When Jeff Luppino-Esposito was admitted to the University of Virginia during the fall of his senior year under the (since-discontinued) early decision program, he planned to pursue a law degree. But, after an encounter with musical theater in his final semester of high school, those plans exited the stage.
Instead, Luppino-Esposito will graduate from U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences on May 22 with a double major in English language and literature and American studies. He is also one of the creative masterminds behind such projects as "Musical: The Online Musical" and "Pokemon: The Musical," produced during his undergraduate years.
After making his stage debut in his New Jersey high school's production of "Into The Woods," Luppino-Esposito found himself curious about what he had been missing.
At U.Va., he discovered First-Year Players, an independent, student-run theater group, at the start of his first semester. The rest, as they say, is history.
"It made my experience here," he said. The troupe gave him an opportunity to mature artistically and to meet other students from various schools and majors with similar interests. He acted in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Damn Yankees" during his first year, and served as an assistant director in his second year.
