Student Blogger: Sydney Emerson - Page 2

Every waking moment since last  Wednesday, I am consumed with an overwhelming anxiety about our country.

So, the next time  you’re faced with too much on your plate, do yourself a favor. Say no.

Although my work is just beginning, it is already indebted to him. And so, I say,  O Captain! my Captain! Thank you.

Public libraries are small town America’s lifeline. More than just a place to pick  up a book, in rural places like the one I live in, they are the cultural heart of the town. 

To me, a musical movie isn’t merely a stage production on film.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to direct for the first time. It wasn’t anything huge, just a  short play during a night of staged readings put on by Allegheny College Student Experimental  Theatre (S.E.T.).

“I just don’t get it—how a mediocre actor from a measly little town is suddenly  the brightest jewel in England’s royal crown.” Barely ten minutes into the show,  Something Rotten manages to sum up exactly how most students feel about William  Shakespeare—ambivalent at best and loathful at worst. 

For those of us attending school remotely, ita??s a whole new world.

Ten hours. Three teams. One line and one prop. All-Day Theatre Fest tested my  creative will-power, my imagination, and in the age of COVID-19, my laptopa??s battery life.

What frequently starts as friendly debate can instantly transform into criticizing other Broadway fansa?? tastes, usually in an attempt to prove some sort of superior appreciation of the artsa?"in short, gatekeeping.

a?oeIa??m going to branch outa??a?"the famous last words of every newly-minted college student.

Ia??ve found myself looking back and reminiscing on productions past. 

With the release of Hamilton on Disney+ last week, the discourse over the musical's portrayal of the founding fathers has been reignited, a prevailing sentiment being that the show is too problematic to view.

Like most small-town theatre lovers entering college, the extent of my theatrical experience was the annual school musical and a smattering of community theatre productions.

The play was supposed to run after spring breaka?"a break that we never came back from. We left our play where it sat, our dorm rooms like museum exhibits. Sensing the mounting stakes, we threw together an open dress rehearsal, desperate to get the play in front of an audience just once.