I just spent this fall season at five different colleges every weekend, auditioning for BFA musical theatre programs and I have learned a lot along the way. Here are 10 things I wish I knew before I embarked on this journey.

In taking the class this semester, I learned so much about how theatre makes an impact on our community (yes, that is the class title and it is self explanatory). I learned about other theatre companies make their impact such as La Poca Nostra, the Yes Men, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. I got the chance to research issues affecting our communities and collaborate with my classmates to make art addressing those issues. This show was certainly one for the books. With a minimal amount of rehearsal time, we put this show together within a matter of weeks. Everyone took on a wide array of responsibilities and I couldn't be prouder of my classmates. Here is what some of them had to say about their experiences:

Every year, Auburn University Theatre hosts the East Alabama Community Ballet's The Nutcracker in early December. For the past three years, I have been a part of this process, running sound for many dress rehearsals, performances, oftentimes morning shows, and tea parties. It truly is an experience. From Monday to Sunday this year, I worked 40 hours, which sounds like a pretty normal workweek for the average person. Except I am a full-time student, and this is in the middle of finals week.

(*Boom-Boom... Boom-Boom... Boom-Boom *)

Welcome Back! Decisions have been made and by the time you read this article we are merely days away from displaying our work and findings from the semester. Our title has been finalized as ?em-p?-th?. If you notice or it needs to be explained, this is the phonetic spelling of empathy, which has been the overall theme to our work. Our company has been hard at work in rehearsals and in the classroom. I decided to get an inside scoop from my classmates on their thoughts about the production and the class this semester as a whole. Let's get started shall we?

So, around this time of year, AU Singers, Auburn University's Showchoir, is gearing up for performances. This December, their lineup included Believe from The Polar Express, The Christmas Can-Can, and Jailhouse Rock, among many other songs. People from all over the campus are involved in Singers - from music education, to theatre, to applied discrete mathematics, engineering, economics, and biomedical sciences. They all have very distinct personalities, and it's nice to seem them working together to get their show to be the best it can be. The common goal really brings them together in a way that they focus mostly on the group ensemble.

The Lorax may not appear in the TYA version of Seussical, but that didn't stop his Truffula trees from taking over the Annex Theatre stage this past weekend. We walked into rehearsal last Monday morning to see that our creative and kooky set was finished and ready for play. Since then, our technical team has been working hard to paint this canvas. They have truly been bringing the Jungle of Nool and the Planet of Who to life!

On November 19th, we played our last performance of Our Town at the University of New Haven. Every show had a unique element to it. Thanks to our dramaturg, Dr. Margaret Savilonis, and our helpful reliable team of ushers, the program contained an insert asking us what we would put into a time capsule, referring to the Act 1 speech from the Narrator. At the end of the show, to the audiences amazement, they walked out to the lobby which had their answers (which were collected at intermission) projected onto an image of the night sky. Like any show, we were sad to see it end. We learned about each other and ourselves through this process and we grew closer as a department.

Well readers, your Canadian gal made a trip to the Big Apple the week of the election! I don't know how to describe my 10000th trip - wonderful! No, 'S'wonderful! Not only were we in the midst of the election, we were surrounded by Broadway greatness everywhere we went! Here are my Top Five Broadway moments!

For a few evenings during the week, several students change out of their business casual attire and push the rows of desks towards the wall, creating a makeshift rehearsal studio in an empty classroom. Within four brightly painted walls, students create art. They abandon homework for a few hours to direct, rehearse, and produce a play. For the fall of 2016, the King's College has decided to tackle Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. This show simultaneously takes place in 1809 and 1993. The 1993 characters spend their scenes researching and debating the lives, landscape, and literature of 1809 Sidley Park, a place of genius discoveries and scandal. Caitlin Coats, the freshman who plays Hannah, said that this show is 'intellectual and absurdist.'

Currently, I'm working on an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It's been one of my favorite stories since the first time I read it in high school, and I was interested to see it adapted on stage. Somehow, I'm not running sound for this show, so I picked up being a dresser instead. I've been a dresser once before, and the time constraint really stressed me out. But, I decided to try it out again. I've learned a lot doing this show - mainly because I truly understand my job now. The last time, I was running around, lost and confused. But I've learned a lot.

