Shark Talent presents Starstruck

NSU’s Shark Talent program is hosting the biannual Shark Talent Showcase event on March 28 in the Don Taft University Center, showcasing students’ talents in both performing and visual arts. This semester’s event is called Starstruck

The visual arts portion will take place in the Black Box Theatre at 6 p.m., while the performing arts will be in the Performance Theatre at 7:30 p.m.

Both the visual and performing arts showcases will exhibit pieces submitted by students. This includes acting, dancing, singing, paintings, drawings and more.

Shark Talent is one of the Hochberg-Miniaci Razor’s Edge programs along with Razor’s Edge Global, Razor’s Edge Leadership and Razor’s Edge Research. Shark Talent offers scholarships to students studying in the performing or visual arts programs at NSU. It also hosts various events on campus, such as the Starstruck showcase, to increase community involvement with the arts.

Olivia Knerr, junior double major in dance and sports and exercise science and reporter for Mako TV, serves as chair of the performance committee, alongside her vice chair, Kyra Triepke, junior human nutrition major and editor for Mako TV.

Knerr said their roles include running audition checkpoints, selecting students to participate, selecting the theme, and putting the show together before passing the baton to the stage manager on show night.

“When it comes to show day, the stage manager takes over and we get to just sit back and see everything roll out,” Knerr said.

This event showcases the talents of the students in the arts programs, as well as anyone interested in performing or visual arts.

“Even if students are not involved with the arts at NSU, they may have participated in them in high school or growing up and just love it. This event makes it so they can still get to be involved with the arts in college even if it has nothing to do with their future career,” Triepke said.

Shark Talent hosts this event once each semester, so students of all years and majors can show off their skills, even if they are not involved with Shark Talent.

“This show started as a way for us to all collectively show our talents in one big show. Theater, dance and art all have their own shows, so this is just one big show where we can all work together,” Triepke said.

Music will also be a featured part of the production.

This upcoming showcase will be in collaboration with both the student businesses as well as the Shark Pantry. Knerr said this is the first time the show has collaborated with the Shark Pantry. Students will be encouraged to bring nonperishable food items to the showcase as donations to the pantry. The businesses, including Melt-U and La Creperia, will also be selling food before the event.

“The president of Shark Talent really wanted to bring together the other organizations to get our name out there. The collaboration also brings together the business side with the arts which you don’t get to see very often,” Triepke said.

All students are encouraged to attend and engage with both the Shark Pantry, as well as the participating student businesses.

“What we are doing is truly just trying to entertain and get people to know about the arts. So, students should come so that we can continue to spread the love and passion for the arts that these performers have,” Knerr said.