A bustling crowd of guests from the WKU and Bowling Green community filled Van Meter Hall to take part in an experimental fine arts production showcasing operatic vocal performances, ballet, film, an art gallery, interactive art and posters detailing the performance process.

“The Menagerie,” a celebration of the performing and visual arts, was held March 31 through April 2 and featured student work throughout the fine arts disciplines. 

It was a co-production between the WKU Department of Theatre & Dance and the music department, who collaborate on a mainstage production each year. “The Menagerie” consisted of a large cast that included artists and performers from various backgrounds and specialties.

Liza Kelly, a co-chair for the music department, directed the production and spoke on her experience.

“I wanted to give vocalists an opportunity to connect with music that is appropriate for their voice,” Kelly said. “I also wanted to give an opportunity for different fine arts disciplines to connect with each other. Finally, I wanted to give an opportunity for the community to reconnect with what we are doing, not only as musicians but as fine artists on campus. That was my idea, to reconnect.”

The musical core of the production consisted of 22 classical vocal operatic selections or art song collections. It also consisted of a gallery walk that included oil paintings, illustrations, sculptures, costume design sketches, the model for the set design, information on vocals and information on the five different languages included in the show. The goal of this was to show how the performances the audience sees on stage came to fruition.

During the first portion of the show, the audience had half an hour to walk through the gallery and then move into the auditorium for the 75-minute musical performance.

Kelly has been at WKU for 15 years, and this is her first time directing the mainstage production. The majority of  Kelly’s performance experience has been on the operatic stage, the recital, the stage and the cabaret. She said this filters into how she works with students as a director by blurring those lines together. She also considers this when thinking of the audience.

“[I ask] how can the audience be connected to or interact with what is going on instead of just being passive audience members,” Kelly said.  

Though she has experience with collaborative works, nothing she has worked on has had such a large goal of bringing so many disciplines together at one time. She has been planning and developing “The Menagerie” since spring 2022 and has had the completed cast put together since October.

Kelly described the work needed to handle so many different aspects of the production. 

“It is akin to seemingly trying to plan and execute a large wedding,” Kelly said. “Lots of little details, a lot of organization, a lot of decisions to make and in-the-moment troubleshooting.”

With such a diversely talented cast, Kelly was excited to see how the collaboration worked between the different fine arts.

“Just seeing the students make connections and see that collaboration between the fine arts is viable, it’s possible, and it really works well together,” Kelly said. “I think even though we are different, we all have the same goal of expressing the human experience. Regardless of what we do, our artwork reflects the same things,  just in different ways.”

Kelly hopes this production will lead to more productions like it and provoke more involvement between disciplines. 

“The variety of disciplines that we are featuring is a true menagerie of fine arts, as well as a menagerie of human experiences that are addressed through the fine arts,” Kelly said.

News reporter Olivia Estep can be reached at [email protected]