Between all the constant assignments and exams, it’s incredibly easy to feel a phenomenon known as burnout. Burnout is very common in college, especially towards the end of the semester. I have lots of personal experiences with burnout, both in high school and college. I feel varying degrees of unmotivation at times, although there are some days that are way worse than others. The worst of it typically occurs towards the end of the semester, a time when I’m mentally exhausted. Burnout can be hard to navigate when all you feel like doing is laying down and doing nothing, but there are some workarounds.

Having personally experienced the effects of creating theatre on a human’s development, I cannot help but smile at the thought of getting to be apart of that process in any capacity. I find the deepest fulfillment not in my own art, but getting to see the process of others creating theirs.

When I came to the UK to pursue my degree in musical theatre, I never thought I would land myself in so many other things outside of performing on stage. In a whirlwind of events, alongside my assessments, I have landed myself a part in our third year’s final showcase.

Another thing that takes away the stress of the week, if I’m being totally honest, is my rehearsals. Sure, they may be a part of my stress-filled week, but acting is such a great way to get emotions out and I tend to bottle all of my emotions up, so channeling those emotions into my passion is just so great. Plus when I go to rehearsals I get to see my cast mates, and every single one of them brings me so much joy, so I instantly relax the second I’m with them. We all have so much fun during our rehearsals, which makes it really easy to de-stress after a long week.

The college application process is overwhelming for any student applying, but even more overwhelming for those pursuing a musical theater or theater degree. I have come up with my top tips for students interested in auditioning for college theater programs as someone who recently finished up the audition process!

When I look back, I realize that the stages of my theatre-kid history can be divided into distinct “eras” based on the shows that I most listened to at the time and the other shows that I discovered through them. Today, I’m finally taking a walk down memory lane as I pinpoint each “era” of my life as a theatre kid, and how each one turned me into the theatre fan I am today.

As we approach the final week of classes, I can only focus on one thing: summer. Though it’s still April, I’ve recently gravitated towards things that “feel” like summer. So, to get through this last week of class and the subsequent week of finals, I’ve decided to make a sort of “vision board” full of things that have made me most excited for the season, and things that I anticipate filling my summer with.

If you have any free time before or during the semester, I would recommend browsing through some of these resources. They have been useful for helping me through my classes, but they're also just a lot of fun to play around with.

Whatever gets you through finals is totally up to you. It's a weird time of just trying to survive and all of my friends on the semester system can feel it coming. I always love people's thoughts on how they approach this final obstacle, so here are my essentials for getting through finals!

How do a broken pit, unfinished set, and a sick actor result in six incredible performances of Urinetown (the musical!)? Love, determination, and a bit of theatre magic!

The last blog I wrote about my major, I was pretty confident. I had decided to stop pursuing a major in technical theater, something I found unfulfilling, in favor of multimedia. I felt excited about the new creative opportunities. And yet I still had a lingering feeling of uncertainty.

As the regular workload lightens, and the finals load begins, I’ve found motivation in some of the most unexpected places.

With school out and a newfound amount of free time, summer is the perfect time to participate in new theater activities and expand your horizons. Summer theater opportunities can be found in a variety of locations and formats.

Pocatello was indefinitely the hardest piece I’ve ever worked on, spending a near four months taking a slow Meisner focused process, dropping myself into the lonely world of a small town in Idaho during the 2010s. Our genius director, Andrew Gallant– founder of Green Shirt Studio in Chicago, spent generous amounts of time working a slow paced, piece-by-piece rehearsal process with our cast that centered around not only evoking the emotional life of the characters, but finding the real feeling of the piece in ourselves, which allowed me to find a truth and honesty to performance I have yet to find prior to this show. 

Burnout is a funny thing because it can quickly take something you once had so much love for and change it into a chore. For me, burnout comes from anticipating an outcome, or goal, and forgetting to enjoy the process.

When I graduate from college, move to New York, and start auditioning for jobs, the last thing I want to worry about is finding a day job that is flexible with my audition/rehearsal schedule. This stressed me out for a while, but then I decided to take action and start now.

We’ve officially made it to the point in the school year where “half” can be used to describe both the amount of the semester that has been completed, and the energy we’re putting into our assignments.

Sometimes you do a show, and it seems like there is a little bit of magic packed into it. It feels like a family came together on stage and step-clapped their way into each other's hearts.  Catch Me If You Can had that magic! I was fortunate enough to be not only a cast member in Toronto Metropolitan Theatre Company’s production but also the Head of Wardrobe for this dazzling and wonderful production!

Burnout is no joke.  I can list all these tips that I do, but the truth of it all is that I am prone to burnout, and spreading myself too thin.

I’ve always thought my process was a little all over the place when doing a show and this process has given me more of an outline and a way to organize what I have been doing, which I have found oh so helpful.

Every once in a while, I let in a glimmer of doubt that New York is too scary and I don’t actually like it and I could never live there, but then I go back. I go back and I see all the friends I have out there and I remember how much I love it.

It’s funny, I think most people become fans of 13: The Musical by doing a production in their youth or maybe seeing it back when it was on Broadway. It’s likely something that is tied to nostalgia for a lot of people. For me, I started with the Netflix movie and then discovered the brilliant musical. I’ve always been a fan of Jason Robert Brown’s music, I think “The Last Five Years” is captivating, “Songs for a New World” is completely unlike any musical, and I’ve heard some gorgeous songs from “Bridges of Madison County.” But something about 13 was different.

If you’re like me, you always want to put your best foot forward. This is difficult to accomplish when you don’t know where to start. For every article or TikTok that makes sense, there is another one to contradict it. With the help of some industry pros, I have perfected how to survive an audition without anyone knowing it might be your first.

From my perspective, there is one crucial way to stay afloat in college - organization and planning. It took me a while to get to where I am today, but as a second semester senior, I feel confident that I can navigate whatever chaos gets thrown my way. Using trial and error, I was able to find a few specific tools to assist me in my crazy everyday life.

Student life is a major factor for prospective students to consider when deciding which college to attend. It’s important to know what your college will offer for students outside of the classroom, as college is more than academics. With college commitment season in full swing, it’s the perfect time for me to discuss student life at the University of Connecticut.