Big stage, bigger cast: Maryville College Theatre’s ‘Grease’ brings energy and community to the Clayton Center
March 17, 2026
When Maryville College senior Ian Bailey ’26 heard about the Maryville College Theatre Department’s spring production of “Grease,” he decided to try his luck on stage for the first time since high school.
As a Theatre Studies major, he’s been involved in almost every show the department has put on since his freshman year, but always behind the scenes. He’s a production coordinator with the Clayton Center for the Arts, and his skills as a theater tech are beyond compare — and he’d already been recruited as the musical’s assistant lighting designer and master electrician.
And so, he figured, one last chance before graduation to be on the other side of the curtain, perhaps as part of the ensemble, would tie a lovely little bow on his MC career. And then the cast list was announced, and Bailey found himself front and center as Danny Zuko, one of the main characters and a role made famous in the film by John Travolta.
“I had heard of ‘Grease,’ and I knew that it was a pretty cool and really groovy show and a popular movie, but I had never seen it,” Bailey said. “I had acted in high school, but only in musicals, and I thought about doing it here. So I watched the movie a couple of nights before auditions, and it got me really inspired, because I knew this was my last chance to get on stage before I graduated. I always wanted to do it, and ‘Grease’ felt like the perfect chance to take.
“When I was in high school, I was only in the ensembles, so I knew I could sing, but I wasn’t much of an actor. When I tried out for ‘Grease,’ I fully thought I’d wind up in the ensemble once more. So when I saw the cast list, I was just so excited and surprised! I had been so nervous, having not been on stage in a long time, but to be put in such a large role, I’m glad I’ve gotten this opportunity.”
A surprise role — and a leap into the spotlight
As Zuko, the leather-jacket-clad leader of a high school gang who falls for a new student — Sandy, portrayed by Counseling major Kalli Wilson ’27 — Bailey is part of one of the biggest casts in recent memory, one that includes at least one Maryville College staff representative (Ameliz Gorz, coordinator of the College’s Digital Edge program) and members of the public. It’ll be staged April 16-19 in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts, the main auditorium that seats hundreds more audience members than the Theatre Department’s traditional performance space, the Haslam Family Flex Theatre.
Filling that many seats is a challenge, Assistant Professor of Theatre Andy Vaught — who also serves as the show’s director — acknowledged, but the show’s popularity will help, he said.
“Pretty much everybody knows this show,” he said. “The movie is just so iconic, so many of the songs are iconic. It’s important for us to create accessible experiences for our community, and ‘Grease’ is just so beloved.”
Originally produced as a 1972 musical and named after the 1950s suburban youth subculture known as “greasers,” the setting is fictional Rydell High School in 1959, and the story follows a group of teens as they navigate peer pressure, romance, school and rivalries. It’s a feel-good pivot from the seriousness of the program’s autumn show, Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” Vaught said.
“That was a heavy, heavy show, and so I wanted to find something that was joyful. I wanted to find something that was joyful about people who don’t get joy focused on them — kids,” Vaught said. “I can only imagine how tough it is to be a kid right now, and in a way, it’s always been tough to be a kid. This is a show about hormones raging, about responsibilities as they’re becoming adults, and about loyalty to friends.
“At its heart, those are things Maryville College really allows kids to do — find out who they are as people. We recognize that young people need to figure out who they are and need the room, space and support to do that, which is why we’re also partnering with Public School Strong.”
For every show, Vaught seeks to collaborate with various nonprofit organizations whose mission dovetails with the show’s themes. Public School Strong Tennessee is an organization of parents, students, educators and community members “who are committed to honest, equitable and fully funded public schools,” according to the nonprofit’s website. Public schools, Vaught adds, are proving grounds where teens discover their identities, passions and interests.
“Public schools are where kids get to figure out who they are through the freedom to talk, to dress, to do all of these things that are vital for them to figure out what this world needs them to be,” he said. “This play is about high school, and one of the things about high school that is so informative and also so traumatic is how public high school is.
“All of those things are happening in front of people. No conversation is private, so that allows us to find these great little wrinkles that allow people to join us and find moments to shine.”
