Musical Theater at Oberlin Conservatory

This year, Oberlin introduced a brand new music theater program into the conservatory.
The new program, led by Victoria Bussert, is currently filled with many transfer students from
nearby Baldwin Wallace University, where many faculty members transferred from as well.

The formation of a new program has received both excitement and backlash from the Oberlin
community, with some worrying about opportunities being taken away from the college theater
program and complaints about the student’s behavior in the dormitories. We (say names) went
in front of Mudd library and Dascomb Hall to ask students what their opinions of the new
musical theatre program are. It should be noted that Dascomb Hall is a first-year, and many
musical theater first-years live there. It should also be noted that these interviews occurred 3
weeks into the new year. Some students we talked to requested to remain anonymous.
Question: What is your opinion on the new musical theater program here at Oberlin
College?
1st interview:Hi, my name's Rochelle and I think it's really interesting. They sing in the hallways
and are off at 3:00 AM It's really, yeah.
2nd interview:I'm Mia. I'm honestly a little scared of them. Just a little bit. It's giving, like a cult
that's following me, but they're like. Singing acapella in the streets, but honestly, they're my
celebrities. So it's like when I see them I'm like, oh my God. Hi, I love you, the Jimmy Awards
guy. I was like, I literally, he opened the door for me the other day and I was like, oh my God.
Like I'm sorry for tweaking out.
Context:For context, The Jimmy Awards are a high school musical theater awards show, often
dubbed “The High School Tony’s”. This past summer, current Oberlin first-year Seger-Ott
Rudolph was a finalist.
3rd interview:As a musical theater student in the inaugural class of Oberlin College, I feel that it
is making me learn things in a way that I never have. And I am growing already in the first few
weeks, and it has been quite wonderful learning with Victoria Bus. And others, and I feel very
grateful every day and excited to learn that I get to be here and that this is happening.I think it's
exciting because we're bringing in a lot of like very new, talented kids and a lot of them live on
my floor in Dascomb and I just love their energy. And it's fun. Just hear about all the cool
projects they get to work on.
4th interview:I don't really know anything about the musical theater program, so I think it's fine.
I don't know if people like it. Good for them. .
5th interview: Hi, I'm Nora. I'm a bio major and even though I'm not an expert on the program,
everyone I've met seems really cool and really kind and I foresee a very successful future for
the program here.
OUTRO:In conclusion, the students we talked to had generally positive and curious thoughts
about the new musical theatre program. Since we took the poll not even a month into the
program being up, it is likely that opinion will change over time.