Celebrating America, community and unity: American Revue marks United States’ 250th anniversary

Free performances happening at IU Northwest on Sept. 18, 19

Music is an integral part of every country’s cultural identity. As 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, what better way to honor it than through music?

Erin McHugh, Indiana University Northwest director of arts programming and engagement, is on a mission to make campus a more musical place. When an opportunity came along to produce a musical while incorporating the country’s historic milestone, she knew she couldn’t pass it up.

McHugh had already been in contact with McKenya Dilworth Smith, the executive director of the Morning Bishop Theatre Playhouse, about staging a show at IU Northwest. An exploratory conversation about programming plans shifted when McHugh expressed her interest in bringing a fully staged musical to campus. Dilworth Smith then shared her idea of a musical theatre revue of only American Musicals.

Together, McHugh and Smith started piecing together a production that would celebrate some of the most renowned musicals by American composers. Songs from Oklahoma, West Side Story and Cabaret are all in the lineup.

“This production is a sampling of musical theater, featuring American composers who were all moved by different stages in America’s story,” McHugh said. “They all had different things to say and wrote about their experiences in different ways, but you see that the message is really all the same.”

When Smith was creating the script, she wanted to capture snapshots of the United States throughout the 20th century.

“I wrote the script that weaves the musicals together, and I kept in mind what best represented America at different phases in our becoming. Struggles with equality, who we are as a people and who we hope to become,” Smith said.

Bringing this ambitious project together is no small feat, and it’s taken lots of effort to get the production up and running. McHugh said they opened auditions and formed an eclectic group of people to stage American Revue: A Celebration of the American Musical.

“We had a handful of IU Northwest students and recent grads, and the rest are community members interested in singing and acting,” she said. “We have students as lighting designers, sound engineers and stage managers.”

Jennifer Hayden, an IU Northwest junior business major, is one of those crucial pieces of the puzzle. She’s been doing tech theatre since 2015, and now she’s serving as stage manager for American Revue.

As the performance date approaches, she’s excited to see the show come to life:

“The best part of working in theatre is the teamwork and collaboration from so many different art mediums and backgrounds to make a cohesive piece,” Hayden said. “Through this type of collaboration, we are able to tell important stories effectively and meaningfully.”

Staging American Revue has been an amazing experience for Hayden, and she hopes to work with Smith on even more projects in the future.

“It’s an honor to work for a company that does meaningful work and cares about the type of messages they are sending,” Hayden said. “I hope audiences can feel hopeful and revitalized for our country, that our country is worth celebrating.”

A message of unity

The point of a theatre production is to entertain, but American Revue isn’t just a collection of songs to sing along to. Smith hopes this production highlights unity and audiences come away feeling like they are one.

“No matter the struggle, circumstance or situation, we will survive once we realize that we are all in the same boat,” she said. “We, as the people, can change our course for the better, to achieve a better union for all to thrive.”

In addition to promoting unity through musical theatre, Smith and McHugh are demonstrating unity themselves. This production shows what can happen when two organizations unite to promote the arts.

“We almost share a common language when art is involved,” McHugh said. “When people come together for a common reason and use their life experiences and perspectives toward an outcome, you learn so much about our collective humanity.”

Smith agrees that events like American Revue build community. In fact, it’s part of Morning Bishop Theatre’s mission to use the transformative power of the arts to bring people together.

“We tend to be places where people from the community feel at ease and become the best versions of themselves. We can share and create the narratives that reflect our collective worries, happiness or state of affairs without restrictions,” she said.