While attending Bridgeport High School, where they were both very involved in theater – appearing in “Seussical,” “West Side Story,” Footloose,” and “Legally Blonde,” - Kody Mullins and Maggie Ludwig decided to continue their musical theater pursuits upon their 2013 BHS graduations.

 

He went on to study musical theater at Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio. She attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. For the past four years, both have sought after their shared dream, pursuing roles in school and professional theater and as their schools are located less than 100 miles apart, they’ve supported each other’s college careers, attending one another’s stage appearances each semester.

 

Both Mullins and Ludwig will graduate this spring and thereafter will together travel to New York City for the next chapters in their performance careers.

 

Dakota Mullins

 

In addition to being further enlightened about the inner workings of theater, character development and a host of other theater-related knowledge, Mullins has decided that his birth name of “Dakota” is better suited for his professional career.

 

“I know people are still going to call me Kody, but Dakota is mainly just for the stage. It just seems more memorable,” he said.

 

At Wright State, Mullins has been cast in every main stage show and shared a few of his favorites.

 

“’The Music Man’ was probably my favorite show at Wright State. I played Tommy Dijilas,” he said. “’No, No, Nanette’ was my last show and I played Billy Early and I was in the ensembles of both ‘Chicago’ and “Hot Mikado.’’

 

Mullins has also been a regular on the professional stage; his latest role as Brad Majors in “Rocky Horror” at the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater in Cincinnati, in close proximity to Wright State.

 

“A classmate of mine got the role of Janet so she and I commuted together to rehearsals,” he said. “We actually just closed the show last weekend after it ran for three weeks. It was a good opportunity to do an outside show professionally and it made it nice to be with a classmate.”

 

Though that opportunity was a major one, it wasn’t his first professional role.

 

“I did professional theater in Charlotte, North Carolina, the summers after my freshman and sophomore years,” he said. “I did shows at Central Piedmont, playing the roles of Armand in ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel,’ Romeo Scragg in ‘Li’l Abner,’ and appearing in the ensembles of both ‘Young Frankenstein’ and ‘Mary Poppins.’’

 

Mullins said Wright State prepared a good foundation for professional theater.

 

“They train students very well for the outside world – and sometimes a little too well,” he said. ‘I’ve never had a bad experience at another theater, but Wright State is meticulous in the way  they do things, so when you  go somewhere and things are a little bit looser, it’s kind of different.”

 

Wright State provided opportunities for master classes and workshops, as well as special guests who were particularly enlightening, Mullens said.

 

“We’re now doing a week-long intensive with a member of the Verdon Fosse Legacy, a famous choreographer and he is giving us some of that choreography and we will be performing in faculty dance concert,” he said. “We also had a visit from Jason Robert Brown, who is my all-time favorite musical composer. He came in and did a Q&A with us, then we got to have this nice, intimate private concert with him and he performed a lot of his work.”

 

Likewise, BHS helped prepare Mullins and his fellow theater students, he said.

 

“I just feel like I did theater so adamantly at Bridgeport and the opportunities I had there really inspired me to pursue this as a career,” he said.

 

It wasn’t until his junior year that he realized that theater could be a career for him, he said.

 

“Maggie and I did everything together. She said she would be auditioning for a musical theater school and I thought – ‘Hey, I can do that.’”

 

After performing in a dance concert April 21-23, Mullins looks forward to celebrating his Wright State graduation on April 29.

 

“I have no immediate plans for the summer right now, but I will be in New York no later than September,” said Mullins.

 

In addition to auditioning for roles – and he hopes to do commercial theater on Broadway – Mullins has another performing arts iron in the fire.

 

“Along with a classmate, I’m writing a children’s musical and lyrics and she has her own theater company in New Jersey where she’s from,” he said. “We are going to do our show there.”

 

Their production, “Princess Indigo” will be performed at the Triple Threat Workshop for Kids in Vineland, NJ.

 

Read a feature about Maggie Ludwig HERE.