Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô

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Podcast: S9 Ep. 21
Date: August 05, 2026
Title: Texas Academy graduate sets the stage for her future
Host: John Rollins

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JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô faculty, staff, students and alumni. I'm John Rollins, associate director of community relations and public affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show.

"All the world's a stage," and today's guest on the LU Moment podcast knows this better than most. If you've attended a theater performance at Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô over the past year or so, you've seen Malory Craigen on stage doing what she loves. Welcome to the show, Malory, and thanks for joining me today on the podcast.

MALORY CRAIGEN: Hi, thank you for having me.


JOHN: Glad to have you. I know you're a sophomore here at LU, majoring in theater and dance with an acting emphasis.


MALORY: Right.

JOHN: So, what else would you like to share with our readers and our listeners?

 

MALORY: Yeah, my name is Malory Craigen. I'm from Hamshire, Texas, so a little bit of a ways from here. I went to private school and was homeschooled out in this area, so I didn't really have a public school experience before I joined Texas Academy in my junior year. I graduated from Texas Academy this past spring, which was really amazing.

Yeah, I've been a part of TA, and at TA I was a member of Art Club. I was co-chair of SAC, which is our Social Activities Committee, and I was our president and co-founder of our gaming club. I was also a peer mentor. I won prom queen too, which was a very –

JOHN: Okay! (laughs)

MALORY: Yeah, it was a very pleasant surprise. That's to do with TA, really, but yeah, it's been really amazing to be a part of that program. Because of my major, I'm also involved with the theater department here. I'm a student worker, and I've also been a part of some Red Beak productions.

JOHN: Well, you kind of answered my question. I was going to ask what kind of brought you to Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô – so Texas Academy, right?

MALORY: Yes, yeah, Texas Academy, for those who may not know, is a special program here at Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô that allows high school students in our area, during their junior and senior years, to attend Lamar while finishing up their high school diploma and also earning college credits, all paid for. Lamar pays our tuition, so it's a really, really amazing program that I'm very, very grateful to have been a part of. It's given me quite a lot.

What's kept me here is that I'm a part of the theater program, but I'm actually looking to transfer this upcoming spring. For the fall, I'll be staying here for family and financial reasons. But what's really kept me here is, you know, the schooling, and also that I really love the people here.

JOHN: Well, we're glad you're sticking around a little bit longer, right? So let's talk about Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô Theatre and Dance, that particular department we know you're heavily involved with, and Red Beak Productions. Let's talk about those two things, and then maybe go into some specifics about what you're involved with here on campus. If you want to talk more about, like you said, you founded the gaming club, that's super cool. So yeah, just tell us all about it.

MALORY: Okay, so for the gaming club specifically, it was honestly pretty easy. They had a form on LU Hub that you just fill out, provide all the information you can, and every time Miss Marco Hymer, one of our administrators at TA, contacted me like, “Hey, I need this,” or “What about this?” I would take care of it. At TA, it was really fun. We have clubs that are just for TA students, and all students are required to join one, so it was really fun my senior year because even though everyone was like, “Oh, I have this at this time,” and we were all pretty spread thin, it was nice to be in these clubs where it was honestly just a time to sit down and hang out with a group of friends. Gaming club was especially really fun, not because I was in charge of it, but because I got to sit there and be like, “Alright, what are we doing today?” I encouraged a lot of people to bring games they loved and the systems they enjoyed playing on so everyone could explore those together. That was really fun. In terms of theater, ever since spring 2025, I’ve been a part of every production. Not always performing, but I have either been performing or working front of house. I’ve worked the box office for every show except for “As You Like It and Middletown. Even though I was in the most recent production, Next Draft, I was in the second half, so they asked, “Can you work the front?” And I was like, “Yeah, I’ll do that. Double duty, double duty.” As soon as my shift finished, I ran backstage and got changed into my costume. So it was really, really fun to be a part of that. I’m also a student worker, and I’ve worked front of house, as well as set and crew. On Fridays, they open up the studio to everybody, and you can come in whenever you’re able and work on the set. So I’ve done that as well. Over the summer, as you know, I’ve been in the costume shop organizing, reorganizing and cleaning it, because it desperately needed it, along with another student, Sam Hatcher. And actually, as of today, fun fact, we finished. It was our last day today.

JOHN: It looks amazing in there. Y’all did a great job.

