A black Abraham Lincoln impersonator lies dying on the edge of the stage. His brother has just assassinated him in a heated brawl over money. This is the final scene of “Topdog/Underdog,” a show about race, brotherhood and the struggle to break free from a destructive past.
On the show’s fourth and final night, the theater was finally nearing capacity. The Sept. 7 to 10 showing of the play marked the start of the first official season for The Shafer Alliance Theatre group.
“We recognized a need in the student population for a group that could support student theater and help promote it, to provide students with an opportunity to do their own work, as opposed to being so reliant on the main stage for opportunities,” said Boone Hopkins, executive producer of the SAT and second-year theater graduate student.
Gone are the days of VCU theater students presenting shows in small classrooms attended only by a small crowd of friends and classmates. Thanks to the SAT, student theater may thrive instead of barely surviving.
The group SAT was formed last spring and is based in the Shafer Street Playhouse’s Richard Newdick Theatre. It is run by a board of directors, which consists of two graduate students, four undergraduate students and one faculty member.
“This is the first time in a long time that this space has been given a facilitator, a group of students who want to do the right thing with the space,” said Tony Santiago, SAT co-president and a junior theater performance major.
The SAT strives to present a diverse repertoire of different types of theater projects. If students rely solely on the main-stage shows for performance opportunities, it’s possible they could never appear onstage, Santiago said.
“We’re not looking to compete with the main stage, but we’re definitely looking to enhance the experience of students here through providing more professional opportunities,” Hopkins said. “We want to raise the bar in production quality and hold ourselves accountable for higher standards.”
The SAT is registered as a student organization and will soon receive funding from the Student Government Association. Previously, the directors and actors funded the shows with their own money. Admission to the shows is free.
Playbills for the shows appear on theater department callboards, as well as Facebook event invitations and word of mouth. To gain more publicity prior to events, the SAT plans to advertise on the radio with Artsline.
To get onstage, a show proposal must be submitted to the board explaining the importance of the work to being shown in Richmond. Undergraduates, graduates and faculty have submitted proposals. The SAT meets monthly and chooses the shows each semester.
“We’re excited to see where it goes and how people receive it, not only theater students but the general VCU and Richmond population,” Santiago said.