Campus Highlight: Columbia Musical Theatre Society

During the spring semester of my freshman year at Barnard, I joined the Columbia Musical Theatre Society. In high school I had participated in theatre for three years as part of our club’s stage crew. After being such a large part of my high school experience, I wanted to continue participating in theatre in college. There are many different theatre organizations and performing arts groups at both Columbia and Barnard (you can read about many of these on other blog posts as well!). I have always especially enjoyed musical theatre and decided to interview with CMTS at the beginning of the spring semester. 

CMTS is Columbia University’s oldest and only student group that regularly produces musical theatre revivals. CMTS produces two full productions in the fall, and one full production as well as a 24-hour musical in the spring. 

This past semester, I was able to take part in CMTS’s spring mainstage production of Fame as their co-assistant stage manager. CMTS was my first look into theatre in college. Even with the late night and weekend rehearsals, I always looked forward to being able to learn and be in a both professional but incredibly fun and creative environment. I met an amazingly talented and welcoming group of people that I probably wouldn’t have been able to interact with otherwise. 

Unfortunately, our show was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of Columbia’s campus this semester. Though it’s disappointing I wasn’t able to see our hard work come into fruition or get to engage in a performance as an assistant stage manager during my first year, I’m glad I chose to join a theatre group at Columbia, and am looking forward to participating in CMTS for my next few semesters at Barnard.

-Zaynab Sulaiman