From performing to creating, Beth Hyland is a woman of the stage. Most of you know her as a member of the Owl Creeks, otherwise known as the a cappella queens. More recently, StageFemmes produced Post Grad, a musical that Beth wrote. The show sold-out and made the audience both laugh and cry, with its quick wit, pop-culture references, and honesty. Just in time for graduation, HerCampus Kenyon had a chance to sit down and talk with Beth about Post Grad and life at Kenyon.
Name: Beth Hyland
Year: Senior
Major: Drama
Hometown: Rochester, New York
On-campus activities: Owl Creeks, KCDC, plays
For all the Owl Creeks fans out there, what is your favorite Owl Creeks song you’ve done?
That’s really hard. My junior year, we sang Towers by Bon Iver, and I think that was the song I was the most proud of. I didn’t arrange it, but the girl who arranged it also soled it, so I had to conduct for her. I was very nervous. That arrangement was super beautiful.
Tell us about Post Grad. How did you come up with the idea? What did making it entail?
In the spring of my junior year, I went to the National Theater Institute, which is in Connecticut. It’s a semester-long study-away program. I took a playwriting class, and one of the assignments was to write the opening number of a musical. You didn’t have to write the music, just the lyrics. Our play-writing professor told us to write about a group of people that there had never been a musical about before. She had us brainstorm, and I thought, what about unpaid interns? There are parts of it that are drawn from my life and other parts that are totally made up but I just kind of based it on what I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about recently. What happens after college? What does it mean to live a good life? I wrote the first act last spring and finished it this January. It was a lot of fun. I never would have thought of it had I not been forced to do it at NTI.
So you said that you wrote the lyrics, but did you also write the music for Post Grad?
I did. There was one song in the show that the two leads (James Plunkett and Maureen Hoff) actually came up with the music for. But yeah, I wrote the music, too. Sometimes I would write the music first, sometimes I would write the lyrics first, and sometimes they would both just come into my head together.
What was it like seeing your musical come to life?
I have never been more nervous in my life. I basically couldn’t watch until the third performance. One of my friends was visiting from out of town and she had to keep saying, “Beth, look! Watch!” I was just staring at my lap the whole time. But it was totally a dream come true.
The show was put on through StageFemmes. How did that happen?
It was super lucky. Sarah Johnsrude was abroad with me. She, Julia Greer, and Emma Miller started StageFemmes up, with the help of a lot of other ladies as well. Sarah approached me and said “I think Post Grad would be a really good fit for StageFemmes’ goals.” I am one hundred percent behind everything StageFemmes is doing. I think it’s the most necessary thing for theater at Kenyon to give women a chance to play great parts and hear their plays read. I was thrilled to work with them. I wish Stage Femmes had existed when I was a freshman!
What about you post-graduation? Do you have any plans for after graduation?
I’m applying to a lot of apprenticeships and internships at different theaters in Chicago, DC, and Philadelphia. I’ll probably start hearing back from those in April and May!
Are you more sad or exited to graduate?
Oh, man. A lot of both! Definitely both. I think by senior year there are a lot of aspects of Kenyon that you’re ready to leave. You’re ready to go somewhere where you get to meet new people and just have new experiences. Kenyon does start to feel really small at the end of your senior year, but at the same time, the friends that you make here are incomparable. Not being with them is going to be really sad. You get close with people here, more so than at other schools.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I guess I hope to be acting professionally and still writing plays and musicals! That’s the goal.
What’s the theme song to your life?
I’m taking this really seriously… [Long pause]. I think probably the entire soundtrack to West Side Story or anything by the Countess LuAnn from the Real Housewives of New York City. Look it up. She has some… interesting pieces.
Backstreet Boys or NSYC?
I would say NSYNC. I think they having the staying power. And you have JT with the Raman hair! I was an NSYNC girl in the day.
Full House or Boy Meets World?
Boy Meets World. No question.
Did you hear they’re doing a sequel show?
Yes! It’s going to be really nostalgic. I am all about Cory, Shawn and Topanga.
Les Mis or Phantom?
Les Mis. Definitely. I’m not an Andrew Lloyd Weber girl. But, Les Mis… The movie was whack, but it had its good parts.
It was just a lot of close-ups.
And a lot of Russell Crowe.
What’s your favorite Study Spot on campus?
I like the music lab in Storer. That’s where I arrange, but I also do work in there because the lighting is nice. I also like the little areas on the second floor of the library that face Middle Path.
What’s the top thing on your Kenyon bucket list?
I would say getting drunk with professors was a major one on the bucket list, so Fandango was a serious victory. But what I still want to do is go to Southside Diner really early or really late with all of my friends. I’d love to do that.
Be sure to go to the Owl Creek’s spring concert, tonight at 9PM in Rosse!