Kevin Cullen, production manager for Players, performing in the Muppets cabaret. @PLAYERSMU / INSTAGRAM
Maizy Swift, Production Editor/Asst. Social Media Editor
Similar to many other programs at Manhattan University, the performing arts program has faced many budget cuts since 2023. Despite this, the department has continued to maintain their steady events and performances each semester, supported by faculty, students and others who have donated to keep the arts at MU afloat.
Andrew Bauer, director of music and performing arts at MU, said that a positive attitude and efforts to maintain strong class and rehearsal experiences have helped not only to sustain the performing arts programs at MU but also attract more students to it.
“We’ve had to roll with the punches in terms of maintaining our program and advancing it too,” Bauer said. “But yes, our budgets were severely impacted over the last three years, although the overall enrollment at the school is down, the numbers in performing arts in every single one of our ensembles is up. It’s actually stronger than it was before all these budget cuts came in.”
The program hit the hardest in performing arts was the small group jazz combo, which lost its director amidst the cuts. To keep the group going, alumni have been invited to rejoin and help the group with performances. However, without a director, the group is still being heavily impacted.
“We had to rely on the students who remained in the program to continue on their own, so the students didn’t stop rehearsing, they just are just doing it on their own,” Bauer said. “We also fill in the gaps by bringing in alumni who had been in the group before. The challenge for us is the students are only going to be able to do that for so long, and they’re not going to grow artistically and with their repertoire in the proper way they need. They need an experienced and seasoned director to do that. So I’m afraid that the small group will disappear if we don’t find a way of getting our funding back.”
As far as other programs, Bauer said the most important thing is maintaining a great classroom energy, which is a contributor to the growth in student numbers in performing arts.
“I insist that all of our directors create an environment in their ensembles that is conducive to camaraderie and a sense of belonging, a sense of unity, a sense of just having a good time working with each other,” Bauer said.
The growing numbers of performing arts students despite low enrollment at the university overall is not only a testament to how important performing arts is to MU, but provides further insight into the current student body, says Bauer.
“It speaks to the type of student that is interested in performing arts,” Bauer said. “I think those students tend to be more engaged in their lives, in the world in general, and this will spill over to their professional life because it’s going to make them more attractive to companies that they have something outside of their academic major that completes the whole person. Companies want to hire human beings, especially in today’s world with so much AI and robotics, we need to focus on our humanity.”
Kevin Cullen, a senior English major and theatre minor at MU, serves as production manager for the performing arts group Players. Cullen shared his experience during the first year of budget cuts to the program.
“What happened that year was the budget was so low that we weren’t even confident on having a large enough budget for our fall main stage,” Cullen said. “We had to do ‘A Comedy of Errors’, which is a Shakespeare play, and the reason we were looking for a show like that was because it’s public domain [so] you don’t have to pay anything for the show, so it went so far as to impact the shows that we even choose to put on.”
Cullen shared how despite the budget cuts, Players hopes to find ways to put on shows to the best of their ability by planning ahead and organizing for their performances. Cullen commented on how sometimes, hardships can make for more creative ideas.
“There is nothing that makes theater thrive more than limitation, if you’re able to do everything that you want, sometimes that works out really well, but a lot of really fantastic things can actually come out from having less budget,” Cullen said.
Olivia Bailey, a senior communication major and music minor, serves as producer for Players and shared her thoughts on the budget cuts and their impact on performing arts at MU.
“They [budget cuts] hit us hard because I think that performing arts is a pillar of the Manhattan University community, and when we don’t have the funds to make it as extravagant as we want to, it sometimes falls flat,” Bailey said. “So while our actors are extremely talented and I think that that’s what matters about theater, it’s just difficult.”
Bailey shared how despite the budget cuts Players has faced, students’ dedication to the performing arts program attests to what has kept the department going despite the difficulties.
“I think that the personal dedication and how much time and effort people put into working on their music or working on themselves as a performer should really show people that the work we’re putting out is worth enjoying, it’s very good quality work,” Bailey said.
As for upcoming events such as the spring musical, Bailey said that this effort from cast members will help to make up for what the budget cannot.
“Unfortunately, with budget cuts, our two mainstage productions, which are directed by a professional director, are going to get most of the money,” Bailey said. “So the hard part for us is, with our student-run productions, coming up with the resources to put those on, so I’ve just been reiterating to people, if your performance is good, if you work on your craft, it really doesn’t matter if you’re in all black clothes in an all black room.”