BWW Blog: Curtains Up!

Hello fellow thespians and welcome to my new blog for BroadwayWorld! I am so excited to have you all come along with me on my adventures in collegiate theatre! I should begin by letting you all know a little bit about myself. My name is Annelise; I'm a sophomore working towards a B.A. in Theatre at Messiah College. I've been acting in theatrical productions my whole life, and I still find it to be my passion in life. In addition to being an actor, I am also a director and costume designer, two areas of theatre that I am finding just as wonderful as performance. Anyway, enough with the introductions for now; let's move on to the fun stuff!

This is shaping up to be a crazy week for me! I am currently working on my college's production of Shakespeare's The Tempest, both as an actor and a props master. I am really enjoying my first foray into Shakespeare outside of high school English class! He is such a fun playwright to perform. Every new discovery is like a glittering jewel that adds to the entire piece, but more on that in a future post.

The most pressing item on my plate at the moment is the fact that I am just about to enter tech week for a different show! With tech week comes all of the usual stresses and worries, and to be honest, the massive amount of work involved with balancing a tech week, regular rehearsals for another show, work, and school is kind of killing me at the moment. I wish I had a list of tech week hacks, but I am still trying to figure out how to make it all work myself. However, all of this is part of my journey as a theatre artist. After all, you can't get diamonds without a little pressure, right?

In spite of all of this, I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of this show. This particular play, a super exciting murder mystery that is full of interesting plot lines and shocking surprises, is produced by my college's chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, better known as APO. I have been privileged to work with APO several times over the course of my time here, and I am now our chapter's secretary, which is a position that I really enjoy! Being a part of an organization that is made up of students who are passionate about theatre and all bring really unique elements to the table for our shows has afforded me a different perspective on the production process that has been really fun to discover! I'm so looking forward to our growth as an organization and all the lessons that I have to learn.

Theatre is something that obviously means a lot to me, and I am so excited to share my adventures, experiences, and discoveries with you all! I'll be back next week with a more in-depth look at The Tempest and our process for bringing it to life! Until next time!