Senior Circuit: Liz Hutchens
Wofford senior Liz Hutchens grew up driving past huge man-made objects in Bismarck, N.D. There were giant gorillas, geese...even a huge version of Teddy Roosevelt.
“It’s called the Enchanted Highway,” she says. “It’s a perfect representation of my home state…the grandeur of welding, whimsical shapes, and the kind of construction that could withstand horrible blizzards and perhaps nuclear bombs.”
What she didn’t see a lot of were trees. Her parents, both from South Carolina, took her to see dad’s alma mater and she was instantly smitten. Hutchens wanted to do something science related after graduating from Bismarck High School, and Wofford’s chemistry program was especially appealing because of the faculty. But it was the trees, -- oak and family -- that sealed the deal.
“I loved all the trees,” she says. “The campus was so charming. It was exotic.”
Perhaps science wasn’t exotic enough, though. Perhaps the Enchanted Highway stirred something within. Whatever it was, Hutchens changed majors and now has the theatre in her blood.
“The beauty of Wofford, to me, is the ability to change gears and explore other disciplines,” she says. “Which is exactly what I did. The theatre department here at Wofford has engaged, challenged, and frustrated me. It's been a wonderful experience, and I wouldn't change it at all.”
One of her funniest acting stories took place in Charlotte. It was there that Liz tried out for SLUT! The Musical. She got the gig.
“It was my first regional theater experience, a huge and pivotal learning experience, and also a lot of fun,” says Hutchens. “Also, while at Wofford I've been a part of the student-run Pulp Theatre group (we produced The Rocky Horror Show last January and are gearing up for another student-run musical this Interim as well...), Wofford Singers, and Kappa Alpha Theta.”
In other words, she stays pretty busy, almost too busy to plan too far into the future.
“I'm not the kind of person that ever really has a concrete plan,” she says. “But hopefully my future will include many years in the theater either acting, singing, directing, taking tickets, or even being one of those live statues out on a sidewalk somewhere.
“Either way, I'm determined to keep my life in the creative arts. Eventually I'd love to get back to Bismarck and start some insane theater group that would make people wonder what happened to me while I was at Wofford...and I mean that in a good way.”