COLLEGIATE THEATRICS: NYU's Lydia Granered

With 2015 Tony Award nominations announced today, it only seems appropriate to turn our interview focus on someone who might be a Tony nominee in the not-so-distant future. Take Lydia Granered, for example: she's an alumna of Nashville's Christ Presbyterian Academy (class of 2013), where she studied theater with Paula Flautt, and she's now in New York City, studying at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Most recently, Lydia was among the actors in Atlantic Acting School's production of Anything For You, and you can rest assured that this summer is going to be a busy time for her (and every other young actor we know) as she continues to pursue her dream.

Luckily, for us, Lydia Granered found time in her hectic life to talk with us about what college has been like for her and where her dreams seem to be taking her...

So, how's your college theater career going? Has it lived up to its advance hype? College has been amazing so far. All hype justified. I am in the Atlantic Acting Studio at NYU Tisch and I feel like I'm in the process of a real transformation for myself as an artist. The training I'm getting here is fairly intense. We just finished a semester of meticulously studying Chekhov and Shakespeare, and now I'm taking classes that include performing work from the Greeks and Moliere to Contemporary Female Playwrights. But I'm surrounded by teachers who genuinely want me to succeed and challenge me. The same goes for the people in my program. We push each other to be better, but without letting petty competition getting in the way of improving ourselves and the work. Most of the time. Overall I've been so grateful for every moment I've been here, and look forward to the next year.

What's your favorite part of studying at NYU Tisch? The people I'm with are definitely the highlight. I'm friends with talented, ambitious, artists that want to create work that is exciting and full and brings the audience to a place that can't be replicated anywhere but the theatre. That's incredible. Not to mention the opportunities that arise to be a part of different projects, like I'm working on writing two different web series right now with people I've met here, I'm in a one act play at school, and collaborating with friends on directing/acting projects for class. The fact that the Atlantic is also a professional off-Broadway theatre and training program outside of NYU, also lends itself to being constantly exposed to great theatre and the people who make it.

Have your future plans changed since your college experiences? No, actually, I think if anything being in college has strengthened my plans as an artist. They've expanded, for sure, because now I want to write and pursue some projects in TV and Film where I hadn't really thought of myself doing that previously, but the "goals" my high school-self had of doing theatre and working in live performance are definitely more prominent than before. I'm more open to creating theatre in other places besides New York. There are more opportunities to build a community in other locations than a lot of young artists realize, and that's something I want to explore.

What collegiate theatrical moment looms largest in your mind? Unfortunately at Tisch, there aren't a lot of opportunities to perform on stage until you are an upperclassman. For some reason, they don't really build that into the curriculum until Junior Year and the schedule is too tightly packed to take on an outside production. So, most of my biggest moments as an actress have happened in a classroom with the 16 or so people in my group. The main one for me was performing a scene as Sonya in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. It was one of those times on stage where everything clicks and you forget yourself for a while. The scene was a longer piece, about 20-25 minutes, between Astrov and Sonya in the middle of the night, and you see both of them have an experience of heartbreak and longing and love. It was just simple and beautiful, and taught me more about acting and myself than I had tapped into before.

What advice would you offer to high school students considering making the plunge? Do your research! Find a place that's right for you, and then prepare prepare prepare for the audition. It's a difficult and unusual college experience, but I couldn't have asked for a better place to be.. On the other hand though, there is no one "right" way to be an actor/artist. I am getting amazing training that works for me, but I know plenty of people who are building their training by performing and internships and LIFE experience, so the idea that high school juniors and seniors are beating themselves up over not getting into one program or the other is a bit ridiculous. Always be trying to get better. Read plays, put up productions in your living room, get people together and make stuff. That's what artists do, you don't need a BFA do to that. It helps. But it is not the life blood of creativity. So, if you go for it, commit. But if you choose another route, don't let someone tell you did the wrong thing, and commit to that.