For John Simpkins, there is a three-column existence to his life as a musical theater educator and director — Penn State; the Sharon Playhouse in Sharon, Conn.; and freelance professional directing.
The three allow him the opportunity to focus on his passion — new musicals. Simpkins, Nagle Family Endowed Chair in Musical Theatre and head of the Penn State School of Theatre’s musical theater program since August 2015, says he loves to work with writers and on musicals that aren’t familiar to many people. He believes new, unproduced musicals are the purest version and most utopian artistic side of musical theater. Though he loves a great revival, he finds the greatest joy in artists who are trying to tell stories in new and different ways.
That is one of many reasons the musical theater department commissioned Joe Iconis, a writer Simpkins describes as “one of the hottest, young musical theater writers going right now,” to write a musical specifically for this year’s senior class.
To begin the writing process, Iconis visited with the class last year when the students were juniors. Now seniors, the students will complete readings and workshops of the musical during the year as part of their curriculum. Simpkins intends, as a new initiative, to pair different teams of writers with each year’s junior class.
He says while other musical theater programs have writers interacting with students, he believes Penn State is the only program to commission a writer to specifically write for its group of musical theater artists.
“That’s really cool,” he says, “especially when you are trying to teach young artists how to draw on their own personalities and their own humanity in order to do musical theater.”
This interaction and partnership also resulted in the students’ beginning Penn State Centre Stage’s 2016-17 season with the first production to follow the world premiere of Be More Chill, a musical featuring Iconis’s music and lyrics. The musical follows Jeremy Heere, a high school student who isn’t one of the cool kids, but also isn’t nerdy. Everything changes when he discovers a supercomputer that gives him exactly what he wants — popularity — or so he thinks. Be More Chill, which Simpkins directs, runs Tuesday (Oct, 4) to Oct. 15 at the Playhouse Theatre.
Simpkins says the musical celebrates the “regular” person by showing Jeremey’s journey of learning that being himself is enough — a simple lesson that seems to elude almost everyone at different stages of life.
“It’s a perfect show for our incredibly talented students, and we’re honored to be the first production outside of the world premiere,” he says. “Joe will be working with us throughout the process — and this high-energy show will be like nothing State College has seen before.”
Though Simpkins is not shocked by the drive, determination, and creativity of the students that will perform Be More Chill, he was surprised by the number of people he discovered during his first year at Penn State who love and support what the faculty and students are doing in musical theater.
“It’s humbling and exciting,” he says. “It’s a very passionate way to go about your daily life when you know that many people are supporting you not only financially but also in terms of spirit, creativity, and energy.
“[The program] is this incredible family of artists and supporters and enthusiasts and tacticians and teachers. It shows the student that this thing that is one of the hardest things you can ever imagine pursuing in your life has an army of supporters under them as they pursue that.”
The largest initiative Simpkins is undertaking is finding a way to connect New York City to State College in relation to musical theater. He is working with faculty to bring writers and casting directors to Penn State, and to take advantage of his professional connections in New York.
“Hopefully,” he says, “our ability to have I-80 be a musical theater pipeline from State College to New York will, I think, help our students experience as much success as they can.”
Penn State Centre Stage’s production of Be More Chill runs October 4-15 at the Playhouse Theatre. For tickets and showtimes visit http://theatre.psu.edu/ticket-information
