The bootcamp was conceived by Broadway and Hollywood start Kristin Chenoweth as a way to let young stage hopefuls with an opportunity to learn from mentors in the field. It is held at the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center and is now in its seventh year.Baxter graduated this year with a bachelors degree in musical theatre from Oklahoma City University. She plans to return to school this fall to start her Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership in the Arts Administration track.
She is currently in rehearsals as a principal role in Theatre Tulsa’s production of the musical “Something Rotten,” which will run Aug. 12-28 at the Tulsa PAC.
Baxter first attended the sessions in 2015 then returned for the next two years and received special recognition from Chenoweth in 2017 for her dedication to bringing accessible theatre back to Henryetta High School. She has been back every year since graduating as an intern, performing tasks such as personally assisting Grammy Award-winning music director John McDaniel, and creating/editing the 2021 end-of-camp concert’s online program, which is used to this day as a promotional example for BroadwayWorld.com’s StageMag online editing software.
Acting as an intern this year is particularly exciting for her because another Henryetta high school heater hopeful will be attending.
Her cousin, Sheldon Andrews, was one of the few chosen out of hundreds of submissions from all around the world to be part of this year’s intensive. She said the criteria for bootcamp acceptance is much harder than when she was in high school making Andrews’ participation even more of a special treat.
