Sheldon Rogers: Life After Catawba

Related Content

Last 5 stories in Alumni

• Alumni Spotlight: Kyle Thortsen - February 4, 2012
• Alumni Spotlight: Jen Trout - February 4, 2012
• Lessons and Carols: The Tradition Lives On - November 29, 2011
• The Sounds of Homecoming - October 28, 2011
• Alumni Spotlight- Matt Patrick - April 16, 2011

Other stories that might interest you...

• Lasting Remarks from a Catawba Senior: 25 Things About Caitlin Becka
• Catawba Theatre: The Transition to Success
• Girls and Guys go Ga-Ga over "The Boy Friend"
• Bright Lights, Bigger Spotlight: Iliana Rivera
• Wigwam Productions Hypnotist Paul Ramsey

By: Erin Kidd, writer
March 23, 2010
Filed under Alumni, Spotlights

Talent will get you a very long way; just ask Sheldon Rogers, a 2009 graduate of Catawba College. It became obvious while Rogers attended Catawba that talent was something he had been blessed with. One could often find him in a theatre entertaining students, professors, and anyone that dropped by. Roger’s personality also added to his talent, which made him a very likeable person to befriend as well as an inspiring performer to watch.

Rogers let his talent shine here at Catawba. Rogers performed in 7 mainstage shows during his career at this college including: The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sweeney Todd, and the Blue Masque show The Wild Party: A World Premiere Musical by Matthew Kiedrowski. Rogers performed and directed in the 10 minute scenes that the theatre department presents each semester. He participated in Danceworks for 5 semesters, choreographing 4 out of the 5 dance presentations. Rogers shared with me his thoughts on Danceworks saying, “My favorite piece of choreography would have to be the one I did last year to the song Fix You by Coldplay. It was inspired by the movie What Dreams May Come and the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.”  Rogers also participated in two specialty concerts; one was a benefit for Broadway Cares, and the other was a Senior Legacy Concert to raise funds for the Music Department Library.

Along with his participation in theatre activities, Rogers was also a member of many other clubs and extracurricular activities on campus. These include:

Catawba Singers

Catawba Madrigals

The Order of the Blue and White

Dead Athenian Society (Historian ’06-’07, Vice President ’07-’08)

The Blue Masque (Senator ’07-’08)

Lilly Center Retreat Leadership Corps

Co-Editor of the 2008-2009 Sayakini

Elected Mr. Catawba for the 2007-2008 academic year

After all this hard work, what more could this talented guy find to do? Maybe become an Acting Apprentice? Rogers is currently finishing up a year-long contract in Lanesboro, Minnesota where he works as an Acting Apprentice for the Commonweal Theatre Company. Rogers has been working in the theatre of this town since May 20. The town has a population of 800 people, but the theatre saw over 21,000 patrons in its 2009-2010 season. Rogers has a very high opinion of this little town, claiming, “It’s amazing to see so many people travel to this location, in the middle of nowhere, in search of a genuine theatrical experience. We have over 1,000 season pass holders. That’s a huge accomplishment, considering we’re 2 hours from the 2nd largest theatre city in the nation (Minneapolis/St.Paul.)”

As an Acting Apprentice, Rogers has been seen on stage as Vinnie in Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, George Graham et al in A Midnight Dreary, and Neal Tilden in The 1940′s Radio Hour, which he also choreographed. Rogers spoke to me about the shows. “I’d have to say my favorite show was A Midnight Dreary, a world premiere written by one of our company members. It was a kind of surrealist look at the last night of Edgar Allan Poe’s life. It was great to have another chance to create an original character for a brand new show. It also set the record for highest average show attendance ever at the Commonweal.”

The Apprentice program is more than just stage credits for Rogers. It is a 10-month intensive that provides education in every facet of running a theatre company. So, the apprentices did get to be on stage, but they also learned how to create advertising materials, do media appearances, write grants, and run the box office. They worked for 3 months each on the marketing, production, and development teams and were part of all the staff meetings. The apprentice’s contract concludes with the Apprentice Capstone Project. This project involves the apprentices self-producing their own mainstage production. It is a fully apprentice-run show. They pick it, design it, market it, and perform in it with very little outside involvement from the rest of the company. This year they have chosen Death and the Ploughman. The project is like their final exam; a time for them to put all the things they have learned to the test. Rogers gave us some insight into his feelings on the apprenticeship experience saying, “It’s been an amazing ride. Probably the best work I’ve done on stage in a long time. We’ve made a blog to document the whole process. Each apprentice contributes to the blog. My last day here is April 1 and I will truly miss it.”

So what’s next for this amazingly talented Catawba alumnus? He has big plans to continue using his talents.  After Rogers completes his apprenticeship, he says he will be taking some well-earned downtime in North Carolina until May 7. He will then move to Pennsylvania to perform in a Hershey Theme Park show until Labor Day. After the summer, he plans on following in the footsteps of many Catawba Theatre Alums and making the move to The Big Apple.

Things People Might Not Know About Sheldon Rogers:

• I am really into photography. I have a hard drive specifically for my pictures and it currently holds about 15,000 photos that I’ve taken over the last 2 years.
• If I wasn’t an actor, I’d probably pursue a career in freelance photography or graphic design. But I did want to be a vet for a really long time.
• I’ve also started writing some original songs, and I’m planning on compiling enough to record an EP, or even a full-length album by the end of this year.