Bringing creative visions to life: New Wave Theatre Company fosters talent

Since 2019, Miami University’s New Wave Theatre has been offering students a way to bring their creative visions to life, providing aspiring theater professionals with hands-on experience in writing, directing and producing their own plays and musicals — all while creating a sense of community in the process.

New Wave is a student-run group on campus, offering original and compelling performances to the Miami community free of charge. It provides a unique opportunity for students to not only be part of a production, but to create their own.

The company’s executive board is made up of six students who read student-written show submissions and select which ones to produce. Members also step up as needed to fill crew member roles.

Kaila Powers, a senior middle childhood education major, joined New Wave her sophomore year, and by junior year she became president of the club. She is taking a break this semester to student teach as part of her major, but plans to return in the spring.

“I love the fact that students are able to write and produce something of their own,” Powers said. “There’s just no greater feeling of accomplishment than seeing your project go from literally nothing, an idea, to a full-fledged play or musical.”

Bradley Beck, a junior psychology major, recently partnered with New Wave to direct “Verlin Pulley: The Remaking of a Man,” written by Max Kaufman. The play tells a comical story about the Crawfords, their dogs Newton and Ivy, and their mission of rescuing someone trapped in Pulley Tower.

“To me, being a director is creating the space for your actors to feel comfortable playing and trying new things and facilitating conversations after they do things,” Beck said. “That is what I really enjoyed.”

This is the first production Beck has directed, and New Wave provided the support to help him put on the show.

“New Wave’s main responsibility in this production was to provide resources so that I could buy my set, I could print scripts and I could print posters and programs,” Beck said.

New Wave submits funding and spending requests to Miami’s Associated Student Government to provide funding for student-run shows. As a tier-four club, it gets enough funding to cover all costs for each musical and play they put on.

New Wave also assists in helping find facilities to hold shows and filling roles needed to complete the show. However, Beck said he chose to create his own production team with people he already knew.

“I am [so thankful] to the people in my production,” Beck said. “Everyone involved, we were all volunteers. I could not have done it without them.”

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Sara Detwiler, junior strategic communication major, was a member of the show’s production team and managed the public relations for the show, promoting it through posters and social media, and she helped with costumes.

“It was really awesome to be a part of it and see it come so far from just an idea, a conversation that happened, to now, a year later, it’s actually come to fruition,” Detwiler said.

Kaufman and Beck submitted the play to New Wave last spring, did script revision over the summer and began rehearsals this fall. Once they had funding and spending requests submitted and made the show an event on the Hub, Beck moved forward into nailing down the performance.

New Wave holds biweekly meetings that anyone interested can attend where they workshop, revise pieces of work, generate new ideas and more. Students also have opportunities to audition for their shows or join the crew. If interested in submitting a musical or play to New Wave, a submission form can be found through the Hub.

milnerm2@miamioh.edu