Most student productions at the University have a faculty member on board to deal with financial difficulties or internal disagreements. But MUSKET, an on-campus student musical theater company founded in 1908, is managed exclusively by students. The company produces two shows every academic year while exercising complete fiscal and creative autonomy, allowing directors to follow their visions all the way through without interference.

But there’s always the one person at the top; the one who runs the show. The one who takes care of all the invisible human relationships and drama that surface during production, the stuff you hear about but never see beneath the perfectly sustained smiles during curtain calls. The one responsible for every aspect of production — from conception to execution, from choosing the shows to hiring the directors, to settling conflicts and marketing the final product.

And for MUSKET, Mike Michelon is the one.

Alongside a co-producer, Michelon works behind the scenes to sustain the most important life blood of MUSKET — the reputation and branding of the company.

Heading a company of 50 to 60 motivated students every season, the producing team is responsible for the internal organization of MUSKET — hiring people, overseeing all the departments, facilitating human relationships and eventually marketing the show.

“Ultimately, it’s our job to get butts in seats at the end of the day,” Michelon, a senior in the School of Music, Theater & Dance, said. “It’s about the process leading up to that.

“The joy of live performance is that you only have three shots to get it right: Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” he said. “Something could happen and, ultimately, everything falls on us. It’s our investment — our time investment and our name investment.”

Michelon started with MUSKET as a freshman working primarily with lighting and set design. At the beginning of his sophomore year, he took an interest in producing and switched his focus at the University from production-based curricula to a more producing-based one. Michelon is currently studying Arts Management, a subset of theater and arts administration combining an interdisciplinary curriculum of business courses with theater courses.

“The thing about producing is that I’m not in the role of the technical director where I’m dealing with very technical things, like making sure the lighting works,” he said. “The challenge of producing in general is that you’re bringing together personalities. My job is essentially making sure that the choreographer is getting along with the directors.”

Michelon cites this as one of the most difficult things to assess about his job.

“As a senior, I’m now trying to evaluate the impact I’ve left on my organization after I leave. Because it’s so relationship based, it’s hard to tell how long this thing lasts,” he said.

“I can tell myself that I worked really hard to give MUSKET a good name on campus in this way, but good producers, they’re not too progressive — you keep things running and keep things working well," he added. "It’s a day in, day out kind of job. Any real advancement in the group and any strides won’t be noticed by the public because it’s all internal.”

Michelon has been looking to expand his management capacities this year, taking on the job of producing the Go Blue, Beat OSU rally back in November.

“I’ve had more fun at Go Blue than in my entire life,” Michelon said. “Once again, producing is from conception to execution. Back in the summer, I was just sketching on napkins what the rally would look like and how we’re going to organically bring X amount of students to the Diag. That night, I was able to look out and see that crowd of people. You don’t get that as much in theater.”