{"id":233282,"date":"2026-04-15T21:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/233282\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T21:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:16:07","slug":"famu-essential-theatre-stages-student-written-production-echoes-of-the-heart-the-famuan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/233282\/","title":{"rendered":"FAMU Essential Theatre stages student-written production\u00a0\u2018Echoes of\u00a0The Heart\u2019 \u2013 The FAMUAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cEchoes of The Heart\u201d featured 13 cast members, a band of seven musicians, and three pit singers, performed in Charles Winterwood Theatre. (FAMU Essential Theatre)<\/p>\n

\u201cEchoes of\u00a0The Heart: A Musical Revue\u201d welcomed audiences young and old\u00a0as the Essential Theatre\u2019s first completely student-written and conceived production.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ryan\u00a0Pettaway,\u00a0a\u00a0third-year theatre management scholar\u00a0who served\u00a0as\u00a0curator,\u00a0book\u00a0writer,\u00a0intimacy\u00a0coordinator,\u00a0assistant\u00a0director,\u00a0production\u00a0stage\u00a0manager\u00a0and\u00a0cast\u00a0member\u00a0of\u00a0\u201cEchoes of The Heart: A Musical Revue,\u201d\u00a0shares\u00a0that the production\u00a0began\u00a0as\u00a0a\u00a0simple\u00a0script\u00a0but evolved into a mainstage production.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really interesting writing for the black box, which seats about 60 seats, that\u00a0was very compressed, very small,\u201d Pettaway said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u00a0kind of felt\u00a0like we\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0really build on any storylines or any characters.\u00a0When we really started talking about what we wanted to do, it turned into, well, maybe this is a main stage\u00a0\u2026\u00a0we can develop these characters, and how we can show like the different tropes and the different avenues of love and the different stages.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEchoes of The Heart\u201d is a\u00a0jukebox musical\u00a0featuring\u00a0songs\u00a0of various genres, all singing the same tune: love. Set\u00a0in a\u00a0speakeasy\u00a0club called \u201cSmoke and Honey\u201d\u00a0in\u00a0present\u00a0day,\u00a0the\u00a0owner and\u00a0emcee\u00a0takes\u00a0the\u00a0audience\u00a0on a\u00a0journey\u00a0of his own\u00a0experiences\u00a0with love, while also celebrating\u00a0its\u00a0positive and negative elements, and the power of self-love.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll\u00a0of the students\u00a0were\u00a0able\u00a0to come together and kind of collaborate,\u201d said Jae\u00a0Edwards, fourth-year\u00a0theatre\u00a0performance\u00a0major,\u00a0director, and cast member of \u201cEchoes of The Heart.\u00a0\u201cSo, it\u2019s not even just the creative team\u2019s vision, it\u2019s really everyone because we were all\u00a0able to pitch in and\u00a0bring it to life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cast members Michael Defreitas and Corynne Moss-Brewer singing \u201cYou\u2019re All I Need to Get By\u201d by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. (FAMU Essential Theatre)<\/p>\n

After\u00a0sitting\u00a0in the\u00a0crowd,\u00a0signing\u00a0along to \u201cAs\u201d\u00a0by Stevie Wonder,\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cGolden\u201d by Jill Scott,\u00a0patrons\u00a0shared their favorite\u00a0musical\u00a0sections\u00a0from the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say for nostalgia purposes, probably\u00a0\u2018Naughty\u00a0Girl\u2019\u00a0[Beyonce].\u00a0It is, one of the\u00a0best\u00a0and\u00a0I would also say,\u00a0\u201cWhere\u2019s\u00a0My\u00a0Husband?\u201d\u00a0It\u00a0was great,\u201d\u00a0said Jillian Wheeler, patron of the production.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Essential Theatre is known for\u00a0showcasing\u00a0the talent of its students\u00a0and allowing each cast member to shine through; this show being no different as it had a clear FAMU rendition and flair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was well done overall,\u201d\u00a0said Lewis Defreitas,\u00a0patron\u00a0and father of cast member Michael Defreitas.\u00a0\u201cI thought the music, the choreography, the acting, I mean, just the entire production was\u00a0really well\u00a0done.\u00a0And\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0proud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEchoes\u00a0of The Heart\u201d serves as a celebration of love and\u00a0music, filled with comedic\u00a0audience\u00a0interaction,\u00a0reflective\u00a0spoken\u00a0word\u00a0and a larger\u00a0narrative\u00a0that love may have\u00a0its\u00a0ups and downs, but\u00a0that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0never a loss to\u00a0stay optimistic\u00a0and\u00a0embrace love.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I want people to take away is that\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0just so much hatred in this world right now,\u201d\u00a0Pettaway said.\u00a0\u201cAnd I think another thing that kind of inspired this was that all I see when I open my phone now is\u00a0just\u00a0hate, hate, hate, hate,\u00a0hate,\u00a0hate, hate, hate.\u00a0I\u00a0really wanted to write something that just felt like love\u00a0\u2026\u00a0and create a community in the theater where everyone felt like they were a part of something together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cEchoes of The Heart\u201d featured 13 cast members, a band of seven musicians, and three pit singers, performed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-233282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}