I entered Geneseo in 2009 with the plan to earn an English Literature degree, go on to get my Masters in teaching, and become a high school English teacher. When I graduated in 2013, I had earned a Theatre/English degree and am heading toward a Masters in playwriting and screenwriting. It may not seem like the most significant change in track, but it certainly felt it at the time.
During the spring semester of my freshman year, in the midst of my first theatre class (History of Theatre since the 17th Century with Dr. Melanie Blood) I decided to put together a little reading of a script I had completed. It was my first play, and was written mainly as an experiment to see if I liked the medium. We did a small reading in a lounge at Writers House, 20 friends in chairs and blankets on the floor, and I and a classmate took on the two roles. Soon after, my RA Deb Bertlesman suggested I submit the play to a student theatre festival that would be happening next fall. I did and sure enough, it was selected.
That October, I was given the opportunity to direct my play Other Women in a festival alongside four other student pieces. The rehearsal process began, and I was confronted by the realization that dramatic writing meant my characters would be alive, three-dimensional, and made real in front of me - in front of an audience. It is something truly supernatural to witness, and by the end of that process, it was an experience I knew I wanted to build my life and career upon.
After a warm reception by the theatre community at Geneseo, I continued to pursue playwriting, directing, and even on a rare occasion, acting. Organizations like Cothurnus and VegSOUP allowed me to supplement my academic interest in the literature of drama with hands-on opportunities to create. By day I was sitting in class with Dr. Tom Greenfield debating Pinter, by night - immersed in a rehearsal with friends and collaborators, many of whom I still work with.
Upon graduating, I relocated to the city of Rochester, NY to begin my career. Having grown up around New York City, I was not eager to dive headfirst into a community already overrun with people pursuing my exact same dream. Instead I chose to start in a place that I knew would welcome me, that would allow me to experiment, workshop, and make mistakes. I found a job working in the Box Office at the renowned Geva Theatre Center, and a creative home in the Multi-use Community Cultural Center (The MuCCC) thanks to its Artistic Director, John Borek.
In the fall of 2014, I debuted my play The Nameless Days of Gumdrop Smith, a work I had begun at Geneseo, in the Rochester Fringe Festival. It was an experimental play on gender and sexual identity and fluidity with a cast of 5 (3 of whom were Geneseo grads or students). It played only one performance, but the audience was full and the response positive. In the wake of that success, the next six months were met with a surge of creativity and good fortune. I was named an Artist-in-Residence at The MuCCC, premiered a full production of my play Mammoth (one that had been born on the Sturges Auditorium stage two years prior), and was featured in 585 Magazine’s “Female Founders” issue as well as the cover of City Newspaper. I was also able to return to Geneseo and present a reading and discussion of my current project, Girls Can Tell, a play addressing campus sexual assault from the perspective of the students. And finally, I was accepted into Northwestern University’s MFA program in Writing for the Screen and Stage where I will begin this fall.
It has been a whirlwind few years. When I think back to the person I was when I entered Geneseo to the person I am now, I feel nothing but gratitude to have been part of a program that allowed for such personal exploration and discovery. I think of Molly Smith Metzler, a fellow Geneseo grad, playwright, and personal role model, who described her journey of discovering playwriting essentially by accident during her time on campus. I can’t help but relate. I am lucky to have had mentors and advisors who saw my potential and helped guide me to the place I am now, on the precipice of what I hope will be a long and prosperous career. The advice I am consistently given by those in my field, that I encourage others to follow as well, is to disregard the notion of a back-up plan. Your dream is your dream, and there is no need to assign deadlines yet.