By Brooke Trower, Staff Writer, and Laura Klotzkin, Managing Editor
Daemen welcomes back Creative Minds, a student theater club run by new members and a new advisor. Alongside the revival of Daemen Hall, discussion has begun about bringing it back for a fourth iteration.
This is an ongoing effort led by sophomores Alyson Dalton, Isaac Sinatra, Kara Gioia, and Kaity Hersee.
“I have been doing theater since I was 2 years old, and it’s something I’ve always been passionate about,” said Dalton, president of Creative Minds. “Freshman year, I took a theater class here, which made me want to start a club here at Daemen.”
The club disbanded in 2021 due to a lack of student involvement and the graduation of core club members.
“As you know, with clubs, a student has to run it. We help, but it has to be run by students,” said Christian Brandjes, advisor of Creative Minds. “Unfortunately, with a lot of clubs, sometimes the people running them graduate.”
The students involved in bringing this club back to life have put in work to bring it to reality.
“We’ve had a few problems with starting up, getting interest in the club, restarting a pre-existing club with completely new officers and new advisors, as well as trying to organize and figure out what people have had in the past,” said Hersee, officer of Creative Minds.
Although the club has no confirmed place to meet at this time, there is talk of hosting it in Daemen Hall.
“Daemen Hall does seem to be the best location,” said Sinatra, vice president of Creative Minds. “We don’t have a second location in mind, so we’ll have to find that out, but Daemen Hall seems most likely.”
Creative Minds, being fully registered as a club this semester, comes with plenty of advantages as well.
“We can apply for funding, be able to put posters up around the school, and generally let students know that our club is going to be very active,” Hersee said.
You do not have to have theater experience to join the club; there are many components to theater other than acting.
“It’s if you come in and want to volunteer, and you want to come in and meet with the club. It’s not a commitment to do anything,” Brandjes said. “If you’re even remotely curious, come by, get in touch with the students running it or me, or Dr. (Robert) Waterhouse, and we’ll get you in touch with the students.”
Despite the challenges, the club remains optimistic about the future. “We are definitely hoping to do some shows at some point. Maybe an improv night or variety show,” Dalton said. “When it comes to the club meetings, we will do fun theater games as well.”