MALORY: Oh, thank you so much. It feels really good. I think it just feels really good to know that we’ve organized it not just for ourselves, but in a way that will continue to help students in the future. We’re going to keep cleaning it up and labeling things so it’s easier for students moving forward. Things are going to be easier to put back and maintain, so that’s been really rewarding. I’ve also dabbled a little bit in tech. One of the biggest things I really like about being a student worker is that I got the opportunity to work sound for New Student Orientation. I’ve been at every New Student Orientation here at Lamar, just in the very back working. I mostly just press a button, but it’s been a great opportunity. I’m getting familiar with technology, which is something I never really had the opportunity to do. Even though I’ve been doing community theater for seven or eight years before this, I never worked on anything besides being on stage. So it’s really, really awesome that now I have a hand in pretty much everything.

JOHN: Some tech background too. So, on stage and off stage, you're getting that experience.

MALORY: Yeah, yeah, and I just want to get more involved, and for Red Beak, finally, I have done two short films with them. I filmed Nola with them this past fall, and then in spring 2026, we filmed Laura Lovely Florence by one of our students, Cora Chapman, which is now in post-production. That was a really, really fun process because we got to film not only out in the woods, but we also got to use Spindletop. Oh no, Boomtown.

JOHN: The Boomtown Museum.

MALORY: Yes, we got to use the Boomtown Museum for some of our locations because it's a western.

JOHN: Wow!

MALORY: So yeah.

JOHN: That’s super cool, and with NOLA as well, y’all utilized Lamar’s campus for some of the scenes, which was pretty cool. And speaking of that, for those who don’t know, Red Beak is the student film group on our campus, and they do a lot of really cool things. But Nola has been accepted into three film festivals, including one in Athens, Greece. So y’all are international. And I mean, Athens, Greece — that’s where theater was born.

MALORY: Yeah.

JOHN: That’s super cool.

MALORY: I was blown away when I saw that post because we didn’t really get informed. It’s not like they tell us their every move, but it was really incredible to see that. I think the wildest part for me — I don’t know why this is the thing that gets me — is just knowing the fact that people in Athens, Greece, have seen the faces and have watched the effort, work and production of people all the way from out here in Texas. Especially coming from such a small town, it’s weirdly so incredible to think that they’ve seen my face, even if they don’t remember it. They’ve seen my face out there. I can’t believe the first time I’m going international isn’t even me physically traveling somewhere — it’s through something that I was a part of.

JOHN: It’s work that you were a part of. Yeah, and I think that is awesome for our students to hear too. When they come to Lamar, the opportunities are there. If you put yourself out there and get involved, those opportunities are available. And shout out to Adam Beza, right? Because I know he’s heavily involved in this. Did he direct it?

MALORY: He’s director, yeah.

JOHN: Yeah. So I mean, he's a student as well. I mean, our students are putting themselves out there.

MALORY: And everyone who worked on NOLA, everyone from production, editors, producers, they’re all students. We rarely, I think the only thing we had to do with staff was the property we were filming on. It was lent to us by a staff member. Even with Florence, it really was just a matter of us getting out there and doing the work. And I think that’s why I’m also so thankful for TA and Lamar, because in almost every field I’ve been involved in, the opportunities are there. It’s just been a matter of going out and getting them. It’s really whatever you make of it, and Lamar is such a place where, if you work hard, you’ll see results because this is a place filled with opportunities to do really cool things.

JOHN: I love that you recognize that it's kind of like you get what you give type of thing, right?

MALORY: Yeah.

JOHN: You put the work in, you will be rewarded.

MALORY: And as someone who can be a bit of a workaholic, I really like to see results. I’ve always wanted that. The reason I came to TA initially, before anything else — shout out to Arwin Ewert, who is currently an upcoming senior — she was the first person who told me about TA, and she’s a very big go-getter. When she was telling me about it, I was like, “Wow, that’s crazy. I don’t think I could ever do that.” I was like, “I don’t think I can do something like that.” Yeah, surprise! I did. I worked really hard to get in, but coming to TA, I wanted it because I wanted a challenge. I really, really wanted a challenge. I had missed being challenged because I had left my old private school at that point, and I just wanted something that would push me forward. I think anybody who has known me for a couple of years can tell you how much TA has changed my life — genuinely. I’ve changed as a person. If you knew me five or six years ago, I was very shy, very introverted, I didn’t talk much, and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. Now I have a lot of people who tell me, “You’re such an extrovert. You’re so out there. You’re always at the forefront.” And I feel it too. I feel like because of TA, I’ve grown into myself so much more than I ever could have at any other place. It’s all thanks to Texas Academy and Lamar.

