“Pippin” Performs at Muskingum University

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — The Tony Award-winning musical “Pippin” came to Muskingum University this weekend.

Assistant Professor of Music at Muskingum University, Emily Oehrtman, said while the cast and music all came together within just the last few months, this weekend’s performances have been almost a year in the making.

“Pippin is an interesting story. It’s a play within a play, it’s a coming-of-age type story. We started rehearsals for it in January. We started planning back in June of last year, so it’s been a long process, almost a year, that we’ve been working on the technical side of it,” said Oehrtman.

She added that there are several factors that must be taken into consideration when deciding which play or musical they want to take on.

“We get together as a group; all of the designers and directors that are involved, and we throw out ideas. And then we talk about the stories that we want to tell and we make sure they’re providing a good educational experience for our students, but also something that’s going to be really fun and memorable,” explained Oehrtman.

Another factor in determining which show to perform is casting. Oehrtman says that they have to look at the students each year and try to figure out what plays or musicals they can realistically cast for given the fact that they are a much smaller university and the size of the student body limits them.

Performances took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, as well as Sunday afternoon. It was the final theatre performance of the year for the university.