Queen of the King of Instruments
On a quest to improve music in the Church one organist at a time.
The Wizard Behind the Scenes
January 2018
Most 10-year-olds at Disneyland just enjoy being there, but young Bradlee Hager wanted to know how it all worked. Now, as she graduates from BYU, she has become a behind-the-scenes wizard who makes onstage magic happen.
“Behind every Taylor Swift concert, every Broadway play, and every amusement park, there are a hundred or more people who don’t care about getting their names out there and who just want to tell the best story possible,” says Hager, who worked on at least 10 different productions at BYU ranging from the onstage versions of Chariots of Fire to live concerts for BYU Vocal Point.
Hager points to hands-on experiences as the key to her growth at BYU. While she was working on sets for The Count of Monte Cristo production, for example, her professor brought in an interactive-projection expert to mentor her and her fellow students. Later, Hager got to participate in a backstage workshop at Disneyland, where she created some of the magic that sparked her interest in stagecraft.
“Without the funding for these trainings, conferences, and lectures, there’s no way I’d be doing what I’m doing today,” says Hager, who plans to attend the University of North Carolina for a master’s degree in stage automation.
Related Articles
Collaboratively Changing the World
"In one of our projects we partnered with a world-renowned nonprofit that has developed a program called Poverty Stoplight. It provides a tool to identify what will help people get themselves out of poverty." - Scott James, College of Fine Arts and Communications student
Managing the Music
Esther’s internship with the Utah Symphony helped her see how making music for the masses is more than simply playing notes.