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.

 

Maggie Ludwig

 

Ludwig’s education at Ball State taught her about much more than musical theater.

 

“I’ve loved my Ball State experience. I’ve learned so much, not only about my art and about myself as a performer, but also about who I am as a person and what I value,” she said. “Part of that comes with the college experience, but a lot of it came from my awesome professors and my own self-discovery.”

 

From singing in Cincinnati with Sutton Foster and the Cincinnati Pops to performing at The Cabernet in Indianapolis and Joe’s Pub at the Public in New York City, Ludwig said she has received a broad view of possibilities insofar as a career in the performing arts. It has also helped her form professional relationships and friendships.

 

Along with Emmy award-winning arranger, conductor and musician Michael Rafter, along with Sutton, teach Ludwig’s Cabaret class.

 

“Sutton has been such a friend to each of us,” she said. ‘She is such an inspiration and mentor and I'm so thankful to Ball State for bringing her to us.”

 

Ludwig discovered her love for Cabaret performance at Ball State. That discovery is one of many.

“I've really found a love for writing, specifically playwriting, while here and it's been a highlight seeing my work improve and also seeing and hearing it out loud,” she said.

 

At Ball State, Ludwig has done a variety of stage work; playing Laurey in “Oklahoma,” Sally Slaton in “Parade,” Mary Jo in “A Piece of My Heart,” serves as a musician in “As You Like It” and as a swing/understudy in “The Music Man.”

 

She has appeared on other stages over the past four years too.

 

“Outside of school I did West Virginia Public Theatre for two summers where I was involved with the ensembles of ‘Happy Days,’ ‘Dames at Sea, and ‘The Who's Tommy,’” she said. “I also did a production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in Indianapolis where I was also in the ensemble.”

 

Studying musical theater has been fulfilling, but not easy.

 

“Not only is it academically strenuous, it's physically and emotionally strenuous,” she said. “It's definitely not for everybody.”

 

A defining moment, she said, was realizing that theater wasn’t just something she loved to do, but had become her proposed job and livelihood.

 

“I still love it, but that shift was really hard for a lot of people and so many students I started with my freshman year changed their majors or dropped out of school entirely,” she said. “Even through the hard stuff, I stuck it out and I’m still here – and about to graduate in two months.”

 

Ludwig plays piano and guitar and is learning to play mandolin, which has been quite an asset to her in terms of casting and Cabaret.

 

“I've been given lots of opportunities here to expand on my musical skills and really put them to use,” she said.

 

After her May 6 graduation, Ludwig will set her sights on becoming a working actor. She knows that’s easier said than done. Once she and Mullins take off for New York City, she plans to start the audition process, while teaching Pilates as her “day job.”

 

“Who knows where the years will take me. I'm definitely going to try acting for a while, and I know no matter what I do, theatre will always be a part of my life,” she said. ‘I can see arts advocacy and education being a part of my future, though I don't know how distant.”

 

Like Mullins, Ludwig said Bridgeport High School laid a good foundation for her subsequent aspirations in theater.

“I would have never gotten my first job at West Virginia Public Theatre if it hadn't been for BHS Theatre and Jason Young,” she said. “Working with Chris and Allison Saunders (amazing choreographers) my junior and senior years were so critical to my learning as a young artist.”

 

Her involvement with the BHS Thespian Troupe led to her audition to attend Ball State.

 

‘My sophomore year, we all went to the State Thespian Festival where I met a then senior from Huntington who told me he was going to Ball State the next year,” she said. ‘I kept in touch with him, thanks to social media, and two years later I auditioned and got in to the program.”

 

The Thespian Troupe was a great asset for Ludwig and Kody, she said.

“It gave us the confidence to be able to jump out of our little pond and still be able to compete,” she said. “If there's one thing I've learned since graduating high school, it's that confidence is everything. It doesn't matter if it's theatre or business or medicine. You have to believe in yourself before anyone else will believe in you. And I think BHS was a springboard for that.”

 

She said that she really thinks she and Mullins first decided to go to New York together when they were still at BHS. And they have nurtured that dream for the past four years.

 

“Kody has been so important to my life the last four years,” she said. “It's actually been perfect because he understands all the struggles I'm going through because he's going through them too, but he is removed from the situation since he lives in Dayton. So I could call or text him and say ‘Ah! This thing is going on and I'm so frustrated!’ and he would say ‘Girl, I totally get it because same here.”

His school, Ball State, is just about a 90-minute drive from Ball State, so Ludwig and Mullins have been very supportive of each other’s performances; making the drive whenever the other was on stage.

 

“We get to see each other in every show and also love to switch off spending weekends with each other,” she said. “I often joke that we are both honorary students at each other's schools because we both know everyone at both places.”

 

Read the feature on Dakota Mullins HERE.