Dylan Olive
The Southern Editor
After finding out that her daughter was having joint issues caused by being born two months premature, Morgan Bruewer’s mother had the option to send her into surgery to break her hips and put a metal rod in between them, or send her to ballet class. She chose to send her daughter to ballet class.
Bruewer, 21, is a senior B.F.A. musical theatre major and communication minor from Cape Coral, Fla., and is pursuing the online 4+1 Master of Teaching program, with hopes of transferring into the Master of Education program.
Bruewer is involved in multiple areas across campus: she is a Resident Advisor for college-owned houses, a Southern Ambassador, the Vice President of Vagabonds, the co-founder of Theatre After Dark, a member of Alpha Psi Omega (the professional theatre fraternity at FSC) and a sister of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority.
Since before she could even walk, Bruewer has been exposed to theatre and dance – her mother was a professional opera singer with the Utah Opera. Being born early caused joint issues to develop in her knees, hips and ankles, so she started taking dance classes to assist in mobilizing them. Since kindergarten, she knew her dream was to perform professionally.
“I fell in love with it,” Bruewer said. “My sibling was also in dance and theatre with me and has not followed that same path, it just happens to be something that I love, and my mom and I share that together.”
In Bruewer’s childhood, she was more involved with dancing than anything else, she took classes and also did competitive dance. In high school, Bruewer made the switch to primarily theatre and has continued her passion for musical theatre into college.
At FSC, Bruewer has performed in many shows: “The Sound of Music” as a nun, “Cabaret” as an ensemble member, “A Christmas Carol” as Belinda Cratchit and a caroler, “The Drowsy Chaperone” as the Drowsy Chaperone, “Songs for a New World” as one of the Woman 2’s, “Godspell” as an ensemble member and female swing, “Carrie: The Musical” as Miss Gardner, and she is currently rehearsing her last musical at FSC, “Something Rotten!” as a singer ensemble member.
Last summer, Bruewer was introduced to her first professional theatre work at Missoula Children’s Theatre, based in Montana. The theatre travels to towns across America and produces children shows in a week. After Resident Advisor closing duties, Bruewer had a week off, and then jumped straight into work as a tour actor/director for the company.
For her entire summer, she traveled across states in the southwest and helped run the show. She would assist in auditioning the kids, upwards of 64, and then cast the show, rehearse and tech it, costume it and then perform either on a Friday or Saturday. The workload wasn’t easy as Bruewer and her tour partner, Theresa Conner, had to oversee all of the shows and know all 65 tracks just as if they were all her own performance songs.
During her time working at the theatre, she spent time in Montana, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Kansas. The experience allowed Bruewer to work with children of various ages, use her passion for teaching and theatre and combine them to create art.
“It’s stressful, lovely and rewarding, and it’s the most awesome intro[duction] to professional theatre because you get to travel the country,” Bruewer said. “It’s such a rewarding experience, and I will probably go back and work for them again.”
Pursuing the arts is something Bruewer has always seen herself doing. Stepping into another person’s shoes and understanding their perspective and their outlook on life makes her a better human being – it explores psychology and sociology with performance art. Collaboration is another thing Bruewer loves, getting to work with vastly different people and working together to create something special.
“I think theater, when used correctly, has a huge potential to make people think,” Bruewer said. “There’s the argument of entertainment vs. education, and I think there’s a fine balance between the two, and you can really get people thinking about themselves and about their lives.”
After graduation, Bruewer will be completing her online Master’s program, as well as auditioning and performing in professional theatre. She also sees herself potentially working toward becoming a college professor or even becoming a high school theatre teacher.
“I don’t wanna look back at my life and say ‘what if?’ This has always been my dream since kindergarten, so I have to give it a shot,” Bruewer said.
