Student Blogger: Emily Brooks - Page 2

When I moved to Seattle in middle school, I never would have guessed that one of the city’s leading professional theatres would become an artistic home. In today’s blog post, I’ll be highlighting The 5th Avenue Theatre, a regional theatre that not only produces inspiring productions but has shaped the artistic journeys of myself and many other young people.

Whether choosing material for the next season of Next on Stage, an audition, or performance, finding the right song can feel as difficult as mastering the song itself. But choosing the right song – finding one that you really love to sing and can personally connect with – can make all the difference.

None of Sondheim's innovative works is just like another – so which one in particular you gravitate towards can say a lot. So in good, lighthearted fun, in celebration of a genius’s birthday, I bring you a very unscientific analysis of what your favorite Sondheim musical says about you!

I’m lucky enough to be studying theatre in a program that, even in normal times, is wonderfully unique. And while a global pandemic has of course brought its challenges, it’s made for an experience that is all the more innovative, varied, and surprising. To give you a glimpse, I’ll be taking you through my day as a Junior at Northwestern University, where I’m pursuing a B.A. in Theatre, along with a Music Theatre Certificate, and a World Literature minor.

I’ve loved theatre since I was very young. And I’ve loved literature for even longer. For a long time, I thought of these as two fairly unrelated important facts about me. But I’ve recently come more and more to the realization that at the core of these is the same passion: a deep love for stories and storytelling. 

It was recently announced that Come From Away would be filmed live this spring, for release in September. The show, which tells the story of the transformative welcome the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland offered the passengers of the thirty-eight airplanes grounded there on 9/11, is one of my absolute favorites

This Covid winter quarter at Northwestern, I’m lucky enough to be engaging with theatre in a variety of ways. Beyond my continued largely-virtual study of musical theatre, I’m choreographing a play with music, performing in a play, and recently performed in a musical theatre cabaret.

It was 2020 -- the year of zoom teaching – that showed me that such work would be a part of my career not just to make ends meet, but to fulfill a deep love for the practice of theatre teaching itself. 

Last summer, a group of college-age theatre students decided to start an online theatre education company from the ground up. Since then, we’ve connected with aspiring and professional theatremakers around the world. I catch up with our founder Alyssa Jiwani to reflect on TVTC’s incredible journey.

I was recently reminded that this time eight years ago I was opening one of my favorite holiday experiences: Elf: The Musical at The 5th Avenue Theatre.

As I long for live theatre’s return and sustain myself with memories of my favorite live theatre experiences, I keep coming back to Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves.

Special thanks to Northwestern University’s Jeff Hancock, whose incredible Music Theatre Choreography course inspired many of the “homework” activities I discussed!

It was my sophomore year of college, and it felt like my journey as a choreographer was really taking off.

We tend to think of Greek tragedy as the earliest form of drama – the exact opposite of the oddly futuristic theatre world we inhabit now, in which actors and audiences around the world connect through screens for Zoom readings and YouTube cabarets.