My Profession

I am currently a double major, so instead of doing this twice I am going to talk about the more interesting one to me. I am majoring in theatre arts.

What drew you to this profession?
Ever since I was a child I have adored being on stage and playing charades and pretending. Now that has grown into a way of coping with fear and making sure that I experience the most amount of life that I possibly can, with all the good and the bad tied in and creating an entire person who lives and breathes and has a past, present and future. Its a magical feeling that is difficult to describe. Its amazing because it really makes you interested in what is it like to be other people.

What do people in your class learn? In the classes for theatre majors, you will learn tricks to memorize blocking for stage and lines from a script. Also you will practice learning about human nature and how to connect to people through different moments in their lives and yours. It isn't like math where you just learn the quadratic formula and now you know it. This is based on feedback and connecting between people. There is no one set way to do it and maybe that is what I like about it so much.

Where do people in your field normally find work?People doing this usually become actors or acting teachers. Ideally on broadway or the westend if you can dance and sing as well or film and television, however that is a different skill set.

Who are some leaders/ exciting people in your field right now? Some leaders in this field are most of the people you see in the tabloids everyday. I would say that a Benedict Cumberbatch, Jennifer Lawrence and Miles Teller are some exciting new faces within the industry. Some leaders are the classics Robert DeNiro, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio etc.

What are the leading academic journals in your field right now? As far as journals go, there aren't many as acting is nothing close to a science or a direct step by step thing, but after a google search the David Mamet review came up and he looks to be fairly credible. Also Theatre Journal looks like it could be a good one.

Reflection:

I read Alyssa  and Isabel's blog posts. Curiously, both had dreams of being in the medical field. As I said to both the medical field is a deep and fascinating one that I have always had great respect and admiration for. Their professions are noble and deal with helping people survive and live to see another day, it is people like them that go into when I am creating character, because just as they are healing people and helping them to live another day, I am trying to help this person, whom a writer has dreamt up, live and tell their story.