Students excel at summer festival in Hawaii

Logan Pavia and Charity Williams, students in the Musical Theatre Certificate program, participated in the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, a prestigious, international professional development program for emerging artists.

Now in its 17th season, this summer festival offers tuition-based training for students through workshops, voice lessons and classes with Broadway professionals that culminate in a mainstage production. Participants are chosen through audition, and cohorts include students from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America and Europe.

Pavia and Williams were hand-selected by composer Joey Contreras to perform his songs in concert as part of the festival’s programming. The concert, including Pavia’s and Williams’s performances, received a positive review in Big Island Music.

Pavia is a theatre major and most recently performed the title role in the College of Arts + Architecture’s Spring 2022 production of “Pippin.” Williams is a dance major who most recently performed in the 2022 Spring Dance Concert in “Rooted,” a work by dance professor Tamara Williams. Both students study voice with Assistant Professor of Voice Sequina DuBose.

“While we aren’t surprised that our talented students were given this amazing opportunity, we are thrilled that they had the chance to apply what they’ve been learning in our classrooms in a professional performance setting,” said Laura Waringer, assistant professor of theatre and co-director of the Musical Theatre Certificate program. “Working alongside artistic peers and industry professionals from across the country is an invaluable experience, and we know this is just the beginning in terms of what students in our program can achieve.”

In addition to scholarships from the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, both students received tuition support from the College of Arts + Architecture.

Read the entire story on the College of Arts + Architecture website.