AJ Black tries out his pick-up lines on Anne-Marie Kate in a scene from ‘After Ashley’ by Gina Gionfriddo in the Senior Acting Showcase by the Theatre Arts Department of Utah State University.

LOGAN – A videotaped Senior Acting Showcase is a touching way to say farewell to Utah State University actors that we’re going to miss.

Those seniors are Rachel Banner, Joe Bayless, Anne Marie Kate, Kaija Strong and AJ Black.

We’ve enjoyed some of these performers as far back as September of 2019, when they brought to life Civics & Humanities for Non-Majors by Jeff Talbott in the stark setting of the Black Box Theatre.

Included in the case of that show were AJ Black as Trip, Rachel Banner as Dar and Kaija Strong as Libby — all strong performers, with a promise of more to come.

Joe Bayless made his debut later that year in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, along with Ms. Strong. He later appeared in She Kills Monsters.

Following the COVID-19 hiatus, Ms. Strong was back as Mary Bennet in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly, along with Black as the haughty Darcy.

In the staged reading of Ghosts, Ms. Strong shined as Helene while Bayless played the smug religious hypocrite Pastor Manders.

Ms. Strong nearly capped her USU career as Willow, the forgiving sister in the stage reading of The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 In the Senior Acting Showcase, they each appeared in a solo scene, a vignette with another performer and a solo song.

In Tigers be Still by Kim Rosenstock, Anne-Marie Kate has a kooky way of cutting a man down to size.

Rachel Banner performs a haunting, lovely rendition of “The Beauty Is” from Light in the Piazza.

 Joe Bayless provides a brainless explanation of why vegetables are bad for you in a scene from I Am the Gooseking by Ben Firke.

In a scene from 52nd to Bowery to Cobble Hill, in Brooklyn by Chiara Atik, Anne-Marie Kate and Kaija Strong demonstrate why two women can’t be friends.

A clueless AJ Black brags that “he has the power” in a scene from How It Is by Greg Urbaitis.

Joe Bayless does a guitar solo on “Seeing You” from Groundhog Day-the Musical.

Wait until you see a guy’s pick-up line in a scene from After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo featuring AJ Black and Anne-Marie Kate.

Try to count the number of times that Rachel Banner says “like” during a job interview in a scene from Core Values by Steven Levenson.

Anne-Marie Kate does a heart-warming performance of “Stay” from Amelie: the Musical.

Kaija Strong lets her boyfriend down easy by saying all the right things in a scene from How to be Single by Abby Kohn.

Joe Bayless and Rachel Banner delicately discuss sexual politics – without every saying what they want — in a scene from The Aisle by Dominic Finocchiaro.

Finally, AJ Black sings an exuberant version of “Run Away with Me” from The Mad Ones.

You can check out the Senior Acting Showcase at http://cca.usu.edu.







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