*Editor’s note: Name has been changed to protect students’ identity.

In black box theaters across Northwestern’s campus, students craft productions that blur educational exercises with professional showcases. The theater community, which alumni have collectively dubbed the “purple mafia,” creates a unique environment where personal relationships and career aspirations intertwine.

“After you’ve been here for a little while, it kind of is like every single audition you do is for somebody that you know,” says Communications second-year and theater major Casey Bond. “Everybody kind of knows everybody.”

Each freshman class caps at 100 theater majors, according to the School of Communications Office of Undergraduate Programs and Advising.

Many freshmen join the Student Theatre Coalition (StuCo), a collective of nine student-run theater boards and two dance groups that produce about 30 shows yearly. Each group maintains its own executive board and performance series while sharing organizational support through StuCo practices like general auditions, space allocation and equipment management. The co-directors of each board, along with two StuCo co-chairs, form the coalition’s leadership.

Each board follows a specific theme and produces up to three shows annually. For example, Vertigo Productions focuses on students’ newly written work while Purple Crayon Players showcases children’s plays.

“It’s unserious and it’s also the most serious thing you’ve ever done,” says Communications second-year and Vertigo president Lux Vargas.

Some student actors, stage managers and music directors also work with the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts (Wirtz), a production company staging about 40 shows yearly. Communications second-year Mia El-Yafi performed in three StuCo productions as a freshman. This year, she acted in three Wirtz shows — “Antigone,” “Lobster” and “Mancub” — led by Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) students and professional local directors.

“The Wirtz shows feel very professional and by the book, whereas the StuCo shows feel much more like a family and a community,” she says. “Maybe you’ll spend a little more time doing a check-in, and it’s just kind of less strict.”

Communications second-year Jane Smith, who understudied for the Wirtz show “Sunday on the Rocks,” sees clear differences between the two worlds. Beyond Wirtz’s larger budgets and emphasis on professionalism, Smith says dynamics with MFA directors differ markedly from relationships with StuCo directors.

Smith’s name has been changed out of fear of professional consequences.

“With Wirtz, it feels a little bit more separated,” Smith says. “The MFA directors are in a totally different social sphere than we are. Like, I would never see them at a party.”

When Smith became the executive director of a StuCo board at the start of spring quarter, she stepped into the complicated territory where friendship and professionalism collide. She says everyone approaches conflicts of interest differently: some directors enjoy casting friends, while others pretend not to know the performers.

Behind the scenes, students apply to shows through petitions. For directors, this process usually includes written and spoken components, says Communications third-year and former StuCo co-chair Kate Horton.

While directors usually choose performers, each theater board has a different director and producer selection process. Horton, now artistic director for WAVE Productions, says WAVE requires a unanimous board consensus to appoint a director.

Horton has directed for other StuCo boards like Vertigo and Vibrant Colors Collective. Before auditions and casting, she’s noticed peers acting differently around her. Some aspiring actors have invited her for coffee before auditions began.

Though she believes these individuals don’t act in bad faith, their actions can make her less inclined to cast them.

“I want to feel like the people who I’m surrounding myself with like me for me, as opposed to for the things that I can offer them,” Horton says.

Communications second-year and Arts Alliance artistic director Alex Lopez tries to treat all auditioners equally, including friends. As an actor and director, he’s experienced both sides of the process. Lopez says knowing someone involved in selection doesn’t always help in getting cast.

“If you go into a casting room and all your friends are on the other side of the table, and you’re laughing and making jokes, and then you don’t get cast, it could feel like then the lines between social and professional have been blurred,” Lopez says.

For Vargas, collaborating with friends has both benefits and drawbacks. She says some executive board members clue friends in about application questions beforehand and advocate for applicants they know. Conversely, familiarity can demonstrate why a friend wouldn’t collaborate effectively.

“Your friends know you better than anybody,” Vargas says. “They also probably recognize your flaws.”

Bond says knowing someone beforehand can make it easy to typecast them in certain roles. He describes auditioning for friends as “weird and sort of stressful” but also “loving and fun.” Still, he says wanting to work with friends comes naturally.

“Some shows are like, the whole team and then the whole cast or production team is one friend group,” Bond says. “Sometimes that’s just how it goes. You can’t really blame anybody for that, because it’s student-run, and who doesn’t want to spend time with your friends?”

After unsuccessful collaboration, people may be less likely to invite that person to future projects, Horton says. Although Horton says no formal blacklist exists in student theater, showrunners may hear of an individual’s past actions and make decisions with that information in mind. Others around that individual sometimes distance themselves, as well.

Students have confirmed that social dynamics impact opportunities within the theater community, affecting not just casting prospects in college but potentially beyond. 

Northwestern theater demands intense commitment. Producers and the tech team can expect 10-hour days, according to the Student Theatre Coalition Producer Handbook.

“That ‘grind-set’ of Northwestern applies just as much to StuCo as it does to McCormick,” Vargas says.

From arriving on campus with fellow theater majors during Wildcat Welcome, many students immediately jump into the scene. Peer advisers tell them to subscribe to TWIST, a weekly newsletter with theater opportunities. Many students work on multiple productions or join multiple boards simultaneously.

“It feels like a scramble to join everything and get involved,” Bond says. “You feel like if you don’t get involved right away, then it’ll be too late somehow, which just doesn’t make any sense.”

Leadership roles demand even more commitment. Lopez and Smith joke that their Arts Alliance co-director roles amount to full-time jobs.

Students eventually find their own balance. El-Yafi shifted focus to Wirtz productions after StuCo board Spectrum dissolved and chose not to join a new board because of the late meetings.

Although StuCo aims to be educational, Smith says boards sometimes overlook this aspect. Looking back on shows makes her realize they weren’t as serious as they thought.

Horton hopes students understand executive board members take on these roles to improve circumstances for everyone.

For Vargas, StuCo’s intensity stems from its student-run nature. People invest more effort in these shows than anything else.

“At the end of the day, you’re making art, and that’s more personal than anything,” Vargas says. “It can be really easy for the lens to get blurred sometimes, but it’s like anything else when you really care about something.”

Print design by Lena Rock.