Collaboration takes center stage with UM-Flint and the Flint Repertory Theatre to bring “Lucky Stiff”

The University of Michigan-Flint partnered with the Flint Repertory Theatre, bringing “Lucky Stiff” to the stage, combining student performers with professional actors in a collaboration more than a year in the making.

“We knew we wanted to do a co-production in this slot… we probably went through six different musicals before we got to Lucky Stiff,” Shelby Newport, professor of theatre and chair of the department of fine and performing arts, said. 

In January 2025, Newport was approached by Nicole Samsel, the interim director for the Flint Repertory Theatre. They were starting renovations on the space, and the idea was floated to partner with UM-Flint. “It was sort of a ‘yes and’ that included a mutual benefit of partnering students and actors,” Newport said.

The musical follows the exploits of one Harry Witherspoon, who inherits $6,000,000 from his late uncle Anthony. To receive the inheritance, Harry must take his uncle’s dead body on a trip to Monte Carlo, where the body is dressed to appear alive. Antics and romance follow. 

Production for “Lucky Stiff” took months to accomplish, as the joint venture had to work with the schedules of both students and actors. “I think what’s really interesting about the co-production is that a day-in-the-life looks different from week to week. The name of the game is flexibility,” Mara Jill Herman, an actor for the Flint Repertory Theatre, who plays Annabel Glick, said. 

Flexibility has been key, as they moved between both practice rooms at the Flint Repertory Theatre and the UM-Flint Theater stage. “They have been really great about respecting our time… it’s a surprise every day, but we always know we’re gonna have fun,” Connor Allston, an actor for the Flint Repertory Theatre, who plays Harry Witherspoon, said. 

As they work with students, both Allston and Jill Herman find that unorthodox methods, such as playing “theater games,” have helped them to break out of their shell a little bit. “I really like how Stephanie, our director, has incorporated a lot of theater warm-up games. It’s really fun to return to that college setting,” Jill Herman said. 

Logan Reeves, a junior who plays the body of Anthony Hendon, said that he believes that this experience is unique in its own right, “They’re national level, to hear their experiences… it’s one, inspiring, but two, its preparation. I’d like to do the same thing, so being able to ask questions about ‘how did you do that?’ and ‘how can I do that?’ It’s very helpful.” Morgan Wright, a sophomore, who ensemble member/Rita understudy, said, “Getting to hear outsider perspectives from the actors, it really broadens my horizons.”

Newport said, “I am most excited about our audiences seeing a different kind of theater than UM-Flint has done by themselves and Flint Rep has done by themselves. Something we could only do together.”