Student Profiles: Theatre

Andre Sguerra: Video Profile Andre Sguerra, theatre major, talks about the Northwestern student theatre community, getting involved early, and rising to new challenges. Watch the video >>

Hannah Greene: Putting in the passion

Some students get involved. Others dive head first into the School of Communication and all of its offerings and get completely and utterly immersed. That’s Hannah Greene (C12).

This energetic theatre major has directed several student groups on campus, performed in campus productions, participated in film projects, helped to develop a physical theatre ensemble group, is a member of the prestigious Communication Century Scholars group, is a member of the School’s First Year Experience Committee, and has emceed the Honors Convocation ceremony for the school.

She also takes full advantage of opportunities to interact directly with her professors.

"I love sitting with faculty and asking questions and picking their brains and getting a true sampling of the field in which I'm interested from people who know it so well," Greene said. "I feel as though when I meet the  faculty I am getting a better idea of what my future could be like, and honing and sculpting what my interests might be while expanding them at the same time."

You get out of the school what you put in.  And Greene puts in a lot.

"If you care about things, they will care about you here," she said. "That's the long and short of it—passion matters here a lot, and self-motivation and ambition, and the sky is absolutely the limit… There's nothing this school won't do to help you make happen, and they want you to find your path and your joy with maybe even more vigor and determination than you do. We're spoiled silly."

Stone Pinckney: Playing the field and the stage

If you ask Northwestern football player Stone Pinckney (C12) to talk about what is important to him on campus, of course he’ll tell you the football team, an organization that he loves and which takes up a great deal of his time. You might be surprised to know that his other campus family is within the School of Communication.
"The theatre community here is one of the closest and friendliest on campus," he said. "The welcoming attitude is what is most special to me."

Transferring to the School of Communication in the spring of his freshman year to be a theatre major, Pinckney finds time to be in shows with his improv group The Titanic Players as well as participate in the recent Theatre and Interpretation Center mainstage production, The State(s) of America: The Regina Taylor Project.

Pinckney also spends time volunteering in P.E. classes at Evanston’s Orrington Elementary and visits children in the hospital.

"Northwestern is incredible, and coming here was the best decision of my life," he said. "Where else can you get a world-class education where people care about not only your grades and education, but more importantly who you are as a person?"

Allison Finn: The play’s the thing

Allison Finn (C12) double-majors in theatre and international studies with a focus in the Middle East—a unique and potentially powerful combination.

"I want to use my passions for theatre and education in peace-conflict resolution and international relations," Finn said. "When studying abroad in Jordan last summer, the only theatre I encountered was in Palestinian refugee camps, where it was used as a tool for empowerment, healthy self-expression, political discussion, and education. I can think of no worthier goals for art—and I want to create work that does just that."

Finn is participating in the School of Communication’s new playwriting module, is completing a year-long playwriting sequence, worked as a teaching assistant for playwriting lecturer Laura Schellhardt, interned for the Dramatists Guild, a national playwriting organization, and is workshopping her own play in the 2011 Agnes Nixon festival.

In all corners of the School of Communications, opportunities exist for students to explore their talents, and to discover brand new ones.

"My success in the playwriting program prepared me for the Creative Writing for the Media certificate, a two-year program focusing on playwriting and screenwriting, and influenced how I create art, interact with others, and see the world," she said. "These experiences have allowed me to learn, teach, and work professionally, giving me the chance to develop my own creative process, as well as a foot in the door to the real world."