Lukas Thompson is perhaps a familiar face around campus; he was in “Godspell” last semester, performed in the “Miscast Cabaret” last weekend and is often seen around campus in a well-picked bow tie.
Thompson is a first-year student from the Goshen area. He is a vocal performance major, and is involved in theatre.“My debut show was ‘Charleston Junior’ at Goshen Middle school my eighth grade year,” Thompson said. “I decided to audition for it because I thought it would be fun.”
Thompson’s involvement in the show led to him being in all four musicals that his high school put on. His favorite role was being Pippin from the musical “Pippin” his senior year of high school.
“It was a ton of fun; I loved pretty much everything about that show,” said Thompson.
In the next three years, Thompson said he would love to be able to strike a good balance between theatre and music without failing all the other classes.
“I definitely would like to venture more into musical theatre,” said Thompson, “Opera is also a big possibility for me.”
For this semester, Thompson is looking forward to “Julius Caesar” and is very excited for that. “It’s coming together. Playing Cassius is a ton of fun and I’m learning so much. I’m really excited for that.”
While Thompson spends a lot of time acting, he is also very passionate about music. “The main reason I came [to Goshen] was because of the music department,” said Thompson. “We have a beautiful music center, and I mesh well with a lot of the faculty. The main deciding factor for college was if I liked my voice lessons.”
On his own, Thompson has taken to making his own music by layering a capella tracks to create songs. Thompson performed one of these songs last semester at the open-mic night that was held the weekend before Fall Kick-Off.
“I had a ton of free time this summer and I didn’t really have any direction where I was going, so I spent my free time messing around on my computer,” Thompson said. “I slowly got into it, and thought this is really cool, I love this, it’s combining my passions and I feel it’s developing my voice as well.”
Thompson said he does this now whenever he has free time, and has recently gotten a new microphone. He has posted four videos to the internet, and has several more that he has yet to work on.
“I’m keeping at [music making] and learning more about audio production as I go on—it’s probably my main hobby,” Thompson said.
Outside of music and theatre, Thompson doesn’t have much time for other hobbies, but he enjoys drawing and attempting to play guitar and piano. “Pretty much all my hobbies are artistic,” said Thompson.
Fashion is also something that Thompson considers a hobby. “I spend way too much money on clothes,” said Thompson. He has six suits, although he doesn’t wear two of them, and six blazers.
Being from Goshen means that Thompson’s decision to attend GC allowed him to stay in his hometown. “I was never one of those people growing up who felt the strong need to get out of my home town and go far away from my parents,” said Thompson. “It’s definitely been nice to be so close to my home that I have that support if I need it, but also far away enough that I can be independent at the same time.”
With so many artistic interests and hobbies, Thompson has developed a schedule that allows him to explore his interests.
“I’m really pleased with how everything has worked out so far,” said Thompson. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
