Eastern seniors take their final bow

When flowers start to bloom and birds begin to chirp on Eastern’s campus, you can almost hear “Pomp & Circumstance.” Much of Eastern’s population will walk across the graduation stage and go on to bigger and better things at the beginning of May. Sitting down with any of Eastern art’s graduating seniors you can start to fathom the countless hours, blood, sweat and tears that they, and all of our art’s students, have each poured into their respective departments. 

Cassandra Kaeppel is a double major in psychology and dance at Eastern. She’s been heavily involved in Eastern’s dance department since fall of her freshman year, when she joined as many dances as she could for that fall’s dance concert. Kaeppel had nothing but praises to sing for the dance department, naming community as the thing that sets Eastern apart from other schools. “Many schools tend to have a toxic environment among both the students and faculty, but at Eastern, I do not get [that] impression. The faculty wants all the students to learn something and keep growing their knowledge and technique. The students at Eastern all support each other,” she shared. Specific faculty, such as Heather Wilson, has offered such knowledge and kindness to Kaeppel. She can clearly see that Wilson “wants to see her students grow and succeed in what they do.” This philosophy is now something that Kaeppel has been able to pass on to her own dance students. 

Kaeppel reminisces on the multiple tech weeks she’s been a part of. This is the week of the performance where all elements of the dances are put together in rehearsal, culminating in long nights. Although stressful, Kaeppel loves it, citing it as the reason why they all become so close. Also part of performance week, Kaeppel loves warm ups before shows, “it allows us to connect with one another before we perform. At the end […] we always end with a prayer. I love this because it allows us to refocus on what is important, and it gives us a moment to slow down and breathe.”

Eastern’s dance department has taught her “that not everything that is worthwhile will be easy.” She then clarified that, “When you have the right support and friends, hard things feel easy, the journey is so much more enjoyable, and once you achieve your goal, the result gets celebrated even more,” that life lesson is one that all of us, not just dancers, can employ into everyday life. Looking to the future, Kaeppel plans to teach at dance studios in the area as she continues to dance professionally in Philadelphia with Roger Lee Dance Company. 

Amari Dickerson is a theatre major with a minor in psychology. You may have seen him on Eastern’s stage in “Hamlet,” “Big Fish,” “Noises Off,” and most recently, behind the scenes as the stage manager for “A Year With Frog and Toad.” Dickerson has been heavily involved in the theatre department ever since he was a freshman. He’s stuck around because of the community he has found in the department. It has given him the opportunity to branch out “from different things that I know I didn’t even think I could do,” whether that’s with different friendships or skills within the theatre department. 

Although Dickerson has fallen in love with the theatre department at Eastern, it has been tricky to accomplish telling stories in the way they deserve because Eastern is Christ-centered. Dickerson is a devout Christian, but he still carefully disagrees with the level of censorship that the Eastern administration puts in place on the theatre department. He believes that to a certain extent, as a Christ-centered university, they need to be careful with what stories they tell, but that it’s been taken too far. “I think Eastern can handle censorship better by allowing us to fully embody the emotions [of the stories we tell]. Eastern is stopping that. It’s like they want us to put on a perfect thing for the perfect people. But, everything’s not perfect.” 

When asked what he’s learned from Eastern’s theatre, Dickerson vulnerably shared, “I’ve learned to take no as an answer. It doesn’t have to be that I’m not good enough for this. Maybe it’s just not the thing that’s good for you at this moment.” Although Dickerson is sticking around for another semester, so you can catch him on Eastern’s stage one final time in “Godspell” this fall, he plans to do gigs in the local area. When asked if he had anything else he wanted to share, he said, “Go Birds. And Richie is amazing.” 

Richie Izzo is a music composition major, but has been heavily involved in all three art departments at Eastern. He chose Eastern because it was close to home, but wasn’t really sure what else to expect. He was pleasantly surprised by the small size of the department, which he both likes and dislikes. Because of the size of the department, Izzo is “able to be close with the faculty and staff as well as students. You’re not just a number in the music department.” Izzo shouted out both Perry Brisbon and Dr. Steven Ford for encouraging him as he continues to get better at his craft. At his final vocal recital Izzo had the chance to sing a duet with Brisbon of “One Last Time” from the musical “Hamilton” which felt like a great culmination of his three years at Eastern University. 

Izzo has been involved in every single production Eastern has put on in some way, even though he is not a theatre major. He loves “taking the show from nothing to putting it on to fruition.” “Big Fish” was the spring musical last year and he cited it as his favorite production he’s ever been a part of. This was not just because of the deeply impactful story he was able to tell about storytelling and the importance of people’s lives, but also because the cast and crew were all good people, who all cared about each other. This made the production feel even more special, bringing the audience to tears along with Izzo in the final moments of the show. 

Eastern University’s size has given Izzo opportunities and support that other universities wouldn’t be able to, with producing, directing and writing two musicals, “Fight” and “Inside Out.” This has been an aspiration of his that he has dreamed of since before coming to college, but Eastern’s close-knit and small arts departments came together to help him produce original musicals that he could be proud of. Izzo’s plans for the future are still up in the air currently, “I would like to continue writing music somewhere.” But wherever he lands, he has deep appreciation for Eastern’s arts departments and the community and opportunities it has granted him with. Lastly Izzo declared, “Go Birds. Amari Dickerson is amazing.”