BWW Blog: Bittersweet Endings and Things to Look Forward To

This semester will be my second to last semester on campus at the University of Illinois. While it is bittersweet to know that my time here is coming to an end, there are so many things I still need to do and learn before I go on my way. Looking back on my time here, I have grown more from what I have learned from others as opposed to what I have learned on my own. My voice teachers have given me a plethora of knowledge not only about how to take care of my voice, but showing me my real voice and bringing it to its fullest potential. My experiences performing have given me ways to apply my knowledge about acting, singing and dance which will ultimately be what I use in the real world for future performances and auditions.

In my last blog post, I mentioned how being virtual has expanded our abilities as performers and artists to be creative: to create works that are different, original and now more than ever, representative of the world we live in. Being a writer for Broadway World has given me the space to write about how I feel about the world of theatre currently and what I want it to look like in the future. Since the pandemic, I have new goals as a performer and as an artist because I have had the time to open myself up to new capabilities and grow in my current capabilities. As Michael Kushner would say, I have learned to "cross-pollinate to help flourish my professional capabilities." For example, I am a trained pianist and also have experience in videography/creating videos. There lies an opportunity for me to film myself playing piano or play my own accompaniment and sing with it.

I have also learned to embrace creative capabilities that I've had in the past, such as writing, to embrace my own voice and opinions when it comes to the industry I will be working in once I graduate. There are so many things I'm looking forward to in the theatre industry and in the past week since the inauguration, theatre and art has given me so much hope for the future of the arts and the country. I'm looking forward to being able to audition in person and in turn, meeting people my age from across the country who share my same passions. There will be a later blog post on this as well, but this semester I am most looking forward to my senior showcase with the wonderful, talented people I've been able to work with the last four years of college. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to have a culmination of the work I've done here and I couldn't be more excited. Look out for a future blog post about what it's like doing a virtual senior showcase!