A Elon alumna is at the forefront of the vaudeville movement, which is making a comeback from its glory days of the last century.
Amanda Hulon-Coyle, under the stage name Virginia Scare, is the founder of The VaudeVillian Revue, a neo-vaudeville and burlesque troupe that played its first show in Raleigh in November 2011.
"The VaudeVillian Revue pays homage to the history of vaudeville stylistically, and by occasionally reprising classic acts," she said. "Classic vaudeville shows were a true variety of unrelated acts, including magicians, sideshow- type acts, dancers, musicians and burlesque."
In addition to the classics, the troupe's show contains many new modern elements. Hulon- Coyle said the acts in her show connect to create an overall narrative, include dark cabaret elements and take advantage of technological advances like the ability to manipulate stage lighting.
While vaudeville is certainly experiencing resurgence in its popularity, forming a troupe is still a challenging endeavor to pursue.
Among her duties were auditioning performers, serving as creative director, developing themes for shows, graphic design work, public relations work, crafting costume pieces and choreographing group dance numbers. Additionally, she takes care of her two young children. Forming The VaudeVillian Revue was a labor of love for Hulon-Coyle.
"I suppose one might say it is difficult, but unnoticeably so for me since I love it so much," she said.
Hulon-Coyle found some inspiration to found The VaudeVillian Revue while attending Elon, where she graduated in 2004 with a degree in fine arts.
"The encouragement from several inspirational instructors, LM Wood, David Schaeffer and Kirstin Ringelberg made me feel that anything I dreamed was possible, no matter how unorthodox," she said.
Kirstin Ringelberg, a professor of art history, was not surprised by Hulon-Coyle's success.
"Amanda was the kind of student I particularly enjoy teaching because she was so self- motivated to learn new things and challenge herself," she said. "I'm not surprised she's doing such exciting, unconventional and ambitious things."
Despite this ambition while at Elon, Hulon-Coyle found a lot of her inspiration to form The VaudeVillian Revue outside of college.
In 2009, she started a branch of Dr. Sketchy's Anti- Art School, a burlesque life- drawing group in Raleigh. Through Dr. Sketchy's founder Molly Crabapple, Hulon-Coyle discovered burlesque, which helped inspire her to form her own troupe.
"I had always loved the spirit of that bygone era and started toying with the idea of making that happen here," Hulon-Coyle said.
The VaudeVillian Revue currently runs a new showevery 45-60 days, but Hulon-Coyle hopes to expand.
According to her, the troupe may start running shows on consecutive nights, and may begin making appearances at out-of-state shows in the near future.
Even while trying to expand the show, Hulon-Coyle feels good about The VaudeVillian Revue thus far.
"In terms of it being creatively satisfying, I would say we are a roaring success," she said.
As for the presence of neo- vaudeville and burlesque in current pop culture, Hulon-Coyle feels growing, but that its depiction in the media is woefully inaccurate and watered down for the audience into a more palatable form.
But as seen through the success of troupes like her own, there are people who want to experience neo-vaudeville and burlesque troupes in their authentic form. And if they continue to succeed, vaudeville- type shows may even end up achieving the same popularity that their forerunners did.