Musical theater students are hosting the eighth annual “Pops at the Pond” for all students on Friday at 5:30 p.m. This event has been a favorite for many students that are fans of Broadway or movie musicals.
“Pops at the Pond is always so much fun,” Abbey Pardue, sophomore business and Christian studies double major from Lubbock, said. “The showtunes are always performed at the best level possible and it is a ton of fun to hang out with good friends listening to good music.”
Students are invited to bring a lawn chair or a blanket and hang out beside the pond. The theater students hosting this event do this to introduce their peers to the level of talent that will be performing in the school’s musicals.
“We try to make the musicals as fun as possible for students,” Bishop Martinez, a sophomore acting major from San Angelo, said. “It’s a lot of hard work to put them on, but we want everyone to be as excited as we are. Pops at the Pond is our way of helping students get excited for the musicals to come.”
Dr. Victoria Spangler, theater director, came up with the idea eight years ago, as a preview to the musical her students were putting on during homecoming week. This year, the theater department will be putting on “Honk!”, a musical based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Ugly Duckling.
“”Honk!” is going to be such a fun play this year,” Martinez said. “We love getting to perform for our friends and family.”
Pops at the Pond has become a Hardin-Simmons tradition to remember.
“When I went to Pops at the Pond last year, I did not think I was going to get much out of it except for the good music,” Pardue said. “It really surprised me when I made friends that had the same interests as me from the event. I still talk to some of them and we break out into song together when something reminds us of a musical. I can’t wait to see how it turns out this year.”