Student Blog: First Blog - Get to Know Me!

Hi everyone! My name is Samantha Tempkin, and I am so thrilled to be joining Broadway World’s student blogger team! Broadway World has long been my go-to source of theater-related news, so getting to join this community as a writer is amazing, but also a little bit nerve-wracking if I’m being honest! Although I love writing, it has been a while since I’ve written about my own experiences and thoughts on a platform such as this one. My hope is that I can use these blogs to connect with students like myself surrounding the highs and lows of getting an education or being involved in theater. Even though I definitely won’t have the answer for everything, it has always helped me to know that there are other people having the same experiences as me, especially in a community like show business that can sometimes be difficult to navigate. That being said, I hope I can be that person for you and that you enjoy these blogs!

So to introduce myself a bit further, I’m Samantha Tempkin (most people call me Sam) and I am a rising senior at Muhlenberg College currently getting my B.A. in Theater and Media & Communications (the idea of being a senior makes me ill, but I digress). Theater has been one of my greatest passions for as long as I can remember, and I think I can definitely attribute that to the fact that my parents actually met through mutual friends at a theater company they both worked at. Given that my mom and dad shared a love for theater themselves, showtunes and movie musicals were almost always playing in my household, and it was not long before my mom enrolled me in acting classes at Paper Mill Playhouse. I started performing in shows in second grade at my local JCC, and I continued performing there as well as within school productions and as part of Paper Mill Playhouse’s Children’s Theater on Tour. 

Paper Mill has always been a very big part of my life, and it continues to be as I am working as a classroom intern for its musical theater conservatory program this summer. Even though most of my experiences in theater have been performance-oriented, my experiences working at Paper Mill and studying at Muhlenberg College have allowed me to explore and participate within other elements of the industry, such as education, stage management, and event coordination.

In addition to theater, I am involved in organizations on campus such as a capella and my student newspaper! I also recently returned from a semester abroad in London which I fear is turning me into THAT person (“cheerio! OOPS so sorry, I meant hello! I don’t know if you know this but I just studied abroad in London”) but I’m going to try very hard not to be. Although I was lucky to see a lot of great theater while abroad, it has been a long time since I’ve done anything theater-related myself. Truthfully, I am a bit nervous about getting back into the world of theater again as it has not always been the easiest experience. However, being away from it for so long has also brought me to the realization that I miss it a lot, so I look forward to rediscovering my love of theater through these blogs and through my senior year experiences!