MSU Summer Scholars campers ready to take their production to the stage

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – It is showtime for a group of campers at Mississippi State University.

37 students have spent the last three weeks at the annual Summer Scholars Camp. The theater camp immerses students in acting, singing, and dancing classes while also preparing them for a production.

The students not only perform, but they also write the play. And this year, for the first time, all of the music is original.

“They’ve written the entire show – all the music. Then the rest of the camp comes and we start dancing and acting and doing the play as a whole. And it’s just been fantastic,” said assistant director Louis Codling.

Codling  first came to Summer Scholars as a camper himself. This year he’s helping mentor the group of student actors and singers

Campers say their experience at Summer Scholars is about more than perfecting their performance skills. They say the close community they form is the best part.

“It’s definitely the people. And we get really close and tight-knit. I come from Nashville every year and it’s because they create such a supportive environment,” said Ansley Preston.

Cooper Snell from Starkville added, “When you spend two weeks seeing people every single day, you really do make a connection with them. Theater is fun. I enjoy theater, but it’s the people here that make it such a good camp.”

The Summer Scholars will perform their original musical play “Hit or Myth” Friday at 6:00pm and Saturday at 12:00pm at the McComas Theatre on the MSU campus. It’s free and open to the public.