The star of Missouri Southern’s production of A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail is no stranger to the stage. Junior theatre major, Hunter Dowell has performed in many plays at Southern and is completely committed to life in the theatre. 

“Wanting to be in a show and everything, you’ve got to actually love it,” Dowell said. “For children’s shows you do two shows a day for a week and two shows on the weekend. It just takes a lot out of you but it’s totally worth it to see a kid smile at you and wave and be like ‘Hi!’ because it’s all about making memories for kids. It’s probably the first show these kids ever see and you want to make an impact on their life so it’s really great to see that. You have a duty to the kids.” 

Dowell has been donning his Pooh costume on stage all week and will continue for two more performances this weekend. Other plays he has been a part of include The Night Before Christmas, Antony and Cleopatra, Beanie and the Bamboozling Book Machine, and School House Rock.

“I would like to [be involved in other campus activities] but I have absolutely no time. Theatre gets a bad rep for being the lazy degree, but everyone works really had to make a lot of memories for a lot of people and have fun while doing it,” he said. “But it’s a lot of hard work and a lot of people don’t understand that. 

Dowell will be designing the costumes for an upcoming show Dead Man’s Cell Phone and for the next children’s show. As for his plans after school, Dowell is still somewhat undecided. 

“I’m thinking about going to grad school for acting or musical theater or costume design, which I’ve gotten into lately,” he said. “So I don’t really know what I want to do but I know it has to do with something within the theater realm. 

Dowell can be seen in A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail on tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Taylor Performing Arts Center.