Worship arts major Adam John Moxness to perform cabaret-style show for senior recital

Senior worship arts major Adam John Moxness will take to the stage to perform a medley of 16 songs taken from 15 contemporary musical theater productions, including "Les Miserables," "The Last Five Years" and "Hamilton," during his senior recital Friday, March 24, in the Thulin Performance Hall in the Thompson Center, 1151 N. State St., Elgin. The event will be free and open to the public.

Yet, it is unlikely that Moxness will simply stand there and belt out words during what he has coined "a cabaret" performance. This effervescent soul, who has popped around campus and appeared in virtually every production since his arrival as a freshman in 2013, is likely to command every inch of the platform during the hour-plus performance.

At points, this show will include a full band and other singers and performers. However, Moxness is fully responsible for the show from start to finish. He is the first to take on such an ambitious one-man-managed production for a final senior Worship Arts project.

"Adam is an immensely talented young man in a number of artistic arenas," said Dr. Warren Anderson, director of the Demoss Center for Worship in the Performing Arts. "It only made sense to have him pour all his energies for a senior-level project into the sum total of his giftedness."

Moxness, 22, is a native of Elgin. He came to Judson after meeting Anderson, when both attended the Elgin Evangelical Free Church at the time. Now Moxness is the worship leader at Embassy Church in Mount Prospect.

Since being at Judson, he has enjoyed the freedom to put his strengths as a speaker and dramatic artist to use. Moxness has been involved with the Chapel Drama team, the JU Improv team, and the Chapel Dance team. Currently, he serves as the Chapel Creative director.

He has also led or held strong roles in every production on campus since coming, including: "Brewhaha"; "Ars Liturgica" (Slavery); "Altared"; "Harmony"; "Mouse Trap"; "Ars Liturgica" (John, His Story); "Little Women"; and "Harmony."

Moxness said he has always had entertainment in his veins. He first started acting in middle school, then at church functions and eventually with Spotlight Youth Theater productions. Before he graduated from Central High School in Burlington, Ill., he guessed that he had performed in more than a dozen shows, including "Les Miserables" as Enjolras; "Sound of Music" as Hans Zeller; "The Music Man" as Harold Hill; "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"; "West Side Story"; "Little Shop of Horrors"; "Beauty and the Beast"; and more.

Moxness is excited to share this new labor of love with an audience and to have the opportunity to put his senior recital into a production format. "They were so willing to allow me to do this," he said of his professors within the DCWPA. "It's such a blessing to me. It allows me to be myself and to showcase who I am and what I love to do."

This young thespian said he carefully selected the title of his show. "This is about an identify search," he said of his show called, "Untitled." "I hope people will see themselves in my story and maybe leave with a new mindset."

Tickets are not required for this show.