Rider senior tours the U.S. as part of 'Ragtime' ensemble

A year ago, Milika Griffiths ’17 had been on a plane exactly one time and never traveled further than the East Coast. Since then, she has visited all four corners of the country as part of the ensemble of the Tony Award-winning musical Ragtime. When the year-long tour wraps in June, she will have visited 36 states and, along the way, proved her mettle as a professional actress.

Landing the part was one of the most momentous events of her life, but when it came time to audition, she wasn’t positive it was worth the effort. “It was kind of a whim,” says Griffiths, who has taken a year off as an undergraduate musical theater major at Rider University to participate in Ragtime. It took the urging of her friends and professors to make the trip to New York to audition.

That’s how she found herself on a 3 a.m. train to Manhattan in March 2015, heading to Chelsea Studios, which was holding open call auditions for Ragtime, a tapestry of early 20th-century historical drama based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel. Griffiths was among some 500 people who had shown up to try and land a part. It was her third professional audition. Two callbacks and several months later, Griffiths was offered an ensemble role — the culmination (so far) of a lifetime of singing.

Originally from Edison, N.J., Griffiths, 21, has filled her household with music since she was a child, participating in choirs as early as elementary school. By high school, she was performing on stage in school musicals. For four years straight, she traveled to Atlantic City and elsewhere as a member of the New Jersey Music Educators Association all-state chorus. When she repeatedly landed the chance to solo in the chorus, she realized she must be doing something right, feeling a swell of pride as she performed and exchanged glances with her mother in the audience.

“I had the bug and couldn’t stop,” Griffiths says.

Despite those experiences, Griffiths admits that when she arrived at Rider as a first-year student, she didn’t understand the technical aspects of singing or the full potential of her voice. She puts it more plainly: “I had no idea what I was doing. I only knew I liked being on stage.”

During her sophomore year, Griffiths began working with voice professor Carolann Page, who challenged her student by giving her material Griffiths believed was outside of her vocal range. “That part of my voice hadn’t been worked yet,” she says. “It was a struggle, but the voice is like any other muscle, you have to it work out to strengthen it.”

The pair worked together to help Griffiths refine and expand her capabilities, which led to her winning in 2014 The R Factor, the annual singing competition on campus, and, eventually, a part in Ragtime. Along the way, they developed a close bond that Griffiths says is common among her and other professors at Rider.

“They’ve taken the talent I have and made it better,” she says.

Griffiths performed on stage four times in her first three years at Rider, in The Full Monty, All Shook Up, Machinal and The Human Heart. She also served as assistant director for Reasons to be Pretty. There are many similarities between performing in a show like Ragtime and the productions at Rider, Griffiths says, adding that her experience on stage and in the classroom helped prepare her to succeed.

While being part of an ensemble in a professional production presented an amazing opportunity, the decision to take a year off to join the cast wasn’t as simple as it may seem. Griffiths wrestled with the choice, receiving input from family, friends and faculty before finally saying yes.

“I love performing and singing,” she says, “and I am so adamant about getting a great education and learning as much as I can, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Once the Ragtime tour wraps in June, Griffiths plans to return to her studies in the fall, finish her degree and, before she begins auditioning for additional professional roles, grace the stage at Rider University once more.