Senior Spotlight: Madeline Trinity

By: Madison Rohn, Editor

Madeline Trinity, the last theater major at McKendree, is directing a scene in this year’s fall play as a part of her senior project. The play, Months on End by Craig Pospisil, is a comedy that follows a group of friends in one calendar year with one scene for each month. Madeline is directing the October scene, which involves a couple on the verge of breaking up over The Beatles. 

I recently sat down with Madeline to discuss her thoughts on directing, McKendree’s theater program, and her plans for the future. 

During her time at McKendree, Madeline has been deeply involved in theater productions by making props, building sets, acting, and now directing. Out of all these components of theater, Madeline says that being a part of the crew and working behind the scenes is her favorite. In her words, “I like the creativity that crew stuff and, like, getting to build and paint and everything allows me to have.”

Although Madeline has only had a handful of rehearsals for her scene so far, she has positive feelings about directing. She said, “It’s really exciting being able to have, like, the whole charge of the scene and getting to do it exactly how I want to do it.” She also expressed some feelings of nervousness that come with this control, but she is grateful for the advice of Michelle Magnussen, who is the director of the theater program and theater productions.

According to Madeline, one of the most important lessons that participating in the theater program has taught her is how to work with others. She said, “What I learned probably the most is teamwork and working with everybody else because you’re so reliant on everybody else, working together to make the show as good as it is.” A strong sense of togetherness is also one of the reasons why last spring’s The One Act Play That Goes Wrong is her favorite show she has done at McKendree so far. When describing her experience in that show, she said, “We just got to be silly and have such a good time … it just felt like the cast and crew were a family.”

However, Madeline will be the last theater major to graduate from McKendree since the major was cut in 2020. Madeline expressed her frustration with this decision and called it “kind of a slap in the face to the arts program.” She said, “I’m grateful that they’re letting me finish my degree, but it’s really a bummer for all the people behind me who have wanted to be in the theater program and have wanted to do this major and come to McKendree and get to experience … how great of a program it is. Because it really is.”

As of now, Madeline does not have a specific plan for after she graduates. However, she wants to use the knowledge and skills she has gained from her major. She said, “I hope to do something with theater. That’s like the ideal, but I don’t know. I want to do something creative. I want to do something where I can make art, celebrate art because art is everything.”

Madeline’s directorial work can be seen in Months on End, which will be at the Hettenhausen Center for Arts on November 11th, 12th, and 13th.