Spotlight: McCluskey takes on The Performing Arts Project

An average hallway on the Wake Forest University Campus sets the stage for an original performance from the research and development portion of The Performing Arts Project (TRAP). Senior and newly appointed Troupe President Sarah McCluskey joins the scene completely drenched in water. One night, the area underneath a tree in the middle of a field was used as the stage for a dance performance. On another night, a spoken word piece was performed on no stage at all, but in fact observers were permitted to walk around the performers. These nights were a regular part of McCluskey’s experience at TRAP, a summer theatrical training designed to build curiosity and confidence in young artists.

TRAP offers two summer intensive programs: Blueprint and Panorama. Blueprint is a two-week program intended to prepare young artists for college applications with training focused on singing, dancing and acting techniques. Panorama is a three-week intensive that focuses on building creativity in the arts, collaboration and preparing students for a lifetime in the arts.

McCluskey had heard about TRAP from a friend who had attended the program the previous year. McCluskey applied to both Blueprint and Panorama and was accepted into both selective summer intensive programs. McCluskey was one of ten students who stayed five weeks for both programs.

“I didn’t expect one acceptance, let alone two,” McCluskey said.

For the application, McCluskey had to submit a digital audition. She recorded two contrasting songs, a monologue, an original dance piece and a personal statement. For her original dance piece, McCluskey edited a song and a spoken word together, using her passion for choreography to create a piece that was meaningful to her.

“I wanted my piece to be personal and I combined several things that I love because I couldn’t just choose one. I personally relate to the spoken word and I wanted to convey its story through movement,” McCluskey said.

During Blueprint, McCluskey focused on core singing, dancing and acting technique, as well as audition workshops for future college preparation. TRAP hosted mock auditions in the three major disciplines and college information sessions. McCluskey is planning to go to school for a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre so the Blueprint program had special importance to her. During the Panorama program, McCluskey would attend core classes as well as more creative ones, such as songwriting, clowning, stage combat, playwriting and more. Each evening at Panorama would finish with three hours of research and development rehearsals, where students would be assigned groups to create and preform original pieces, like McCluskey’s soaked show in the hallway.

At TRAP, McCluskey said she “experienced and learned the beauty of vulnerability.” She plans to apply the lessons she learned at TRAP back home in troupe and she hopes they can learn “to believe in themselves.”