Student Blog: The World Turned Upside Down - A Year of Gaining a BFA in Musical Theatre Online

Let's set the stage: A twenty-year-old girl in a bright pink crop top in a 200 sq ft apartment, her furniture stacked on top of each other, a tripod balanced on top of a footstool on her bed, her stuffed animals looking on mockingly, and a show tune exuberantly playing in the background. As she prepares for a jump, the heel of her LaDuca catches on the edge of her couch and sends her sprawling. Record scratch... You may be wondering how I got here.

If you are any human in the world, you actually probably aren't wondering how I got here. This situation is one of many that perfectly describes the life of a Musical Theatre major in the midst of a global pandemic. I entered my third semester of college in September 2020 with a positive attitude, a neat and organized work-from-home space, and a weekly zoom screening of the Twilight series in my calendar. I finished my 4th semester of college in May 2021 with two broken computers, shin splints, and a tension headache.

As we drifted further and further from the world we remembered, my anxiety grew and my zoom fatigue flourished. I searched for the motivation to work, through morning meditation, spin classes, podcasts, and Broadway.com vlogs, but it felt near impossible to motivate myself for an industry that was currently silent. It felt like trying to ignite a fire with damp wood - the spark was there, but never the flame.

The couch vs LaDuca brawl was not an isolated incident. Numerous pieces of furniture endured blows from my flailing dancing limbs, and my poorly assembled desk chair suffered multiple casualties that ended with me on the floor. My one slice of sanity, the room divider curtain that separated work, school, and social life from my corner of solitude on my bed, was ripped down countless times as I rushed to turn on my laptop, grab my oat milk iced chai, or reassemble my room for ballet class. That thin shred of fabric that separated my ten feet of space was aggressively necessary in maintaining the balance between my work life, and my space for rest, and when it was stripped away, my virtual world couldn't help but feel all-consuming.

Performers are natural extroverts, and being forced into solitude for a year can swallow you whole. Instead of allowing this moment of pause to drive the theatre community apart, I was able to forge new connections by taking virtual classes with teachers all over the country. My peers and colleagues began putting out an inspiring amount of content, which I admired and consumed during the first half of the pandemic. As time drew on I began to wonder, why not me? There is nothing stopping me from sharing my artistic voice, in a time where the arts are so needed. I began to share my work, and in the process, I discovered the value in my creativity and the power in my unique perspective.

Life is far from back to normal. But just as the feelings of loneliness and despair were all-consuming at the height of the pandemic, the feeling of hope now carries me through the day. Live theatre is back on the horizon, Broadway is starting to buzz again, and a renaissance of theatre is dawning, and whether I have to partake from my living room, or in person, you can bet I will be there.

- Dylan Kerr

To post a comment, you must register and login.