{"id":248908,"date":"2026-04-27T23:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T23:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248908\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T23:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T23:36:08","slug":"usfsp-new-musical-theater-club-takes-center-stage-the-crows-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248908\/","title":{"rendered":"USFSP new Musical Theater Club takes center stage\u00a0 \u2013 The Crow’s Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo by Makenna Wozniak | The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0<\/p>\n

By Reagan Haskell and Zariya Bankston\u00a0<\/p>\n

Theater lovers at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus engaged with the art form on campus with the introduction of the Musical Theater Club in spring 2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anya Gorgas, a senior finance major at USF St. Petersburg, is the founder and president of\u00a0the Musical Theater Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gorgas told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0that she has always been a musical theater fan and wanted to bring a different form of expression to the St. Petersburg campus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have played sports my entire life and on multiple teams\u00a0here,\u00a0but I was ready for a change, and I\u2019m so glad I was,\u201d Gorgas said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When brainstorming the possibility of a musical theater club, Gorgas asked students about their interest in the idea. When she gained encouraging feedback, she knew that the club would be successful.\u00a0Despite having zero experience in musical theater, Gorgas took a leap and began work on the club right away.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fortunately, her idea inspired many to join, even earning the \u2018Best New Club\u2019 at the Rocky Awards, the annual event highlighting student achievement on the St. Petersburg campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Musical Theater Club also put on their first production, a musical titled \u201cThe Theory of Relativity,\u201d\u00a0with music and lyrics by Neil Bartman and written by Brian Nill.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Directing the production is Aubrey Soldo, a\u00a0freshman\u00a0theatre major with a minor in education.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Soldo has been interested in theatre since she was young. Hobbies involving acting fueled her passion to be on stage. It was her first time directing a show, which was an exciting and proud experience for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a step in the right direction for my future goals as I aspire to be a theatre teacher\/director.\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The musical is about how ordinary people\u2019s lives are interconnected, while exploring the ways in which shared experiences can bring communities of people together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has many different storylines that all eventually connect. It follows normal people with normal problems that everyone goes through.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0relatable and\u00a0very sweet\u00a0with a good message,\u201d Gorgas said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The idea to perform the musical was brought to Gorgas by\u00a0Emetchue. It was her first time hearing of the musical, and when listening to the soundtrack, she knew she had to perform it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gorgas is the executive director of the musical and\u00a0acted\u00a0in two roles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, she plays Sara, a girl with an awkward personality with a best friend named Jenny who secretly despises her. After ending her friendship with Jenny, she becomes endeared\u00a0to\u00a0her new friendships.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s kind of in her revenge era now,\u201d Gorgas said.\u00a0\u201cI think people can relate to realizing they\u2019re not friends with the right people and finding their own somewhere else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gorgas\u2019 second role, Julie, is a character who deeply adores her cats and her fianc\u00e9, Paul, who is played by her boyfriend Tripp Tucker, a senior science in finance major.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gorgas told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0that this role is relatable to aspects of her own life.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0knit or crochet, I do love my pets more than anything else. And Paul is played by my long-term\u00a0boyfriend\u00a0so I\u00a0definitely relate\u00a0to feeling in love and excited to be in a relationship with someone who is\u00a0just right\u00a0for me.\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gorgas\u2019s favorite of the two characters is Julie due to her sweet nature,\u00a0but she also adores Sara\u2019s feistiness.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rehearsals for the show proved to be\u00a0demanding\u00a0work for Gorgas. She\u00a0stated\u00a0how she has been heavily involved in behind-the-scenes activities\u00a0regarding\u00a0the musical.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u00a0was in charge of\u00a0handling bookings,\u00a0purchasing\u00a0the rights for the musical, hosting events to help gain traction, food catering, leading vocal rehearsals, overseeing director and producer\u00a0and collaborating with USC staff to help the musical run smoothly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As executive director of the musical, many responsibilities had to be managed while also preparing for her own two roles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor my role particularly, I practiced my song and honing my skills until I was blue in the face. I really wanted to make myself proud when I went out there on stage,\u201d Gorgas said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The club\u00a0as a whole prevailed\u00a0through hardships faced during\u00a0rehearsal\u00a0and continued to work to deliver an exceptional performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s\u00a0been a lot of\u00a0ups and downs, but\u00a0I think that\u00a0goes for every single production. Overall,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0so incredibly honored to be a part of something so big for USF St. Pete,\u201d Soldo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The musical was performed three times over the course of a week in the USC Ballrooms, free of charge and open to anyone with a yearn for a play with an emotional message.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gorgas told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0that she was excited to finally be able to display her and her team\u2019s hard work on the stage for their audience to see.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was proud of their performance and grateful to be able to create such a special experience with them, especially with her two best friends, Tucker and Natalia Powers, a senior finance major and USF St. Petersburg SG Sustainability coordinator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many talented students here with a love of theater.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0exciting to see everyone express themselves through the arts.\u201d Soldo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gorgas hopes that the musical reinforces people with the value of community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing I think this musical should show people is that we all need one another and good people in your life is really important.\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 67 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
Written by: Reagan Haskell<\/a> on April 27, 2026.
Last revised by: Julia Ferrara<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Makenna Wozniak | The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0 By Reagan Haskell and Zariya Bankston\u00a0 Theater lovers at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-248908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248908","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=248908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}