Student Blog: From 8 Shows a Week to 8 Classes a Day

​This past summer, I was incredibly fortunate to work on two different shows: I played Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie at Otterbein Summer Theater and Fredrika in A Little Night Music at The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. Both experiences were incredible opportunities to put into practice the skills I developed during my freshman year at Otterbein. I built connections not only with professionals currently working in the industry but also with people from different cultures (especially in Hawaii!) and walks of life who taught me invaluable lessons, both professionally and personally. I was so grateful for the opportunity to perform again for the first time since graduating high school, but returning to school and transitioning from working professionally has been a bit of a difficult adjustment.

​Here are three reflections I made that have helped me transition from a summer of performing to being a full-time student.

-Bridging the Gap Between Practices You Learned

Summer Stock is one of the best ways to put BFA training to use, and while a BFA degree teaches you a lot, there really are some things you can only learn from being fully immersed in a professional environment. We read books and have classes designed to discuss audition etiquette, how to take direction, time management, collaboration, and even how to give and take notes gracefully. But once you are thrown into a professional environment, you are working with a wide range of artists, each with their own personalities, fast-paced schedules, and opinions. These experiences can test your ability to stay professional under pressure. Being cast proves that you have the talent and ability for people to want to work with you, but it is the moments of artistic disagreement or creative tension that prove how much the techniques you learned have sunk in. Coming back to school after that, you have a much deeper understanding of how the techniques you study have real-world validity and that you are more than capable of applying the practices you learned.

-Going From Fast-Paced to Structure

Coming back to structured days after the fast-paced nature of putting up a show in under 3 weeks is a huge transition. Luckily for me, it is a very appreciated change. Personally, I love the structure of having a schedule that doesn't change every day. Not knowing my schedule for the next day until I got the daily call at 9 pm, as well as occasionally having to be “on call,” was a bit of a hard adjustment for me. But the unpredictability of summer stock taught me that I am capable of quickly adapting to changes and still being successful. Now returning to the structure of a BFA schedule has given me the time and grace to slow down and fully reflect on what I learned over the summer.

-Staying Motivated Without an Immediate End Product

Some people come back to school and dive right into rehearsals for the semester's upcoming performances, but for me, that wasn’t the case. Despite having a show-heavy summer, I was not cast in any productions this semester. During summer stock, you are constantly working and performing surrounded by the buzz of creating theater. Coming back to a more academic setting forced me to confront the challenge of staying motivated without an immediate end product. At first, that was hard to come to terms with; it was discouraging and made me wonder if this was the right path for me. But I realized that this period, where it seemed like nothing was going my way, was just giving me the space for something very important. I am being given the time and space to recharge, focus on other passions, and apply what I learned over the summer to my classes.

These transitions, returning from professional work to the classroom, from fast-paced chaos to steady structure, from performing nonstop to taking a pause, have taught me that every phase of an artist's life serves a purpose. There will always be changes, and learning to move with the rhythm instead of letting it throw you off doesn't just make you a better performer but a more grounded person.

​All in all, here's what I realized coming back to school after spending all summer performing in summer stock

-Don't forget to keep the professionalism you learned; showing up prepared, respectful, and adaptable. But remember to still have grace for yourself because you are still learning!

-Both ever-changing and structured environments will challenge you in different ways

and finally…

-Take advantage of the downtime when you are not in a show to reflect and grow without the added pressures of being in a show​

Because at the end of the day, every season, whether it is busy or quiet, has so many valuable lessons to teach you as a performer and as a person.