This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Columbia Barnard chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
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Name: Lauren Wingenroth
Year: 2015
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Role in Xmas! Production: Choreographer
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How did you get into choreographing for musicals?: I started choreographing my high school’s musicals, and found that I really liked creating scenes onstage and helping my peers be more comfortable in their bodies. It’s so great to be able to do this in an environment where original musicals are being made – it really enhances what I can do creatively and is super exciting.
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If you could dance or direct any dance scene in a musical what would it be?
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I really like choreographing scenes where the dance is both part of the plot and forwards the plot. “Dance at the Gym” from West Side Story is the best example – they are dancing because they are literally at a dance, and then through the dance Tony and Maria meet and fall in love and blah blah blah. So it would be like that, only funnier. I like incorporating humor.Â
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What’s one highlight of working on Xmas this year?:
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It’s all about the people. We have such an incredible team of very talented, very dedicated artists, and big cast of hilarious performers. Watching our ideas come to life on their bodies is always a highlight.Â
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What are three reasons people should see the show?:
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1) We have worked SUPER hard. Creating an original musical is a totally different animal than staging just any musical. Every thing you see happening on that stage was created by us, and let me tell ya, it is time-consuming and takes every creative muscle in your body.Â
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2) It’s the last day of classes. It’s time to de-stress and prepare for one final push through exams. Laughter is the best medicine or something right? Laughter is proven to make studying more effective maybe? No? I’m pretty sure laughing does burn calories. And its def good for your soul and I PROMISE XMAS! will make you laugh a whole lot – money back guarantee!! (No money back guarantee)
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3) XMAS! is for everyone! But really. Our incredible writers have written a show that appeals to all comedic tastes. There are crazy fun dance numbers. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll laugh some more.Â
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Any funny moment from rehearsal you want to share?Â
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It’s so hard to answer this question without revealing something about the plot. But I guess I’ll say that one of the funniest people on this campus Skylar Gottlieb is in our cast, and one day we were doing this scene for the first time and she would literally just utter one word and the whole room would devolve into uproarious laughter and we would have to regroup and it would just keep happening every time she so much as walked onstage. She’s really funny. Like really funny.Â