Students bring VIP experience to life for Prima Theatre fundraiser featuring Stephen Schwartz

Best known for creating musical theatre favourites including Wicked, Pippin and Godspell, Schwartz was the special guest at the Lancaster County theatre's benefit concert. To accompany the concert, the students were tasked with designing and producing an intimate cocktail reception, giving VIP guests the opportunity to meet Schwartz in a relaxed and welcoming setting. 

Working from the client's mood board and creative concepts, students brought the vision to life, managing everything from the event's creative design and technical production to budgets, logistics and stage management. The project also provided valuable experience of working with multiple industry partners and vendors, including TAIT, Atomic, Fuse, 4Wall, Clair Audio, Stray, Shumaker PDT and The Event Collective. 

The event was a great opportunity for students to collaborate with external clients and industry professionals, putting their classroom learning into practice in a high-profile live event environment. 

For Reagan Hamilton, Junior Live X student, who took on the role of Production Coordinator for the VIP reception, the project offered an opportunity to develop her production management and communication skills. 

"This event was the most high-profile production we have worked on thus far in my time on the Live X program with more outside collaborators and visibility within the industry," Reagan explained. 

"This experience taught me a lot about the process of a more VIP corporate style event and how to balance creative intent with available resources." 

With multiple organisations involved in delivering the wider event – coordination was key. Reagan worked closely with the Rock Lititz production team, helping ensure that the VIP reception complemented the wider concert experience and fulfilled the client's vision.  

One particularly memorable moment came when Reagan had the opportunity to speak with Stephen Schwartz himself. 

"He was very appreciative of our work on this event and complimentary of our degree program. He encouraged us to keep working hard in live events and continue to utilise our resources on campus to grow as professionals." 

For fellow Junior Live X student, Cole Benner, the event provided the chance to explore a more creative side of live production. Working as the server programmer and content creator for the event's visual elements, Cole used Pixera for projection mapping, alongside Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere to create the content. 

For Cole, one of the biggest highlights was seeing the different creative and technical elements come together. 

"I think the highlight for me was just seeing everyone's different aspects come together and become something beautiful! After working with everyone and seeing the passion in everyone's eyes, I'm just really glad and excited it turned out so well." 

The project is a great example of the breadth of experience available to students on the BFA in Live Experience Design & Production. As Cole highlighted, "I think our program is really special and unique since we are able to do high-end corporate events like Prima and then do an esports event or a concert right after." 

The Prima Theatre fundraiser was an incredibly successful evening, giving students the opportunity to learn through delivering a live client brief. Working alongside industry partners, they gained hands-on experience of planning, collaboration and event delivery while producing an evening that was exceptionally well received by guests. 

Looking to start your career in the live entertainment and creative industries? Click the link below to find out more about the BFA Live Experience Design & Production degree. 

https://www.academyoflivetechnology.com/courses/rock-lititz/bfa-live-experience-design--production