. She made her television acting debut in an episode of “Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll” on TNT in 2015 and will appear in the television drama “American Crime” in 2016.

Eryn LeCroy BM Vocal Performance ‘14 Since graduating from OCU in 2014, LeCroy has performed in productions of “Camelot,” “Susannah,” “Side by Side by Sondheim,” and “West Side Story” as one of 32 Young Artists at Seagle Music Colony. She recently completed her national tour debut as Emma Carew in the 2014-2015 national tour of “Jekyll and Hyde.”

Alex Enterline After graduating in 2014, Enterline was cast to play the lead role in the first national tour of “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”

BM Piano ‘90 Long is a former associate conductor at the New York City Opera and is a faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Elizabeth Wythe Wythe manages the entire ticketing system for the Minnesota Twins, which also includes the team’s spring training in Florida and major concerts at Target Field.

Tyler Cofer BM Music ‘10

Collins works as an application support specialist for Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas.

Timothy Long

Ritter works as an associate production manager on one of Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey’s three touring shows.

Ryan Beach

BFA Theatre Design & Production ‘15

BFA Acting ‘14

BS Entertainment Business ‘09

BM Vocal Performance ‘98 Dr. O’Hara is a Tony Awardwinning stage actress, singer, and songwriter known for starring roles in “The Pajama Game,” opposite Harry Connick Jr., and “The Light in the Piazza.” She recently starred in a new musical, “Far From Heaven,” and performed in NBC’s live production of “Peter Pan” in December 2014. In 2015 she won a Tony Award for her role as Anna in “The King and I.”

BPA Dance Performance ‘98

Laura Collins

BS Entertainment Business ‘08 Cofer is the Oklahoma City Thunder game presentation and entertainment coordinator.

Kelsey Dolphin BS Dance Management ‘13 Dolphin, previously the national events coordinator at the OKC Boathouse Foundation, is now the national events coordinator of USA Triathlon in Colorado Springs, CO.

Keep up with OCU alumni at okcu.edu/alumni/news

Stay connected with OCU Alumni.

With more than 40,000 alumni in all 50 states and 128 countries, the OCU Alumni Association is the ultimate networking tool. No matter where you are in the world or what career field you are in, there are OCU alumni who have been in your shoes... and they are here to help you every step of the way!

Find more news & information: okcu.edu/alumni/focus

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