When I arrived at Swarthmore, I knew I was vaguely interested in pursuing theatre in one way or another, but I didn’t know exactly what that would look like. I had a vague idea of taking Acting 1, the introductory theater course, during my first semester, but I hadn’t put much thought into it. At the academic advising fair during orientation week, I walked past the theater department table, with a poster for a show called “The Wolves.” I ended up stopping with another girl to ask about it and Alex Torra, a theater professor and the director of the show, took 15 minutes to talk exclusively with us, discussing our goals in theatre, what we wanted to get out of our first semesters at Swat, and finally, convincing us both to audition for Production Ensemble.
What is Production Ensemble? Production Ensemble is a class the theater department offers every fall semester where you get class credit for taking part in the theater department’s fall show. The faculty picks the show over the summer and students audition at the beginning of the fall semester. The cast rehearses three times a week until the performance in late November. What’s special about Production Ensemble is that although the cast is all students, the whole production team and all the designers are professionals and the final show is on the main stage, the biggest performance space on campus.
Although the course is a lot of work, I found that being part of “The Wolves” during my first semester at Swarthmore introduced me to the most incredible theater community I had ever known. “The Wolves” is a play about a high school girls indoor soccer team and their struggles to stay connected and support each other while going through adolescence in a turbulent world. I have played soccer throughout my life, but did not gotten onto the varsity team at Swarthmore. “The Wolves” includes some onstage soccer, and the cast and director were eager for me to share my soccer knowledge and experience with the cast to help everyone’s soccer skills look believable onstage. Having the opportunity to combine two things that I loved so much was really wonderful, and made me feel valued in a new way. The show itself was centered around the importance of community and mutual support, and we worked to embody that in the rehearsal room. Before warm-ups every day we would go around and do check-ins, where we all shared how we were feeling that day and what grace we needed from the group. We also had serious conversations about power dynamics and identity in both the rehearsal room and the show itself. The cast grew incredibly tight-knit—we would have a six-hour rehearsal, go to dinner together after, and then go to the Science Center and do work over dessert late into the night. Some of the girls from that cast are still some of my best friends today. Alex, the professor who talked me into auditioning, is still one of my favorite professors, and I went to him for guidance when I was trying to work out my sophomore plan. Taking this risk my first semester solidified my passion for performing, putting me on the path to my honors theater minor I’m pursuing today.
In short, talk to professors and take the courses you’re not sure you’re ready for! Because you never know what will happen.
