Dana Lawton Shines in PIPPIN

Expressive & Performing Arts Super Chair Dana Lawton has taken on an additional role this semester as she plays the role of a feisty grandmother in PIPPIN, our spring '26 musical production!

Although Dana is mostly focused on Dance at Saint Mary's College, she decided to challenge herself with this role, which included learning to sing in front of an audience. She's hoping all her friends and colleagues around campus will come support the Theatre Program by purchasing a ticket to the show!

Click here to watch the full interview or read it below:

What is your role both within the Expressive & Performing Arts Division and in the musical PIPPIN?
My name is Dana Lawton, and I am currently the Arts Division Chair and my role in PIPPIN is Berthe, the grandmother of Pippin. 

Why did you decide to get involved in the musical? 
I don't know if I actually decided. I was cast and then had a long night of figuring out if I was up for the task. I actually am not a singer, although I'm a dancer, and I think one of the reasons that I decided to do it was that I was interested in engaging with my students in a new way. And as much as I love teaching dance classes and I also teach seminar and first year advising cohort, there is a really beautiful union of students and faculty coming together for a shared experience. This felt like the icing on the cake for that opportunity to do it. 

What experience have you had performing in musicals before or dancing, singing, and acting? And what has your experience been like being in this musical?
So I was a theater kid in junior high and high school, and I did some musicals, but I was usually in the back. And then when I went to college, I left the theater world behind and just concentrated on dancing. So, this is my debut back into musical theater since I graduated high school in 1984--so you can do the math on that! I am having a blast. I have been using the analogy that I am wearing roller skates on an ice rink, which means that I have some skills but not in this environment. I will say that everyone, especially the director Larissa Kelloway, has been incredibly positive and encouraging, and I am learning a lot. I am super proud of all of the students and all of the hard work that they're doing. It's a joy to be in rehearsal, to be uncomfortable, and every day I get a little bit better. 

What are you impressed by or surprised by in this process of creating a musical?
The amount of detail that goes into everything from our amazing sets that are being built by our technical director and our students, the lighting, the sound score, the musical scores that the students are working with. I watch them helping to run lines, the choreography by Rogelio Lopez. There are just so many layers that by the time you come to opening night, everything is gelled. So, I'm amazed at the work ethic more than anything. 

Why should audiences come to the show?
Why not come to PIPPIN? The world is on fire in certain ways, and I think an opportunity to come and watch live art, watch artists be in community, you'll laugh, you'll sing along, you may even dance a little bit. You deserve it! We have lots of shows happening over two weekends both matinees and evenings, so there's something for everyone. I really, really think that the world is really challenging right now and if we can find a place of art and love and creativity, it will just make everything a little softer. 

Is there anything you're particularly excited for the audience to see in this musical? 

Well I think I'm amazing :) !  And, hopefully I'll remember all my lines. I think the lead Noah Miller playing Pippin is phenomenal. I think, again, it brings a level of community that I think Saint Mary's really harbors and fosters in a unique way. So, that's what I hope audiences take away from that.