As I begin this new job, I find myself stuck in this odd adult-but-not-quite limbo. For those readers who aren't familiar with the term 'summer stock', it is a period of about two or three months during which a group of young emerging artists are sent to a remote, usually rustic, location to perform a handful of shows in rapid-fire succession.

There's no getting around it: Broadway is expensive. For a broke soon-to-be college student like myself, the prospect of scrounging up enough dollar bills to purchase a ticket to Something Rotten is a daunting one. So what are those of us without the means to experience professional theatre to do? In some cases, all we have to do is switch on the television or take a trip to the movie theater to see a musical come to life.

9. Alex Brightman and the cast of School of Rock-The Musical:

Whether it be for a job interview, a sports team try out, or auditions for a show, we've all been kept waiting anxiously for results. 'Did I do well enough?' 'Did they like it?' 'It would have been better if I had done this.' Cue 'I Hope I Get It' from A Chorus Line. You begin to over analyze the performance you gave. You crave a sense of approval and validation. The audition haunts you until you get that email, phone call, see the physical list posted on a bulletin board, or however the director shares the information. I don't like thinking that things are a 'sure thing'. If it's my first time auditioning for a group/director or they are a close friend of mine that I've sung for dozens of times, I always make sure to bring my A game and the nerves are still there. How do we deal with post audition anxiety? How do we deal with the waiting? Cue Sutton Foster singing that C# for a near fourteen counts in 'I Know It's Today' from Shrek the Musical.

The hardest lesson to learn as a newly graduated theatre nerd, is that actors do not get a summer vacation.

When I first joined my theater group at school, I had no idea I was going to find a second family. Every single person in my theater group has such a special bond. No one is ever left out. From day one, everyone just clicked. When I walked in as a freshman, I had no idea who was going to even talk to me. Everyone right away came up to me and introduced themselves to me and we were instantly talking like we've known each other for years.

Introducing our production of Footloose to you involved some mental math. As a refresher, the show was announced in January, auditions were held in April and rehearsals will soon start at the end of June. That's six months of project checkpoints, with the last stages of our Randolph training being a steady source of continuity. Perhaps distinct from other systems with an imminent end, our training is amping up as opposed to wrapping up. How so? I offer three ways: Integration Assignments, MTP SS and Panels.

Backbeard: A New Musical found its first audiences this past Wednesday, and we were tremendously busy leading up the first performance. Regardless of what time of day it was, a plethora of artists were working around the clock to see the visions of Backbeard's creators through to opening day. The final week before opening was an integral period of growth for artists, creators, designers, and technical staff. After weeks (or in Backbeard's case, years) of immersion in the text and the projected visions of artists, the final stretch presented the actualization of the piece, and the monstrous effort of a family of artists was realized.

We all have our proudest moments. They may not always be the day you got the 'starring role', but maybe it is. Everyone has that one instant in their life that makes them smile. This week, we're going to talk about your proudest moment in theater. Whether you pursued theater your entire life, only did it in high school, or maybe still getting your feet wet; your experience in theater has an everlasting impact on your life whether you realize it or not. I love asking questions and I love getting to know people, so I went out and found out people's proudest moments in theater.

And just like that, the school year goes by in a blink. If you're anything like me, you always had a show. Whenever one show ended, another show began. This year was a record for the most shows I had done in the course of a year. Now all of my school shows are done and I await the next audition announcement. I know what you're thinking, 'Wow, that's great! You finally have a break to just relax and have fun!' Wrong. I went from doing four back to back (and some overlapping) productions fall semester, to doing three productions spring semester (again back to back and overlapping), to nothing. Some people spend so much time balancing a busy schedule that they don't really know what to do with free time. I am one of those people. Not to worry friends, we'll get through this together!

Struggles of being a small town Broadway fan in a Top 12 list

Imagine: your childhood hero, the woman who coined one of your 8-year-old self's favorite songs, holding your hand in front of hundreds of people, the renowned Phoenix Symphony gushing in gorgeous melodies behind you. You are surrounded by your friends and classmates, and bowing in front of an ocean of applauding strangers. No, this is not a dream. This was very much reality. Last weekend I had the opportunity of performing backup vocals with fifteen of my classmates at Arizona State University, for Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth.

