“They learn so much in a short amount of time. It’s such a good experience.” Billy Wilburn
“Once we arrive in May, we have rehearsals every day—it's a very concentrated period of time,” said Wilburn. “Essentially we have three rehearsal slots, and we're working on all of the shows simultaneously.” While the group is a “well-oiled machine,” each year adjustments are made to make the experience better and to help students have deeper learning experiences. Education is the cornerstone of SDSU, says Wilburn, and Prairie Repertory Theatre fits that model to set participants up for success. “When they leave our program and graduate, our students go out and work in Broadway and Chicago and LA and they're doing amazing things,” he said. “As a matter of fact, one of our alumni from Prairie Rep was just in Sioux Falls for the touring Broadway show of The Addams Family .” The artistic program has served over 544,000 patrons and around 2,000 students in 54 years. Wilburn says there is a two-hour radius where they draw people in from, including many rural areas. Because of the remote locations, Prairie Repertory Theatre is sometimes the audience member’s first time seeing a play or being in a theater.
28 | 605MAGAZINE.COM
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online