Paige Darrington Writes Original Musicals, Hosts Workshops for Children in Her Hometown
Recent School of Music graduate Paige Darrington (BA ‘23) was featured in the College of Fine Arts and Communications’ annual campaign, “Arts & Comms: Behind the Stories,” which launched its third season during the Fall 2023 semester. The aim of this video campaign is to highlight mentored, student-led projects and share the life changing experiences students are enjoying in and outside of the classroom. Thanks to generous donors and excellent educators, this season will feature students from the School of Music, the Center for Animation at BYU and the School of Communications.
Darrington graduated BYU in April 2023 with a degree in commercial music and a minor in communications. Darrington’s passion for music and business prompted her to create her own business, Sing and Play Productions, and host musical theatre camps for children in her home state. She said, “I never expected to start my own business during college but this summer I had the opportunity to go back to my hometown and work for the city of Redmond, Washington.” The city of Redmond hired Darrington to put on eight weeks of children’s summer camps for which she wrote two original musicals consisting of 14 original songs.
Writing these musicals took weeks of hard work and felt like a huge risk, but the commercial music program had prepared Darrington for the business side of the music industry. “We train our students in all these production techniques so that by the time they graduate they are ready to hit the professional world,” said commercial music professor Aaron Merrill.
One of the musicals Darrington wrote and taught in her summer camps, “The Animal Kingdom,” focuses on belonging. “I wanted a musical about what kids face everyday,” she said. Belonging became the central theme of the entire camp. Darrington had discussions with her students about how to help themselves and others feel like they belong. “The camps aren’t just about getting kids together to sing songs,” she said. “It's about getting kids together to make connections so that they can understand that they all belong.”
Darrington’s summer camps were such a success that the city of Redmond asked her to return next year and offer more summer programs. Other professionals have already approached her in hope of buying her children’s programs so they can put them on in other cities. Darrington is looking forward to continuing to put on the summer programs and run her business. She said, “This program has taught me that I can create my own path in the music industry. I’ve been able to build my dream job by focusing on my strengths and collaborating with other talented musicians.”