Since discovering BroadwayWorld.com in freshman year of high school, I have been hooked! No other website makes me feel as 'in the loop' with New York as this site. Being from a small town in Canada, I enjoy everything BroadwayWorld has to offer. It's been my home sweet homepage ever since!

We are about to enter our final week of rehearsal for Backbeard: A New Musical at the Theatre Institute at Sage! This Friday, we will begin technical rehearsals for the show, and we open for school groups next Wednesday, June 1st. It will be an exciting last week as the final details are hammered out and we finally see the results of our efforts come to fruition.

Randolph Academy's Class of 2016 (Summer) is graduating in 81 days and I am but one member of this sizeable and extraordinary group. It is my absolute pleasure to share the work on our last production, Footloose, with you over the next few months. Hey, my name is Naomi!

If you're reading this, chances are I do not need to describe what many refer to as 'the magic' of theatre. You're probably living it right now. Whether this idea refers to the relationships within a cast, the effect of the show on an audience, or simply the energy that you can only feel onstage, there is certainly something special about being a part of theatre. Now take all of those warm fuzzies, and put them into one tiny, little 24-Hour long box. You shouldn't be able to, right? But it's completely possible, and it's something students from all across my university have been doing for two years now.

Last week I shared the growth of the University of New Haven's Theatre Department from the student perspective. Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with a few of the faculty to hear their views of the program's growth.

When deciding on what show to do for each semester, our theater group gets together to discuss possibilities to run by our director. Our director threw Sweeney Todd out as an option but we all knew it was going to be a challenge. One of the biggest things we have to take into consideration when choosing a show every year is our very tiny stage. Our theater has a little over 100 seats but has the smallest little stage. We also have to squeeze our orchestra on the stage right corner of the stage because there is no other place to put them! Visioning sets on that stage always is difficult to start but with the help of our amazing crew, we manage to pull it off every year.

One of my favorite mantras is, 'If you rest, you rust'.

Since the theatre program first came to be, the University of New Haven has not been the same. Watching the program grow has infected the rest of campus with the theatre bug. Student organizations have been inspired to take on more theatrical events around campus. To quote Cabaret cast member Katherine Lutz, 'Theatre is no longer a group of misunderstood outcasts; theatre is now a welcomed part of student life on campus!'

Exciting things are happening with Backbeard here at the Theatre Institute at Sage! This past week, as we've finished staging the piece and other creative elements have started surfacing in rehearsal, has been an exciting reminder of how many different mediums of art are synthesized in the creation and construction of theatrical work. Musical theatre itself is an amalgamation of several different art forms, and all of these forms must be cohesively unified in the construction of a musical theatre piece. Backbeard, which was birthed from a brilliantly illustrated book series by Matthew McElligott, has been a constant reminder of how many different types of artists with their respective mediums of art must be engaged with the piece in order to ensure its faithfulness to McElligott's illustrations while still catering to the tried-and-true guidelines of theatrical work.

I joined community theatre when I was fourteen. I had played sports my entire life. Playing sports with the same group of girls my entire life was competitive, caddy, and miserable. And then I joined the theatre world. Yes, the theatre world is competitive, and there are many people who can be caddy, but it was different here: there was an entirely new aspect to this: a sense of family. They were a shoulder to cry on when I needed it, they supported me when I was in shows elsewhere, they were there. It was the first non-biological family that I had formed myself, and that was the first time I realized I would never leave theatre.

Making friends is not always easy for people. Sometimes you just can't think of the right conversation starter. Sometimes you crave a more interesting introduction at a table read or meet up than 'Name, Role, Fun Fact about yourself'. If you're like me, you don't know what fact about yourself would be considered fun. You can learn a lot about someone as a person and as a performer if you just ask the right ice breakers. I've learned more about cast mates and fellow crew members from talking to them and asking these questions than any random fun fact could ever bring me. These are a few favorites of mine, including answers from yours truly (Because why not take this opportunity to introduce myself)! Here we go!

Theatre can be such a competitive industry, and at times it feels like you are under constant scrutiny.

This week over at the Theatre Institute at Sage, we staged Backbeard's big visit to the tailor shop, where two ostentatious tailors are given the fashion challenge of their lives -- Backbeard, who has been restricted by the Pirate Council to wearing only clothing without color, needs new clothes after his pants rip during his birthday fight. The tailors give him just that, and they send the colorfully-clad pirate on his way with a little pink pig to replace his missing parrot. Challenge accepted and conquered.