My first blog post!! Well, isn’t this exciting! Before I get into the bigger posts about life at Fredonia as a theatre major, I think for those reading this should know me more on a personal level when it comes to theatre. As my first post, I’ll give a quick overview of how I got into theatre, Fredonia and a theatre major. With that said, here we go!
My name is Zoe Kiriazis and I am a freshman Theatre Arts major. I live in Ithaca New York but I am originally from Salem New Hampshire; roughly thirty minutes away from Boston. My first musical (ever!) was Seussical! Jr. as an ensemble member and most recently I was Poopsie in my high school’s production of The Pajama Game.
I guess you could say I got a late start in musical theatre. I was always kind of oblivious to the existence of musical theatre, or staged shows in general, until eighth grade when I was in Seussical!. Since Ithaca is known for it’s theatre, everyone around me was extremely talented and had a lot of know how. I remember being so timid and shy (I still am) when it came to performing. I was no way near as confident or comfortable with singing or acting as these kids who have done this since they could hold out a note correctly. I felt like a small fish in a large pond that was only getting bigger as the years passed.
In high school, I never earned a leading role or supporting role- I was always placed in the ensemble. It took me up until my senior year to earn a role with lines and vocal solos. Just earning a role that let me portray a specific character with two solo lines that pushed the story line made my senior year of high school worthwhile. I only got cast in three out of four musicals during high school which brought me to the reality of this industry, even at the high school level- you won’t get cast into every show. I never experienced rejection when it came to theatre. After that, I’ve heard a lot of “no”s from directors casting shows I auditioned for in town, but looking back at all that, I learned to appreciate the rejection as much as the acception. Rejections build thicker skin that is desperately needed in theatre- what I needed at that time to convince myself I could have what it takes. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” – Kelly Clarkson
My journey to Fredonia. It’s a funny story. I knew I wanted to go into theatre from the beginning but before I could even give myself time to think, I had that “love at first sight” moment with this campus, the people and everything Fredonia had to offer. I researched Fredonia’s theatre program so much I probably could recite the page to someone else; that’s how much I wanted to get into the Musical Theatre program here. Even though I didn’t audition for fourteen schools, the statistical number of schools a Caucasian female has to audition for in order to get accepted into only two or three of the aforementioned programs, I auditioned for one. I knew regardless, this the college I had to be at. I prepared my entire senior for this audition with my songs, monologues, sight singing and all! I go into my audition confident and I felt like I nailed everything (dance could have been way better though). A week later I received my rejection letter and got placed into the Theatre Arts program. Was I sad and disappointed? Absolutely. I questioned myself afterwards if I did make the right decision for only auditioning for one college but I reminded myself why I want to come here. Theatre here, regardless of your degree, is phenomenal and other schools seemed like they couldn’t get me to where I would want to be as a performer.
It’s been seven weeks since I came to Fredonia and I have learned so much, it’s hard to wrap my head around it. I knew I was going to learn a lot but nothing like I have been. I knew I made the right decision in coming to Fredonia.
I’ll post again soon and then I will really talk about what it’s like being a freshman theatre major!
“Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it.” -George Lucas
Zoe
