'You are everything.' is the line that touched me the most in Martha Gogakou's 16-minute short film, Dharmadhatu. I first saw the piece at the 2021 New Media Film Festival®, and I enjoyed speaking to its creator this past weekend. Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, Martha Gogakou has an impressive resumé. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Kingston University of London Upon Thames, an MA in Audio and Visual Arts from Ionian University, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Audio and Visual Arts department at Ionian University. She specializes in digital drawing, experimental video art, live cinema performance, and drawing in front of live audiences.

Whether it’s artsy-craftsy like my interests or something totally different (say, simply picking up a few new books to read), it’s important to find something stimulating for you to do in this time. Inactivity leads to boredom which leads to spiraling into your own thoughts and doom-scrolling.

Our student bloggers write about how they're coping with the current global health crisis, give insight on their school's performing arts programs, share their opinions on the latest theater news, and so much more. Monologue tips and tricks, seeing Come From Away on Broadway, a look back at the fall semester, theatre resolutions, and more-- read the latest from our college student bloggers!

I recently had the opportunity to ask McKenna Kerrigan a few questions on her teaching experience and career as well as some advice for young theatre professionals. Her responses remind us of the excitement we derive from the theatre and how all our experiences can teach us something.

The other day, I watched “Tick, Tick...BOOM” - one of the greatest pieces of art I’ve seen in a while.

Everything about Come From Away was stunning. From the music to the stage design, transition between scenes or characters and the heartwarming story, this show was beyond incredible. There was so much to love and I truly adored everything about this musical from the moment it began to the very end. I cried, laughed and realized how that terrible day in American history affected so many other people and how their stories are often forgotten. It's a show that's easy to fall in love with and should be seen by everyone because the emotions are raw, the talent is immense and it's a story that deserves to be told and change our lives as it did for those individuals twenty years ago.

I’m about to make a big change in my life, one that I have planned and dreamed about for as long as I can remember. In a little over a week, I’m moving to England for six months to study at a different university. I’m excited. I’m scared.

I want to celebrate all the accomplishments I've achieved this year. I am sure that every single individual in this world, was able to accomplish something big or small. These accomplishments might be getting a good grade, landing a job, waking up without feeling tired, eating that dessert you've wanted, facing a hard time, learning something new, and more. Why am I saying this? Well, because sometimes we downsize our accomplishments and we believe that fitting the norm, doing the norm, and being the norm is and should be easy. Following the norm as well as breaking the norm is hard. 2021, you were a big year for me. There are so many things I got to do and try out as well as so many moments I wished I could just lie in my bed and disappear from what was happening.

New Year resolutions can be a great and easy way to find and focus on specific goals. Whether your focus is on work, school, or a better lifestyle, having a goal to focus on shows that you having something driving you to succeed. Here are some New Year resolutions for students to kick off 2022.

New Year’s Resolutions are notorious for being ambitious and then being abandoned soon after. The easiest way to avoid falling off the proverbial wagon is to make healthy, achievable goals that avoid discouraging slip-ups. Here are some of my best tips for creating yours!

It was a wild time in terms of all the activities and classes I had to balance, but I'm so grateful for this semester. This is the first semester that I felt like I grew significantly as an artist. I have been really reflecting on this semester and how I grew.

It's that time of year again. 2021 is coming to a close and soon we will all be ringing in the new year. As a form of goodbye to this year, I am looking back at all the fun moments I've had that are related to theater and are now fond memories. I've seen so many shows with friends and family members, I've been to concerts with friends and I even met some actors. Here are my top five memories.

Our student bloggers write about how they're coping with the current global health crisis, give insight on their school's performing arts programs, share their opinions on the latest theater news, and so much more. The best of this year's movie musicals, catching the opening night celebrations of Company, chatting with a student stage manager and more-- read the latest from our college student bloggers!

2021 will be a year to remember. The Covid-19 pandemic is still surging around us, and it took hold of everyone's plans for the year and turned them upside down. In 2022, I am looking at the brighter side of life, with my head up high.

I waited months for this day, but I’m finally in Manhattan, wearing my lavender hoodie from Jordan Fisher’s official merch. It reads “Be My Friend” on my chest and there’s a small heart on one of the sleeves, the same place where Jordan has his heart-shaped tattoo. According to him, it means to “wear your heart on your sleeve”.

So you’re ready to be a BFA drama student! That is, until you’re putting up your first Shakespearian scene on top of the three self-tapes you still need to film and you were supposed to be off-book by Wednesday. Every actor has been there at some point, but don't worry - I’ve got you covered.

Three days a week at 8am, I wake up and prepare myself for my 9am movement class. I take off my shoes and stand in a line across the floor with my other classmates. I put one foot in front of the other and slowly push myself across the room. I lift my arms into an outreached position, open, yearning, eager, a position individual from those of my classmates beside me. I laser my eyes on the emptiness before me, in the space between focusing on one point and nothing at all. Until I reach the other side of the room and halt my movement, waiting for the rest of my classmates to complete their journeys and stand alongside me. We are engaging in an exercise called a 'slow ten', we are engaging our skills of discipline, focus, and stamina, utilizing our body's articulation and expressiveness, exploring our imaginative impulses. But I can't get past the fact that I'm just waving my arms and walking across the room.

There has been a trend going around on Twitter where you tweet a list of 10 movies that you feel define you in some way. Those of you who know me know I am a huge film nerd. Don’t get me wrong. I am a theatre nerd as well, but my first love is and always will be movies.

The fundamental nature of living successfully in theatre IS change. If you're working, then you're constantly getting new jobs. New auditions, new agents, new casts and crews, new parts, new lines, new experiences. No matter what these new things bring, they all involve an element of change. Choosing to ignore or despise that change can stall a career. Technically, each new job equals an unprecedented time. We must constantly adapt! That's one of the hardest and most rewarding parts of life in the arts. I realized that I had to embrace that aspect of theatre (and life!) instead of dismissing it entirely.

Now that it’s coming to an end, it’s time to have a recap on this year which is ending nearly in the same place it started, yet it feels like it was more than just 365 days filled with quarantines, and fear, and happiness and fun at the same time.

Lauren Thomas is a student studying Stage Management within her BFA in Technical Theatre. She successfully closed a production of Songs for a New World recently, and her outstanding work needed to be a highlighted and exemplified. Lauren discussed the things she learned, her challenges, and her best advice for fellow stage managers.

Check out 10 of Makalah's Musical Theatre Must-have's in your workout/game day playlist!I listen to all genres under the sun: rap, pop, musical theatre, country, pretty much anything that pricks up my ears. Which is why, you'll find a really big mix of genres in my game day playlist. As a lover of musical theatre, cast recordings have slowly but surely found their way into my game day playlist. That being said here are 10 musical theatre songs that are currently in my game day playlist, that I think you should add to yours, in no particular order.

Andrew Garfield has always been an actor I admired for his dedication to every character he plays and appreciation for both theatre and film. Through each work, he shows how large his range as an actor is and what he values in art.

I knew it was the opening night of Company on Broadway, so after our show was over we made sure to walk by the Company theater. We turned the corner and to our surprise confetti was flying everywhere. People were making their way out of the theater and people gathered in the middle of the street. The timing could not have been more perfect.

In the year 2022, I hope we all resolve to see more musicals. We may be deprived of some of our favorite stage musicals on Broadway, so I have put together a handy list of 6 different movie musicals that you can pop on at home - to keep everyone safe, and to entertain if you are having guests for holiday festivities!