Welcome to College, You Must Be a Drama Major
As I sit here writing after my 5pm playwriting class and relaxing after a busy college day, all that keeps playing in my head are those infamous lyrics from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: “Well here it is 5pm. The finish of a long day’s work.”
To those of you who remember me, I’m back! To all of you reading me for the first time, hello! My name is Gianfranco Lentini, and this is my second semester at TMU! After jumping on board as a contributing writer this summer, I was honored to be asked to write once again for all my current readers and, now, my new readers! But first, I’ll give you guys a brief breakdown of who I am and what I’ve been doing this summer.
I am a sophomore at Hofstra University, double majoring in English and Drama, and my goal is to make my career as a playwright. This summer, I interned with New York Classical Theatre, an off-Broadway company, on their production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Balancing this and TMU, I wrote posts ranging from interviews at Shakespeare in the Park to a 21st century playwright’s perspective to the one piece of advice a NYC actor/actress could give to you, my readers! Now that I’m back at college, I have so much to look forward to and even more to share with you guys! So let’s get started!
Welcome to Welcome Week: All last week (Monday to Sunday) was Welcome Week here on campus, otherwise known as the week the freshmen storm campus. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as a Welcome Week Leader, and instantly I flew into action knowing exactly what I was going to do. I claimed the freshmen drama house (freshmen can choose to live in themed housing) and became Mother Hen. I met the drama majors, played an obnoxious number of icebreakers with them, and eventually got to the all-important Q&A session.
Now this is where the moral of my story kicks in. As I’m standing before 52 pairs of eyes listening to questions such as “When can I audition for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson?” or “Where is the Black Box located?” or even “Should I start considering doing a BFA now rather than a BA?,” it suddenly hits me how much one year of college has improved me not just theatrically but as a person as well. In one year, I’ve learned enough to answer things like “Not only can you audition for BBAJ, but here’s how you can get involved in the department!” or “Forget the campus map because I’ll show you myself!” or “Let’s sit down, and I can walk you through your next four years.”
It takes a while for it to sink in that these kids, even though they are only one year behind me, are the future of not only Hofstra but possibly even New York City and Broadway! Just by getting excited and asking everything and anything, they managed to display their potential more than they might have known and more than I may have even anticipated. All I can say right now as I continue to bump into them on the way to class is the fact that I am sincerely excited to see what they can make of themselves during their first year here… This leads me to think: Did someone else feel this way about me last year?
This Semester: Busy, busy, busy! Not only am I taking an overload in credits, I will be ASM-ing for the very first time here on campus in our department’s production of Molière’s Learned Ladies! Of course, I am both anxious as to what will be expected of me and over-enthused as to the fact that I’ve been given such a position. I’m also taking my first strictly-playwriting course, and I’ll continue to keep writing until my hand falls off and I have another piece worthy of performing this semester. Add this to the fact that I’m now an EBoard member of the department’s theatre club, and this calls for a ridiculously busy semester.
But, hey, I can’t complain if it will give me even more to share with all of you, right? So if you’ve enjoyed or even questioned my thoughts here, I hope you’ll continue to come back and read up on all the things I discover this semester. It’s bound to be an entertainingly good time, so let’s do this together.
