Katie Travis, guest professional coach for July’s Southwestern Michigan College Summer Musical Theatre Camp for “Children of Eden,” is touring North America as Christine Daae in “Phantom of the Opera.”
Stephen Schwartz, composer of 1971’s “Godspell” and 2003’s “Wicked,” wrote lyrics and music for the musical about the Book of Genesis, with book by John Caird.
The intense two-week camp July 16-30 for high school students is designed to encourage the study of acting, singing and theater production, culminating in three performances.
Both actors and technical crewmembers are encouraged to participate.
Students will work with SMC Visual and Performing Arts instructors, trainers and professional musicians.
Musical Theatre Camp is part of SMC’s Summer Institute, a series of camps designed to help students refine their skills while exploring career interests.
A Bay City native, the soprano majored in music at Central Michigan University, graduating in 2010.
In 2015, when Travis was a 28-year-old New York City actress, CMU named her “10 Within 10,” recognizing young alumni who bring honor to Central Michigan University through work in their career or community.

Travis called playing Christine, which she dreamed of since she saw “Phantom” in Toronto when she was 4, her life’s proudest achievement.
“One hundred fifty shows in and still learning,” she said of the role she assumed in November 2014, but feared might elude her forever.
“Phantom” was the show she grew up singing in her room that inspired her to pursue show business, but after “eight or nine” fruitless auditions made her wonder if she should move on.
To afford New York, the Bay City Central High School graduate had done restaurant and office work, been employed as a nanny, been a telemarketer, served as a resort housekeeper and even a Macy’s elf, while honing her craft.
Travis, 2014 winner of the Lys Symonette award for her performance at the Lotte Lenya Competition at Eastman School of Music, in the fall of 2012 taught at Beacon House School in Ghana, West Africa.
She will be running her first marathon in June to raise money for that Accra orphanage.
In May, she travels to Kenya to work with Real Global Poems.
Admissions Advisor Marcus Roll, who is producing “Children of Eden” and has a CMU bachelor’s degree in voice and a master’s degree in choral conducting, is instrumental in Travis visiting SMC.
“She performed in operas, all the musical productions and we sang in the Chamber Singers together,” Roll said. “I always got the impression she wanted to do a lot of things and not be in one place. She was always very bubbly, a performer through and through. She did Interlochen summer camps and was always going and doing stuff.
“We were close friends in college,” Roll said. “My wife (St. Joseph choir director Elizabeth Gray-Roll) and I were in touch her first few years in New York. She auditioned for lead roles where it was between her and another person. Eventually, her resume got strong enough. I’ve seen ‘Phantom’ four times, including on Broadway in New York and Katie at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts in East Lansing. ‘Phantom’ got me interested in music, too.”
Roll directed the pit orchestra when SMC presented “Phantom” in 2013.
“The thing that’s challenging about ‘Phantom of the Opera’ is it’s considered musical theatre,” Roll said, “but requires an opera singer. It’s the perfect meld with acting and theatre effects. It requires the strength and endurance of an opera singer in a musical theatre setting. It’s demanding. The fact she’s Christine shows a lot about what she can do. She’s a good dancer, too. She’s pretty extraordinary.”
“Children of Eden is family-friendly and requires a larger talented cast,” Roll said, “whereas Phantom only has four or five demanding roles. This cast has lots of demanding roles, which is one reason we chose this show. You can highlight a lot of students. Costuming is fairly simple. New this year, tech crew members will also live in the dorms, help build and paint the set and run mics and sound. We’ll have staff to train them. Ideally, I would love to have 50 to 60 — 10 crew members and 40 to 50 cast members.”