Summer Scholars Onstage presents ‘Unconventional’ July 7-8

Jonette Shurden, choreographer and dance instructor for Summer Scholars Onstage, leads a rehearsal in a Sanderson Center studio during the production camp this week at ��. More than 40 middle and high school campers will perform an original musical comedy titled “Unconventional” July7-8 at Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium. (Photo by Grace Cockrell)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Summer Scholars Onstage campers at Mississippi State are preparing to perform the original musical comedy “Unconventional” on July 7-8 in Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium.

The show, free and open to the public, is Friday [July 7] at 7 p.m. and Saturday [July 8] at 1 p.m.

The culmination of both a writing and production camp, the final work this year incorporates the dancing, singing, acting and technical talents of 41 middle and high school students from Mississippi, as well as Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan and Texas.

Held immediately prior to the current theatrical production camp, the writer’s camp involved 22 campers in either scriptwriting or music composition tracks. The show’s musical score comprises 10 original songs.

The three-act musical begins with the grand opening of a convention center in the 1990s and highlights various events in different time periods. “Unconventional” is the 39th production for the long-running camp, directed by Professor Emeritus Joe Ray Underwood, who retired from the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Foundations. A staff of musicians, drama teachers, counselors, dance instructors, technicians and college volunteers lead the students. ��’s College of Education is the camp sponsor.

For more about Summer Scholars Onstage, visit .

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