JOHN: It’s a team.

MALORY: It’s a team. It’s a really big team effort, and it’s been really awesome because I really love the people in this department. Alan Brinks and Joel Grothe have been amazing, amazing professors for me. I think it’s incredible that I got to be a high school student learning from college professors who have these amazing backgrounds, and that I’m able to learn from them and take anything I can from them. It’s just been really fun to embrace the challenge and embrace the work.

JOHN: At such a young age!

MALORY:  Yeah.

JOHN: No, I mean, like you said, Alan and Joel are very well connected in the theater community, and you mentioned a staff member for y’all’s filming who helped with the area and the space for that. So we do have faculty and staff that you can rely on, and they want to support your endeavors. At the end of the day, that’s what we’re here for as a university — to grow our students and send y’all off on the right path. So, thinking back on your time at Lamar so far, are there any moments? I’m sure there are plenty, with you being involved in all these theater productions, but are there any moments that stand out to you? Any favorite memories?

MALORY: Definitely favorite memories. Definitely the first show I did here, As You Like It. That was a whirlwind of a semester, but I’ll definitely remember that show for the rest of my life. I think it was the first show where I was really thrown into, “Oh, this is real acting.” There were multiple times during those first nights when he would be like, “Alright, time for notes,” and Alan would have everyone sit down. Everyone would be pulling out their notebooks, and I’m looking around like, “What are they doing? What’s going on?” I remember Alan would give me notes, and I’d just stare at him because I had no idea what he was saying. I’d never heard anything like it before. It wasn’t just, “Hey, move over there.” He’d say things like, “Can you make your words sound like they’re an arrow?” And I’m like, “I’m 17. I don’t understand what that means. I’ve never been directed like this.” I don’t…

JOHN: I don’t know the theater lingo yet! (laughter).

MALORY: I didn’t even take an acting class, but I’ll remember that because Alan saw this 17-year-old who had never acted before, had never seen me do anything, and had only seen a contemporary monologue and a bit of a song, and he took a chance on me. He gave me a pretty good role and worked with me really hard, which was just so crazy to me. Especially with such a big cast, he took the time to be so gentle and kind with me. That’s definitely one of my favorite memories — that show. Also, this past show that we did, Next Draft, was Little Women, which was written by two of my really, really good friends, Cameron Dursow and Samantha Hatcher, and it was directed by one of my best friends, Roxy Roxanne Hamm. That was a really, really fun process because it was almost an entirely student-led project. Everything was led by us. Costumes were pulled by us, the set was built by us, and props were pulled by us. I pulled a lot of things for the show. It was really about coming together as students to make the show the best it could be, and that’s where I think the collaborative spirit really comes through in Lamar Theatre — how much they trust us and give us the opportunity to take ownership and run with our own ideas.

JOHN: So what’s next for Malory?

MALORY: Well, what’s next for me is I’m actually a part of another production that just wrapped up filming about two weeks ago. It’s my third short film that I’ve been a part of through Adam. Yeah, through Adam, he DM’d me an audition notice for this project, and I looked at it and thought, “Oh, you know, maybe I can do this.” It was a paid project, and it was filming out in Austin, so I was like, “Okay.” It was so much bigger than anything I’d done before, and I ended up going through every round and getting the part. It’s been really, really amazing. It’s called Skyward: A Dragon’s Trust, or How to Film Your Dragon on Instagram. They’re also on Facebook. It’s by Keith Nelson, and it’s his passion project. That has been really, really fun because it’s another door that’s opened for me to make new connections in this industry. The theater industry is all about connections and who you know. So to be this young and already know people in this area who are really, really talented and brilliant, and who are also aspiring people like me, has been really awesome. I’m very excited for that. It’s supposed to come out — I don’t know where yet — but definitely around the end of the year. It’ll be really cool, so check it out. It’s a super awesome project.

JOHN: Yeah, exciting things on the horizon. I like it. Alrighty, well, Malory, we’re running out of time, so I’m going to go ahead and say thank you for joining me today on the podcast. I hope your next semester and the year ahead bring plenty of exciting people, places and opportunities your way.

MALORY: Thank you. I had a wonderful time.

JOHN: Alright, folks, that’s a wrap on another episode. To catch the LU stories just like Malory’s, be sure to search LU Moment wherever you get your podcasts. Keep up with the events, activities, programs and people right here at Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time.