Student Blog: Beyond Back To School

Nestled within a campus that is famous for its football stadium sits a historic theatre commissioned by Franklin Delanoe Roosevelt under his New Deal: the Fine Arts Building at the University of Georgia. From the moment of its completion in 1941, the FAB has been bursting with bulldogs excited to expand their arts education. 

The Federal Theatre Project that built the FAB was terminated during the Great Depression, but students and teachers are still carrying forth its goal of creating theatre-making opportunities well into 2026. Rehearsals for the department’s November production of Guys and Dolls are in full swing. The curtain just closed on UGA’s Fall play, Constellations, even after the show’s transition to perform professionally at the Aurora Theatre. It may only be October, but it seems as though there is nothing left to do but plan for the Spring semester; we’ve been “Back to School” since August, after all!

Just a few days ago, UGA Theatre held its first “Majors Meeting” of the school year. In this one-hour gathering, new and returning theatre students were introduced to a variety of faculty and their plans for the end of 2026 and the beginning of 2027. We listened to professors advertise their summer study away programs taking place in London, Greece, and New York City, were reminded to schedule our academic advising appointments, and discussed theatre-related volunteer opportunities like Experience UGA. This program is a partnership between the Clarke-County School District and the University of Georgia, where grade school students take field trips to a variety of spots around campus (including the FAB) in order to learn more about UGA and secondary education. Theatre students will help facilitate these tours of the FAB and create an original, age-appropriate, dramatic play to perform for the elementary schoolers. 

In addition, we were informed about the American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) taking place in Albany, GA, which is an opportunity for student artists to present and be rewarded for their theatrical performances, designs, writing and more. A notice regarding a student-moderated casting panel was also delivered, an event that happened just last week in which four casting producers provided industry tips to bulldogs interested in entertainment, and we also discussed a possible alumni visit that will take place later in the year. All of this information was accompanied with a warm student-faculty reunion, some department-related jokes, and free pizza. Nevertheless, the detail that stuck out to most of us was the mention of auditions for the Spring play season. 

At UGA, three plays will be produced and performed by the theatre program across February, March and April; these shows are Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus, a student-written play called I’m Here by my fellow bulldog, Calista Johnson, and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. After the audition schedule was revealed in the Majors Meeting, students scrambled to sign up for a slot and prepare their monologues. The highly anticipated days arrived on October 15th and 16th, and the Fine Arts Building was home to eager (and anxious) actors, organized student facilitators, and deliberating directors once again. Before we knew it, the callback list was released, and we were back in the FAB, this time performing cuts of different scenes from these shows in front of one another. Though having an audience larger than the casting team was incredibly nervewracking, it was comforting to hear thunderous applause every time a pair of performers finished reading. 

Today, the temperature is beginning to fall below 70 (finally), the fear of finals looms overhead as Thanksgiving break is only three weeks away, and the excitement of UGA Theatre auditions are behind us. Yet, there is still so much to avidly await. 

I am thrilled to begin teching Guys and Dolls as a member of our lighting team; I actually tried out for the performance back in August, though it was unfortunately not “My Time of Day” when my audition rolled around. Nevertheless, I am so happy to be back in the theatre, working on a musical with my friends in any way that I can. I look forward to auditioning for a Spring production of The Prom with Next Act, UGA’s student-run musical theatre club. I hope that I can somehow get myself tickets to Noah Kahan’s concert that was just announced to be taking place at UGA’s football stadium in April. I am excited to announce that I have been cast as the understudy for the role of Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest, and of course, I can’t wait to keep writing these blogs. 

Still, I believe the thing I am most enthusiastic about is the fact that there is so much uncertainty for the remainder of my sophomore year. Even a perfectly rehearsed show is different every time it is performed, so while a clearer picture of my next semester would likely ease some of my anxiety, it would actually take away even more of the fun.