The saying “the show must go on” has been a traditional term in the theatre culture for a long time. During a global pandemic, Stillwater graduate Ben Valerius (’19) is bringing this term to life while achieving his Bachelor in Performing Arts (BPA) degree at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Valerius has to take classes like Acting One, Ballet One, Costume Construction, Creative Art, Musical Theater History and Voice Lessons virtually due to the COVID-19 outbreak which led the campus to close for the rest of the semester.

“A lot of these classes are referred to as “lab” or “studio” classes so they rely on a lot of help from an instructor and a lot of hands-on learning in a community with other people. Having to make that switch from doing entirely hands-on learning to entirely isolated with videos has been tricky,” Valerius said.

During his high school career, Valerius starred in seven school plays, landing the lead role in the 2018 spring musical “Bye Bye Birdie” as Albert Peterson and 2019 spring musical “Les Miserable” as Jean Valjean. He was also a member of The Stillwater Concert Choir his sophomore, junior, and senior year.

“He puts 100% effort into everything he does and pays attention to each detail with the same amount of importance. He knows exactly how to balance having fun and working hard, which is essentially the formula to becoming a great performer,” senior Elsa Perrson said.

The performing arts are a very popular form of entertainment in today’s world. This area of entertainment involves dancing, singing, acting and other forms of physical movement to convey a message to people. Having to find this form of art online or over a video call does not have the same intimacy as face to face connection.

“The arts are important now more than ever. We will find a way to make performing arts online workable for artists and audiences.  I think the benefit is it forces problem-solving and creativity, it gets us out of our comfort zone and forces us to think out-of-the-box. As artists, we can get complacent so events like this can shake us up and renew our commitment to overcome adversity in creating our art form,” Grif Sadow, SAHS theatre director, said.

This “thinking outside the box” and “problem solving” mindset and skill to make things operate is something Valerius learned to do while growing up with arts as a main interest and hobby. This positive mindset and strong work ethic is paying dues at the collegiate level.

“Ben throws himself into every role he has, he is committed to the process and has a strong work ethic. He takes direction well and has versatility and is strong as an actor, mover, and vocalist. I also think he has had life experiences that have given him drive and courage to succeed,” Sadow said.

Valerius added, “In my first two semesters, I have found it very difficult but very rewarding. It is not as easy as lots of people say it is who are not studying fine arts. It really pushes you as a person to find yourself and find what motivates you.” 

Valerius plans to graduate from The University of Minnesota-Duluth spring of 2023.