There's something thrilling about being in rooms you’ve always dreamed of being in, but there can be a lot of imposter syndrome that comes along with it. I recently got the chance to go to Schmigadoon on Broadway’s opening night, and I was on cloud 9 about being there. However, I often felt like I didn’t belong in a room full of such important people and minds. 

A couple of years ago, when I was initially deciding which school to attend, I heavily considered what a day in the life of the students at that school would look like. At Fordham, with two campuses, as a Rose Hill student pursuing a theatre minor, my day-to-day looks different than most, so I thought I would detail a Monday in my life to hopefully give people a better understanding of life at Fordham!

Nostalgia is a flawed word, just under ten letters, as if it almost lands somewhere complete but stops short. In the performing arts, it operates less as emotion and more as evaluation.

I picked “I’d Rather Be Me” from Mean Girls: a song I’d loved since seeing the show on Broadway in 2019. It’s not a song you can just stand and sing. It demands more: movement, attitude, and energy. The whole song is about taking up space and not caring what anyone else thinks.

As a 13-year-old musical theater fanatic on her first trip to New York City, I stood at the Winter Garden Theatre stage door on a hot August afternoon in 2019.

I wanted to share my recent experiences this semester with getting involved in New Works Productions and Musical Theater Writing, which can be an incredibly overlooked part of the industry. I talk about what these experiences have taught me and give ideas on ways you can support and get involved with New Works too!

These kids get to be themselves every day in the drama department without a price tag holding them back.

Growing up, the two places that defined me and my identity were the theatre and my synagogue. I would be nowhere without either of these character-defining places and communities. As Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) approaches on April 14, I thought I would reflect on how my two loves have combined. Since now making my own work through the theatre, I have found myself using what I know to inform my work.

What does it mean to be a minority? Well, in the most generalized terms, being a minority means you are part of a population that makes up less than 50% of the total population. Whether it be race, class, gender, or sexuality, minorities and their stories are continuously underrepresented in creative spaces. However, entertainment seems to be shifting towards more representative narratives, and I hope that I can be a part of creating this new standard. 

After the sometimes difficult, sometimes depressing winter, it is always nice to refresh, reset, and bloom as spring begins. This spring, I have shifted my focus from the dark, cold of winter to the literal and metaphorical brightness of spring. The world can be so heavy, especially as a college student with seemingly endless, compounding assignments and worries, and I’ve decided this year that, rather than dwell on my own anxiety and stress, I am trying to focus more on the joy and light around me.

Broadway, to me, has always been more than a stage. It is a heartbeat. It is the hush before the curtain rises, the sounds of the overture, the kind of magic that turns strangers into family in the span of a single song

Learn more Darnell Abraham as he shares his experience as a performer on the National and International Tours of Hamilton, as well as the National Tour of The Lion King. Additionally, learn about his new work as a Voice and Speech Professor at Manhattanville University.

Aubrie Williams (Audience Engagement Manager) speaks on accessibility at the Wilma Theater and The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington.

Putting yourself out there to audition is one of the scariest things you can do whether as a full time actor, full time techie or someone who falls in between.

I had the privilege of watching my local theater's production of Jagged Little Pill while I was home for spring break. It was the first time since I was younger that I had gone to see a show in a community theater as opposed to a Broadway production.

Going into auditions, I had already made assumptions about where I fit. I’m a freshman. I’m 18. And while I’ve played older roles before in high school (roles I absolutely loved), I guess I thought college would be different. I assumed I’d need to “work my way up” before being considered for characters like that again. So I didn’t audition for Grandpa Joe specifically. I didn’t really let myself imagine it as a possibility.

Have you ever auditioned for a show? Have you ever gone after a role that you felt that you were perfect for? Have you ever spent days anxiously awaiting a cast list?

A comfort zone is a funny thing. I feel like as actors, we’re never able to truly understand what our comfort zone is exactly. Sometimes, we push ourselves in the name of the craft, but really, we’re just being placed in the uncomfortable, and learning to find solace there. Recently, I stepped out of my comfort zone when I began writing again.

Ultimately, this experience proved something very important to me: Theatre that challenges us helps us grow. After seeing GATZ, ideas about how to increase immersion and stretch the limits of my own theatrical work continue to spark. This show proved to me that, with a strong directorial concept and careful creation, an audience can be enraptured for the length of an entire novel.

For the past few months, I have been working on a film adaptation of the novel. Before we started filming, I talked to Caroline Garret, who plays Tegan Everly in the film about the upcoming production and her character and the upcoming production.

After a few months, The Villanova Belles were brought to life. But, don’t forget, I’m a dancer first. I was suddenly the President of a group of twelve girls eager to start singing, and I was terrified. Thankfully, a few of our girls are very skilled when it comes to arranging music, but truthfully I had no clue where to begin.

I knew there were three things I had to do for my tech week to be as successful as possible:  1. Establish a new routine   2. Lean on my new support system at college   3.Be open to taking risks and going out of my comfort zone 

Getting back into the rhythm of school is difficult after a week off. Spring break is timed perfectly to throw students right back into the deep end of work when they return. My friends and I were met with exams and papers as welcome back gifts from our professors. While most students were enjoying our time away from the stress of classes, assignment notifications were eagerly awaiting our return.

None of my routines are perfect or even fully intentional. They’ve really just developed over time for me, and they are guided by the pace of my BFA program and my life as well. I’ve realized that my routines make things just a little easier to manage every day.

When not all the elements of a traditional production are present, things get stripped down to a more raw place. The focus is almost entirely on your voice, your instincts, and your ability to bring the material to life in a more intimate way. I had to trust that even the smallest decisions could still carry importance, and I wanted to challenge myself to approach things differently.