BWW Blog: The Lovers, The Dreamers, and ME!

Hi Broadway World! My name is Bella Bosco, and I'm so excited to be sharing my college experience with you! If you're here, chances are you are one of the following:

a. A prospective musical theatre student
b. A lover of all things theatre with an emphasis on joy, silliness and soup--I'll explain soup in the future.
c. My Mom

If you answered ANY of the above questions, I would like to officially welcome you to Life In The Key of B: Bella's take on Blogging for BroadwayWorld! I just finished my first year at Western Connecticut State University (nicknamed WestConn), and LOVED every minute of it. I have lots of information to share about the program, the work and learning I get to be a part of, and honestly, I can't wait to #humblebrag on our incredible faculty!

The WestConn BFA Musical Theatre program is an exciting, fast-growing program that welcomes a select 16 students in each class. Nationally accredited, WestConn attends the Kennedy Center for the Arts College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). At KCACTF, our recent productions of "Parade" and "The Drowsy Chaperone" won Outstanding Musical, and every year a number of talented students compete in the Irene Ryan and Richard Maltby Awards. Among our faculty ranks we have extraordinary working artists, accomplished theatre professionals, a host of awards including a Tony, a Drama Desk, an Emmy, an award-winning documentary on Netflix, voices heard on video games, movies, and numerous broadway credits, national tours, and more.

Tim Howard, the coordinator of the BFA Musical Theatre program, has coined the program's motto: "BE THE BEST YOU." This is not only the goal of the WestConn program, but has also become my personal life motto. Here are some things you should expect from this blog that I count on to help make me learn more about how to become the best me.

1. My teachers.
My next post will offer an in-depth interview with WestConn BFA musical theatre director, Tim Howard. In my interview, you'll learn more about his sources of inspiration, what it was like to work with the legendary Harold Prince, and how he is staying focused and productive during this time of isolation. I'm excited to introduce you to many of the other remarkable artists and individuals I get to call my teachers. I hope to be able to introduce you to my voice teacher--I'm lucky to be continuing lessons with him over the summer. I hope to introduce you to some of the members of our incredible dance faculty. I'm a strong mover, but learning from these dance luminaries makes it easy to embrace where I am and hope to continue to grow while learning how to love my body and its potential. Additionally I hope to introduce you to a brilliant music director that created one of the most meaningful musicianship experiences crafted specifically for the MT student. In all of my interviews, I will be asking three universal questions in addition to asking more questions that pertain to the individual.

2. Other young artists and students.
I am learning that as I continue my journey, feeling supported and valued by my talented classmates and peers makes all the difference. When you feel safe and cared about, it's easier to make yourself vulnerable to take the kinds of risks that will help you grow and learn. We are constantly pushing each other to do our best. I'll be sharing stories of how we finished the semester online, ways that we've connected over the summer, the best socially distanced games, and other nuggets from these talented and beautiful friends and artists.

3. Personal sources of joy.
You're likely reading this post because we share a love of theatre, music and the arts. Our influences, our hobbies, our habits all influence how we understand and engage with the world, our craft and one another. I'll be sharing things that inspire me, help me learn and stay informed as an artist, and how I spend my free time. I'll be sharing these same questions each week:
a. What am I listening to?
b. What is feeding my soul?
c. What arts programming have I watched this week?

I'm excited to share stories, advice and lessons learned. I also plan on sharing my insights from the college audition process and the wonderful advice I received along the way. If you enjoyed getting to know me, feel free to follow me on Instagram and Twitter, where you'll see more theatre content and meet some of the people I love learning with and growing from, too! I am so grateful to be a part of the arts and this field. The arts have the power to help people through trauma, to inspire them to think about their choices and views, and to inspire change. The arts have also been one of the biggest sources of hope that people have turned to during this quarantine.

We all know what it means to learn how to take a note--so if you have any questions or things you'll hope I'll explore, feel free to email me at bellaboscoblog@gmail.com

Thanks for reading! Insta: @thebellabosco Twitter: @thebellabosco