Meet the Guest Editors - MIchael Schweikardt
Name
Michael Schweikardt
Position
Third-year Graduate Student
Organization
The Pennsylvania State University, School of Theatre
Where did you go do school?
Currently, I am working on my graduate degree at The Pennsylvania State University. I received my BFA from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts.
What are your areas of research/interest?
Scene Design and Script Analysis
What got you started in theatre?
I grew up hanging around backstage at Papermill Playhouse where my Dad was a pit musician and orchestra contractor. I never got the genie back into the bottle.
What is your favorite performance you've ever seen or been a part of? Why?
When I was three years old, I went to the theater for the first time. I sat in the first row of the mezzanine on top of a folded-up theater seat because I was too small to see over the balcony rail, and I watched The Music Man. I was in thrall. Traveling salesmen pattered like a steam locomotive, gossips clucked like hens, and Iowans stood as still as statues. My young mind was opened to something wonderful I would later come to identify as metaphor. Never underestimate the power of a musical.
What piece of advice would you give to emerging scholars?
To my design student colleagues and students in particular I would say, write about what you do, add to the discussion, make your work more visible; make yourself more visible.
If someone were to write a play about your life, what would the title be?
Old Dog. New Tricks.
What is a fun fact that we should know about you?
I bake while I write.
Michael Schweikardt
Position
Third-year Graduate Student
Organization
The Pennsylvania State University, School of Theatre
Where did you go do school?
Currently, I am working on my graduate degree at The Pennsylvania State University. I received my BFA from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts.
What are your areas of research/interest?
Scene Design and Script Analysis
What got you started in theatre?
I grew up hanging around backstage at Papermill Playhouse where my Dad was a pit musician and orchestra contractor. I never got the genie back into the bottle.
What is your favorite performance you've ever seen or been a part of? Why?
When I was three years old, I went to the theater for the first time. I sat in the first row of the mezzanine on top of a folded-up theater seat because I was too small to see over the balcony rail, and I watched The Music Man. I was in thrall. Traveling salesmen pattered like a steam locomotive, gossips clucked like hens, and Iowans stood as still as statues. My young mind was opened to something wonderful I would later come to identify as metaphor. Never underestimate the power of a musical.
What piece of advice would you give to emerging scholars?
To my design student colleagues and students in particular I would say, write about what you do, add to the discussion, make your work more visible; make yourself more visible.
If someone were to write a play about your life, what would the title be?
Old Dog. New Tricks.
What is a fun fact that we should know about you?
I bake while I write.
