Student Blog: Fail Big!

A little background about me- I'm from Clearwater, Florida and I have always wanted to pursue Musical Theatre- I went into college believing this with every ounce of my soul (and I still do, but it was truly my entire personality). Throughout my time at Baylor, and through a wonderfully holistic education, I found other loves within the world of theatre. If you would have asked Freshman me if I wished I had gone the Conservatory route, I would have broken down crying and said yes. I felt wildly out of place in an acting-focused program, I had read maybe a handful of straight plays in my whole life and I just wanted to sing and dance all day. But I eventually came to the realization that a holistic education in both theatre and other classes was truly important to me! I have always liked school and taking non-major related classes ended up being a much needed break from the life of a theatre major! Having an outlet outside of theatre and your department is truly so important, but I digress.

My sophomore year I found a deep passion for theatre history and Shakespeare. Both of these fixations could have been predicted- I was going to study History if I didn't get into a program that I loved, and I have a taste for the dramatic, and what is Shakespeare if not dramatic? But in all seriousness, I found a certain level of truthfulness and beauty in Shakespeare and other Early Modern works that I connected with immediately. From that day on, I decided to make Shakespeare my core personality trait- I even started a Shakespeare blog- Lady M Shakespeare (and a TikTok)!

My senior year, I went through some major personal growth. I started binge reading plays and writing about them like it was my job, and I got involved with new works. This was also when I declared my History Minor. Through my Minor, I focused on Women's and Early Modern English History (I think you can see where this is headed). To no one's surprise, Shakespearean Women became my specialty. I wrote considerable papers on Christian Misogyny in Shakespearean Literature and the sexist/political nature of Witchcraft that is present in this genre of dramatic literature. This research then resulted in something that I am really, really proud of- I wrote a play. It's entitled "Frailty, Thy Name Is Woman" and it is an exploration of Christian Misogyny in Shakespearean Literature through scene study. I recently acquired copyright for it and am so proud to say that I formally own my play!

As you can tell, I have a dual passion for both theatre and academia. I feel confident in my education to pursue a career as an actor and to begin to navigate this crazy industry, but I felt as if I could take my education further on the academia side. I found this incredible program in London that was split between King's College and Shakespeare's Globe, and I applied on a whim thinking if I didn't get it then I would just make the move to New York and start auditioning- well, despite all of the imposter syndrome, I got in! I'm still trying to find my footing in the world of academia, but I can say that this jump was entirely worth it!

SO, I am hereby giving you permission to explore all of your passions! You can try new things and build other skill sets while still staying true to your (in my case, musical theatre) roots and grow both passions consecutively! Being well-rounded as an artist is so important AND it is especially important that you have a life outside of theatre! Sometimes, and I promise you will feel this at some point, you just need to not think about that audition or monologues for a little bit- and I promise it's ok! College is the time for you to try new things and "fail big" so take every opportunity presented to you to grow and learn! You never know, you may be pleasantly surprised by something and find a brand new lifelong passion!

Now for some shameless plugging:

You can follow my Shakespeare blog, Lady M Shakespeare, on Instagram and TikTok @ladymshakespeare, or on Facebook. You can also find it at ladymshakespeare.com

"Frailty, Thy Name Is Woman" is available on New Play Exchange here: https://newplayexchange.org/.../frailty-thy-name-woman