On Sunday November 6th, the Broadway Advocacy Coalition held the first in a series of monthly events called The Invitation. The theme was Political Participation. The Coalition has teamed up with professors, lawyers, and students at Columbia Law School in an effort to bring the arts and policies together. The Broadway Advocacy Coalition was formed after a social media post from Amber Iman became a movement. Her fellow Broadway actors Adrienne Warren, Britton Smith, Cameron J. Ross, Christian Dante White, and Jackie Bell came together with her to organize an event to bring to light the plight of Black people in America. After the success of that first event, Broadway for Black Lives Matter, they decided to expand their programming to include The Invitation.

Welcome back! By the time you see this article we will be 2 short days from OPENING NIGHT! Tech week is a time people dread, a time people love, a magical time where everything comes together. I decided to find out how my fellow cast members survive this week and comprised a not so short list of things that can help make this stressful time a little easier for everyone involved.

'You've both discovered something important that you really care about. It's just not together.' (Kiri-Lyn on 'Notice Me Horton')

Oh, The Places We'll Go!

John Cage, an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher, and artist, was interested in finding and collecting ordinary sounds to use; he wanted to capture and control them to use them as musical instruments. His pieces included normal objects as the instruments, something previously rejected in terms of art and in terms of sound. Most of the people who are interested in sound, then and now, would use the things he recorded in the field as sound effects: a car driving at 50 miles per hour, rain, or the static between radio stations. But instead, he used them to create music. A Chicago critic wrote about one of his concerts and the musicians' use of 'beer bottles, flowerpots, cowbells, and automobile brake drums' to create a musical piece some might call noise, but one that John Cage called music.

This week takes a turn to the future well, sort of. The future of Act three is the topic of the week. We find ourselves in an implied graveyard with rows of chairs and the inhabitants of those chairs represent the gravestones of the dearly departed.

Since my last blog, some stuff has happened!

As stated last week, the concept of family is a very large aspect of this production. Last week, we had the pleasure of meeting the Gibbs family. This week we get an inside look at the perspective of theatre and the production from the Webb family.

If you're a theatre major, chances are all your classes are in the same building, and all the work you do is in the theater. We're oftentimes 'stuck' here - spending the breaks of our days in the green room or design studios, doing homework, reading, designing. When I get the chance to work or do something outside of my confined space, I take it.

On News Year's Eve of seventh grade, I made the resolution to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. Little did I know as a twelve year old that this would lead me down an exciting path towards an outgoing, theatrical me! I began to make the conscious choices that would push me out of my little bubble. Before long I was doing theatre and learning new styles of dance. By the end of senior year, I figured I would continue to step out of my comfort zone and move from little Boise, Idaho all the way to New York City for school. That is when I learned that I had a flaw in my mentality, as I soon discovered that life was not just about being willing to try new things, but about having the courage to fail.

The concept of family is a very large aspect of this production. The cast becomes a family through bonding; the script features two every day families. This week, we have the pleasure of meeting the Gibbs family and getting an inside look at their perspective of theatre and the production.

This week has been a lot of schoolwork and rehearsals (the usual). So, I decided to interview one of my favorite humans who happens to also be in the theatre. LeeAnn Dowd was the first Chapman person I met; it was during the summer before my freshman year in NYC while she was interning. We instantly hit it off and she even came to one of our shows! During my freshman year I looked at LeeAnn, a senior at the time, as a role model; she started Cross the Line with another senior, Sierra Stenzel, the club that I'm leading now. Our outlook on theatre was very similar. We also went on to do ASTEP's Artist as Citizen Conference together, which was an incredible experience for us to share. Even though LeeAnn has graduated and moved to San Francisco, we still keep in touch and she graciously let me interview her for the blog. Hope you enjoy getting to know a recent post-grad perspective!

How one Rocky Horror director aims to do more than put on a show.

I binge-watched the entire first season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend last month because I'd been hearing good things about it for a while and finally decided to see it for myself. It absolutely lives up to the hype-it's unlike anything I've ever seen on TV. The brainchild of Rachel Bloom follows a big-shot New York lawyer (played by Bloom) as she moves across the country on a whim to be with her high school boyfriend whom she hasn't spoken to in more than ten years. You can imagine the chaos that ensues. The show is a theater kid's dream. Each episode is like a mini-musical. The songs are amazing, the dialogue and storylines are hilarious, and the characters are, like every day people, flawed but lovable. In honor of Season 2's upcoming premiere, I thought I'd share my top five favorite songs so far (in no particular order):