A bigger production, onstage and beyond
Everything about the show, Vaught said, is bigger. To fill the stage, the choral ensemble will get a bigger share of the spotlight, and the set is one of the more challenging ones he’s overseen to date. A classic car, he said with a laugh, will be placed on the Nutt stage, and because hot rods play a role in the musical, he’s also organizing a “hot rod night” for Saturday, April 18, when classic cars will be parked on the Clayton Center plaza. On Friday night, Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Nathan Duncan’s Fermentation Science class will offer samples of a special beer brewed specifically for “Grease,” and on Sunday, April 19, American Sign Language interpreting will be offered for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing audience members.
“I think those kinds of events are great, because we’re reaching out to a lot of people in the community,” Vaught said. “We’re doing a high school matinee show, and we’re also performing on the WDVX-FM ‘Blue Plate Special’ (a live radio show by a nonprofit Knoxville radio station, airing at noon Mondays through Saturdays on 89.9 FM) on April 2.
“We try to create a welcoming space where all of our performers can thrive. These kids are feral! It’s a lot of fun. I don’t know what I expected when we chose it, but I didn’t expect them to bite into the steak as hard as they have. I’m always so inspired by the energy of our students here.”
Although his first introduction to “Grease” was through the film a few days before he auditioned, Bailey sank his teeth into the part of Danny and hasn’t let go. Travolta, he added, will forever be associated with the part, but he’s also seeking ways to make it his own.
“Because ‘Grease’ is a really iconic show, there are some things you just can’t change — certain ways the lines are being delivered, things like that,” he said. “They’re just classic. Then again, I am finding places to make it my own, and Andy is really good about that. He draws those things out of you by asking questions like, ‘What is motivating you here?’
“I’m definitely getting the chance to make the character my own, and I get to do a little bit of line dancing and country swing dancing, too! The choreography for the song ‘Hand Jive’ allows me to come into my own and bring my prior dance experience into that.”
Bailey fell in love with line dancing during a trip with a friend to the country-and-Western club Cotton Eyed Joe in Knoxville, where he immediately threw himself into learning how to line dance. After several months on the dance floor (and a single competition later), he’s an accomplished line dancer who teaches classes at Maryville College.
“I consider myself less of a dancer and more of a performer,” he said. “The steps aren’t always there, but I love to put on a show and have a good time on the dance floor.”
That enthusiasm, Vaught said, makes Bailey the perfect choice for Danny.
“I begged him to audition, and he showed up and just clicked — we all knew pretty quickly, ‘That’s our Danny,’” Vaught said. “One thing we always talk about is that when you go to Maryville College, you can experience all kinds of things, and you can certainly do that in our department. I want the kids to have a holistic understanding of the art form, so that they can become better techs because they know what goes into a great performance, and they can become better actors because they understand the tech side.”
With his parting role as Danny, Bailey is a living example of that. It’s been a whirlwind, he said, putting in work on the lighting and electrical side and then donning a leather jacket to lead the T-Birds, but doing both is a metaphorical feather in a very colorful graduation cap.
“It’s a little bittersweet in some ways, but I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’m really excited to take the stage one last time. I couldn’t give up tech, but I’m excited to pick up a microphone, and with it happening three weeks before graduation, it’ll be a good way to go out.
“I’ve been doing a lot of tech and design work lately, so I’m really excited to step over and be an actor for a while and just hit the stage one last time as hard as I can. It’ll be a really good bookend to my time at Maryville.”
“Grease” — with music, lyrics and book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey — will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 16-18, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 19, in the Nutt Theatre of the Clayton Center. Additional cast members include Tristan Hall ’29 as Kenickie, Felix Juarez ’29 as Sonny, Sasha Hoenie ’26 as Doody, Soda Cline ’29 as Roger, Jenny Ribble ’26 as Rizzo, Kathryn Bornhoeft ’27 as Marty, Maddie Yalove ’28 as Jan, Eden Carnes ’27 as Frenchy, Kat Wilson ’28 as Miss Lynch, Julius Hobbs ’29 as Eugene, Ash Day ’27 as Vince Fontaine and more. Tickets are $25; Maryville College faculty, staff and students will be allowed one free ticket to a single performance. For more information, call the Clayton Center box office at 865-981-8590.
