Phillipa Soo leaves Rowan community, New Jersey, and a global virtual audience inspired

“I learned a lot about…not only what you contribute as an artist, but what you contribute as a citizen and how those two things can meet,” shared theatre actress/singer Phillipa Soo, referencing her own college experience.

The impact of this exclusive Marie Rader Presenting Series engagement with the original cast member from the Broadway smash Hamilton, for Rowan University, extended beyond just her virtual performance on the evening of April 16. Soo offered a live master class, zooming in from her home, for 80 dance, music, and theatre students from the College of Performing Arts, a few hours before her performance was streamed to more than 800 households across the globe.

"Having a renowned, yet relatable, artist like Phillipa mentor our students was a valuable experience they will never forget," said Debbie Shapiro, Director of Community Engagement and Presenting for the College of Performing Arts.

During the master class, Soo emphasized a number of points starting with the importance of education, encouraging Rowan students to take advantage of this time to learn and not think about the business and the career that might be ahead of them just yet. “Don’t worry about it until you have to worry about it,” she said. “Focus on who you want to be as an artist and explore and be curious and make mistakes and rise up again from those mistakes.”

Students were invited to submit questions for Soo in advance, but were also able to engage with her in real time. Topics ranged from how to get an agent to dealing with rejection (it doesn’t mean that the door is closed permanently), from managing anxiety to auditioning tips (she walked them through a hypothetical audition process), as well as the influence of cultural and social identities on ones’ work and who has inspired her as a performer (Julie Andrews).

Salma Elwy, a junior Theatre major who was one of the participants, found Soo’s personal reflections very relatable. “Sometimes it’s easy to forget that successful, professional performers were once in our place, but hearing Phillipa Soo (who I’m such a huge fan of) talk about her own experience training in college and how she’s gotten to where she is now was so inspiring,” she said.

Ultimately, the one piece of advice she wanted to leave with these future “storytellers,” as she referred to them, was that, when thinking about how to present themselves when pursuing careers after college, “being authentic as you go out into the world is really important because you want to lead yourself down a path where your authentic self is what people are seeing.”

In addition to the master class, the concert, and a live post-show Q&A for VIP ticket-holders, the importance of arts and culture to the world…and to New Jersey, specifically, underlined Soo’s multi-faceted engagement. Governor Phil Murphy introduced Soo’s performance with remarks that celebrated how the arts benefited the citizens of the state, especially their contribution to “our emotional health” during the pandemic.

In that regard, Soo did not just leave the Rowan community entertained and inspired. Her appearance also impacted the state, with 80% of ticket sales from the concert – just over $11,000 - being passed on to the New Jersey Arts and Culture Recovery Fund (NJACRF), created by a coalition of funders whose shared purpose is to ensure the survival and strength of the state’s arts, arts education, cultural, and historical sector during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, catalyzing a more equitable statewide recovery and building resilience for those organizations and individual arts workers facing disruption and loss.

Expanding on the idea of why support for the arts is critical in the wake of COVID-19, Soo noted that "among the many things we have learned this year, one is that we cannot take for granted the people and spaces that give us the opportunity to gather in a room, have a shared experience, and go on a journey together, to find healing together."

ABOUT THE MARIE RADER PRESENTING SERIES

The Marie Rader Presenting Series at Rowan University brings exceptional artists to campus, enriching the university community and the Southern New Jersey region through expanded performing arts programming, bolstering a robust academic program in dance, music, and theatre. The series is made possible in part through generous support from the Henry M. Rowan Family Foundation via the Marie F. Rader Memorial Fund, and through funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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