Collegiate Theatrics: Lipscomb University's SCOTT PATRICK WILSON

Tech week is under way for Lipscomb University's theatre students as they find themselves coming down to the wire for Friday night's opening of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown and there is perhaps no cast member more anxious to perform the popular musical in front of a living, breathing audience than Scott Patrick Wilson, one of the most notable LDoT students on campus.

Wilson is talented, to be sure, and he's familiar to audiences on other Nashville-area stages (he's done shows for Boiler Room Theatre/Act Too Pro and Street Theatre Company, in addition to his onstage assignments at Lipscomb), but at 6'5" tall, you can't miss him whenever he's onstage - or wherever directors tell him to stand. When you are as tall as Scott, you have a tendency to tower over your castmates. That he is also one of the nicest, most gracious young men you'll ever hope to meet (which, when coupled with his engaging manner and tremendous charm), makes him a Music City favorite.

Playing one of the princes in Sondheim's Into the Woods last fall, after stints in Legally Blonde (as Paulette's favorite UPS guy) and Dogfight (as one of the young men heading off to Vietnam in the Pasek and Paul musical) - and as a 2015 First Night Most Promising Actor - he's ready to take on the role of the artistic Schroeder in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Until he's called to places, however, he's found the time to answer our questions for this week's Collegiate Theatrics. Read on and make your reservations for the Kari Smith-directed show that runs for two weekends in Collins Alumni Auditorium on the beautiful (particularly in the spring) Lipscomb campus...

Let's get down to brass tacks: How's your college theater career going? Has Lipscomb lived up to its advance hype? College is such a roller coaster. It's going by so fast. It's hard to believe that I'm almost halfway done. Specifically, college theatre is like nothing else: getting to play parts and stretch my abilities in roles that I may or may not go for in my professional career has broadened my artistic horizons tremendously.

What's your favorite part of studying at your Lipscomb University, particularly in the theatre department and the new College of Arts and Entertainment? This goes hand in hand with my first answer. Lipscomb does such a broad range of styles and forms of theatre. In just one calendar year I've done two Young Audience shows, ASMed an American Classic, and performed in one of Sondheim's greatest works. From musicals, to straight plays, to being on the production side, Lipscomb allows me to find a place in all of these areas so I'm a well-rounded artist.

Have your future plans changed in light of your college experiences? Of course. And they'll keep changing. Every actor has a little piece of themselves that wants to be on Broadway. That's a great goal, but it's so lofty. I want to be a professional theatre artist. If that takes me to New York, I'll follow it. I do want American theatre to decentralize though. That's a passion I have. We should be able to find Broadway-quality theatre all over the U.S., not just in New York, so that's something I want to see before I die. Everybody should have access to high-quality theatre even if they can't pay for a vacation in New York.

What collegiate theatrical moment looms largest in your mind? Dogfight happened while in college, so I count that. If you ask anybody from that show about our experience, you would never hear the end of it. It was bliss. That show is so rich and relevant and powerful. Cathy Street rounded up a dream cast and we all got so close telling that story. I hold that show and cast so highly. That's my one and only show with Cathy and it has been my favorite theatre experience, so I'm sad that I didn't get another opportunity to work with her, but if Dogfight was that experience, then I'm content.

What advice would you offer to high school students considering making the collegiate theatrics plunge? Everybody has their own path. "Comparison is the thief of joy." my friend Lacy always says. It's so true. College Theatre is so close and so high pressure and so fast-paced, and if you don't take care of yourself and your heart, it's so easy to get bitter with it all. Don't let your passion get squashed uncontrollable circumstances. "You have nothing to prove, only to share."

About the show: Lipscomb Department of Theatre, at Collins Alumni Auditorium, Nashville: You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, running through April 15 www.theatre.lipscomb.edu An average day in the life of Charlie Brown: A day made up of little moments picked from all the days in Charlie Brown's young life, from Valentine's Day to the baseball season, from wild optimism to utter despair, all mixed up with the lives of his friends and dog and strung together on the string of single day, from bright, uncertain morning to hopeful, starlit evening. In the end, Charlie Brown reminds us "Happiness is anything and anyone that's loved by you."

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