It isn’t every day that a Hollywood star visits Lipscomb’s campus, but Friday night Into the Woods’ MacKenzie Mauzy did just that.
Mauzy played Rapunzel in the latest film adaption of the show alongside Meryl Streep, Chris Pine and Anna Kendrick.
Because of a long-standing friendship between Mauzy and Lipscomb’s Contemporary Music program founder Charlie Peacock, he extended an invitation for her to visit campus.
“Being close to director Scott Baker, Beki Baker and Dean Mike Fernandez from the [College of Entertainment and the Arts], it seemed only right that I share with them that I know one of the stars of Into The Woods – the real Rapunzel so to speak,” Peacock said. “So I called her and MacKenzie graciously accepted our invitation.”
One aspect of the mission of the College of Entertainment and the Arts at Lipscomb is to bring the industry to campus. Mauzy is an award-winning television and film actress.
While on campus, Mauzy attended the President’s reception for the play, watched the production from the audience and participated in a discussion with cast and crew following Friday evening’s performance.
“It’s very valuable for our students to see someone succeeding in the industry to which they aspire,” Baker said. “Ms. Mauzy has a background in theater and she continues to use her talents working in musicals, film and stage work.
“It’s the kind of model we enjoy putting in front of our students.”
After Friday’s performance of Into the Woods, Mauzy joined the cast and crew for a Q&A session with the audience.
Mauzy discussed the audition process for the film, how it’s opened up several doors for her career and what it was like meeting Meryl Streep.
“I don’t think it hit me until I was in the rehearsal room that first day,” Mauzy said. “I felt like I snuck in. It was really just this surreal kind of experience where I didn’t think it was actually happening.”
Mauzy also praised the cast and crew for their performance of Into the Woods, commenting that it is a very difficult piece to do but said that everyone executed their roles wonderfully.
“I’m so impressed by what you guys do here,” Mauzy said. “It’s very common to try and only do Christian things and only watch Christian movies. I think it’s a really powerful thing to talk about these dark themes and work through them together.”
Into the Woods closes Saturday night with a final performance at 7:30 p.m. in Collins Auditorium. Student tickets are available at the door.