At the end of our first year in Boston University's School of Theatre performance core, we declare our major to decide the theater performance training we'll focus on: BFA Acting or Theatre Arts. For some the decision is easy, whereas for others (*cough cough…* me) it most definitely isn't. 

If you are a fan of musicals, if you dream about seeing your name in the marquee on a Broadway show, if you have a kid that wants to be an artist or if you think you have no chance to be a star (in any way) on the theater or entertainment world, you need to watch Better Nate Than Ever.

Picture a history buff high school freshman, who is hypercritical of this new musical that had just come out a year before about one of the Founding Fathers and is griping about all the historical inaccuracies. Flash forward to 2020, when said musical debuts on Disney+. That newly graduated high school senior had just had her perspective changed.

Although it is important to have physical copies of scripts and scores, I personally prefer to have them on a tablet because it is cleaner. I normally only need them before rehearsals to work out my actions, lines, and character work but the moment I get into the rehearsal, I no longer need them, therefore a soft copy would suffice.

The stage in my high school auditorium became a second home for four years of my life. Following closely behind the field hockey field where I spent hours running through drills, celebrating wins with my teammates and more, the stage brought nothing but comfort during musical season. I laughed, I cried, I made unforgettable memories up there. But when my high school years came to an end, so did my career in musical theater.

As an artist, it can be hard to put yourself before your craft. I turned to the Tisch Drama community to ask: how do artists take care of themselves? What keeps them from getting overwhelmed? What calms them down? Their knowledge resulted in a beautiful collection of artistic advice that I am honored to share with you now.

For Autism Acceptance Month, Student Blogger Bea shares a story of autism acceptance through t-shirts.

It's never too late to study something you love. Why am I saying this, because even though I am about to finish my undergraduate study in International Relations (which I do enjoy very much), I am pleased to say that I will be continuing my education in the subject I so dearly love: Musical Theatre

For one of my friends, Nea is the definition of a new start. I first met Nea Somogyi in Costa Rica, almost six years ago. She was working on a production of Into the Woods with her classmates, and she asked me if I was interested in playing the Steward and Cinderella’s Father. I accepted without hesitation, and that musical changed my life.

In December, I was elected as the 2022 President of Penn Singers Light Opera Company and took on the role of producer for our production of Patience. While producing can be an incredibly busy and crazy job with many COVID complications to deal with on top of normal problems, it has been a pleasure to facilitate a fantastic group of artists.

Hi! It's Makalah here back with another blog post, but this one is a little different than the others. I have been doing a bit of reflecting over the past few weeks. Time is going by incredibly fast and in 6 weeks I would have completed my undergraduate degree at Nazareth College. Scary right? With time comes change and new experiences. Although I'm very excited for what the future has in store for me, I'm equally as anxious and nervous. Being someone whose constantly busy, always on the go, I've decided to slow down these past few weeks. Really enjoy the last 6 weeks I have as a college student before I truly become an 'Adult'.

At the beginning of the semester, I did not get into any of the shows I auditioned for. I was upset, but thought that it meant I was going to have a quiet and boring semester. I was wrong. My advisor asked me if I wanted to stage manage a show for her. This was something that I had never done or ever thought I would do, but I took a chance and I'm so glad I did. Here are some tips that I learned as a first-time stage manager.

How can we create a safe environment for everyone on and off stage? The first step is quite clear: creating boundaries that allow you to feel comfortable. From there, everything can feel much more difficult. I want to help with that. Here is my plan for creating an accountable boundary system at work and in my future theatrical endeavors.

Before I began my studies at NYU, I went to an accepted students day on campus, and at that accepted students day I went to a study abroad information session, where I learned about the ITW program and decided that I needed to go. Even back then, it sounded like a dream program, and I recently found out I got in!

As actors, we're usually pretty busy day in and day out, but every so often we get just enough time to relax and curl up with a nice book. A fictional novel never fails as the best form of escape- we're not reading it to search for monologues or scenes to work. Rather, it's a chance for us to lose ourselves in a story while also resting our actor's brains for a bit. We're not responsible for telling the story when we have a book to read; we're simply letting the story come to us. Yet, despite the love we have for a good work of fiction in which we can dissolve ourselves, we do still search for something we can connect to and learn from within the fictional writing. These criteria point to one particular book that all actors should read, a 2019 novel titled The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis. This is a story of friendship, betrayal, feminism, freedom, and of course, theatre that provides a level of relatability along with its ability to satisfy anyone's craving for a beautiful piece of fiction.

A Student's perspective being a college understudy in college

I was cast as 'Dorothy' in Plaza Theatricals' production of The Wizard of Oz in December for four performances. Fast forward to now, the run was successful and we are now touring the show throughout NY.

Golden Age musicals are loved for good reason, but many of them become problematic when we analyze them critically. I think it is important they maintain a place in our repertoire, so long as they are handled appropriately.

Going on two years in this pandemic when we all thought it was only going to last a few weeks has absolutely changed how I look at the future. Watching this musical prompted me to further think about how we as a society can confront the challenge of uncertainty while also adapting to whatever comes our way and how to not live in fear when we are faced with difficult obstacles.

Life isn’t a simple thing, but realizing that feeling happy and sad simultaneously is normal, may help out a little bit.

Given the current events affecting our world, it is understandable that many of us seek an escape through theater and film. Due to the pandemic, the worlds of theater and film have begun to merge with Broadway artists and creators participating in their first major films, such as tick, tick… Boom and West Side Story. This past Sunday many of these films and artists received gratifying recognition at the Oscars Ceremony at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Thus, with the Oscars Ceremony coincidentally occurring on World Theatre Day, it only makes sense that Broadway won big at the Oscars.

Musical theater was introduced to me when I saw my oldest sister Jenna in her high school production of Meet Me in St. Louis during her freshman year when I was in third grade. I never watched something so intensely and I thought to myself “I want to be on that stage.”

COVID-19 covered the world in an oppressive shadow, forcing us inside and alone but these strifes would lead to even greater creations: virtual performances via Zoom, Facetime karaoke nights, and front-row seats to Broadway’s finest from our living room couch. And, I'm proud to announce that this week my school will be performing Mamma Mia!, our first musical since the world shut down. C'mon, Saguaro High School, let's bring down the house!

I was first involved in a devising process my senior year of high school. I'm not sure how accurate a devising experience it was because none of us had any idea what we were doing.

It’s been not a long time since I became a theater fan, even though I’ve learnt many things with my experience as part of the audience and with my perspective as a student of a career that involves art, I’ve got to reflect about theater in my city: Mexico City.