Student Blogger: Samantha Hansen

As a theatre major, your weeks are pretty unique from one to the next. Besides classes, there are rehearsals, performances, production work, and college life in general with which to be concerned. Sometimes, those things overlap and the week gets hectic. But what might it look like to be a sophomore directing major?

Finishing up my first semester of college, I was ready for winter break and to get home to my dogs. I had just completed my first final for the day when the professor asked me to stay behind for a minute to talk to me. Cue racing heart and sweaty palms. I could barely register what he was saying because I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, but I managed to interpret, "Would you like to stage manage my show?" Since I thought I heard wrong, I repeated the question back to him. "Yes," was his response. "You mean These Shining Lives," I asked. "That's the one."

Imagine it, you are sitting in the booth whispering "Go" while simultaneously hitting spacebar in QLab so that a recorded line echoes through the small theatre. An hour long show that you are now almost halfway through, but are still only on sound cue 55 of 101.5 total sound and projection cues lined up.

When looking at collegiate programs and thinking about how I could train to become a theatre director, I was astonished to find that there are multiple paths to choose from and each one offered something different.