Student Blog: Tools of the Trade, Managing a Theatre Life with University Courses

Managing a course load, theatre, and work has always been a hot topic between me and my friends at JMU. We are a B.A. Theatre program which means that on top of taking performance and technical theatre classes/practicums we are also required to complete university general education courses like math, science, humanities, history, and many other typical muggle classes in order to graduate.

I’ve found that when trying to balance the courses, I put priority over finishing these muggle courses while completing required prerequisites for the major. That doesn’t mean however that I was any less involved in making theatre during my first two years. In fact, I found the opposite. As a freshman in my fall semester, I assistant sound designed a show with no prior sound design experience and in the spring, I was Mr. Mushnik in our production of Little Shop of Horrors while I helped make the dramaturgy lobby display for our production of Chicago and was crew for our production of R.U.R (Rosseum’s Universal Robots). The following fall I was a swing in our production of Sunday in the Park with George and was an actor in our directing festival DFest. And most recently, I was co-dramaturg of our production of The SpongeBob Musical in which I created an extensive lobby display full of fidget toys, fun games, and a craft room that I ran with help from my friends every show. I was able to do all of this while still taking math at 8am, working shifts at the box office, and being in an executive position in my acapella group. 

I honor that for most people, this could 100% cause burnout. How on earth do you have emotional time for all of this? Well, as a recovering people pleaser and perfectionist I learned very quickly what things required more emotional attention than others and how to divide it accordingly. I’ll give you a perfect example and show you how I plan on managing this upcoming fall semester, which is the most packed I’ve ever been extracurricular-wise  with 18 credits.

My work for fall actually begins in the summer. I know that during the fall most of my time will be spent focusing on Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play and my theatre courses. This means that any extracurricular work for my acapella group needs to be completed over the summer so I can start the fall off strong. Since getting home in May, I’ve spent my Mon-Fri, 12pm to 5pm working on tasks for The Black Ties like setting up our summer GoFundMe and other fundraisers, contacting various local restaurants, festivals, and venues who pique our interest to solidify performances dates for the fall, providing JMU event coordinators with information they need for JMU Acapella events, booking the venue for our fall semester concert, and checking our groups Gmail and replying accordingly. This fall, on top of being in a play I’m taking a ballet course, a musical theater history course, a contemporary acting course, a music theory course, a musical theatre performance course, sound shop practicum, and will be working my day and night shifts at the box office. I know for a fact that if I waited until the start of the semester I would not be able to do any of my acapella work without having to drop it. I took on the work knowing that I could complete it well and right because I know myself and how much I can take on before I burnout. 

Knowing how much you can take on is already half the battle but taking on work that you love doing and are passionate about is another way to keep sane while managing the work. Without fail, the work that takes me forever to do, that I procrastinate for months doing, is because I don’t find joy in it. To most people, my schedule looks crazy and it is to someone who doesn’t find the work rewarding. But to me, all of these classes are courses I’m excited to take and actively participate in. My box office work not only gives me a space to work on these classes but it’s a welcoming place full of people I get excited to see. This play is just me and my friends creating art while also keeping in mind we are all just as busy with some cast members acting in this show and actively designing another. Knowing your limits but also respecting the limits of people around you helps manage the work while also making it rewarding.