How Being a Theater Kid Helped Me At GU-Q
Sama Alissa is a senior majoring in Culture and Politics.
During my GU-Q admissions interview, my interviewer started off by saying, “I’ve never encountered someone who has done so much theater.” I got a bit nervous. Here I was, a high school senior who had spent the last six years of her life dedicating every free minute to the stage. Then came the next sentence: “You’re probably the first person I’ve interviewed who has never done MUN.” I got even more nervous. How was I supposed to explain to the School of Foreign Service that, instead of spending my time simulating solutions to global issues, I was spending my afternoons perfecting a show before opening night? Now that I’m entering my senior year, I finally have an answer to the question that consumed my thoughts during that interview. The truth is, my academic experience at GU-Q would not have been the same if I had not been a theater kid.
To clarify, I was not the theater kid singing under the spotlight. I was the technical theater girl in the booth, controlling the soundboard, building sets, fixing whatever needed to be fixed, and doing every small thing I could before the curtain opened. As Student Technical Director, I was in the auditorium almost every minute I was not in class. If I was not in rehearsal, I was studying there, writing college applications there, or sitting somewhere in the back listening to musical theater albums while pretending I was being productive.
At first, theater and foreign service seemed like polar opposites. One belonged to stages, scripts, and opening nights. The other belonged to diplomacy, politics, and global affairs.
But at GU-Q, I realized they were not as far apart as I thought. During my first year, when everyone was still adapting to late nights on campus, I kept getting deja vu. Staying late to finish assignments reminded me of painting set pieces at 11 PM with my crew members. Group projects reminded me of tech week, when everyone is exhausted, slightly dramatic, and somehow still expected to function. Even now, as I prepare for my honors thesis, I keep being warned that it is a major time commitment that happens alongside all my other classes. Little do they know, I spent most of high school working on multiple shows at once with different directors, different visions, and very little sleep.
Beyond the time commitment, theater taught me to care about the details no one claps for. In technical theater, you learn very quickly that the audience may never notice when things go right, but they will definitely notice when they go wrong. No one applauds the person who taped down the cables, checked the microphones, tightened the screws, or made sure there were no nails left on stage. But without those people, the whole production falls apart. That lesson has followed me everywhere at GU-Q. Whether I am organizing an event, writing a paper, preparing for a presentation, or working with a team, I still find myself thinking like a techie. What is missing? What could go wrong? What does everyone need in order to do their part well?
Theater also taught me that leadership is not always about being the loudest person in the room. Sometimes, it is about being the person who knows how to stay calm when a microphone stops working, a cue is missed, or something breaks five minutes before the show starts. You fix it, you adapt, and you keep the show moving. That kind of problem-solving has been just as useful in classrooms and student organizations as it ever was backstage.
Looking back, I wish I could tell my nervous high school self that she did not need to translate theater into the language of diplomacy to prove she belonged at GU-Q.
She did not need to arrive with the most predictable version of a School of Foreign Service background. The booth, the late nights, the paint-stained clothes, and the chaos before opening night had already taught her how to work with people, carry responsibility, stay calm under pressure, and care about the details that hold everything together.
I came to GU-Q worried that my background did not sound like the one I was supposed to have. Four years later, I think that is exactly what made my experience here feel like mine. Theater did not make me less prepared for GU-Q. It gave me a different way into it.
The posts and comments on this blog are the views and opinions of the author(s). Posts and comments are the sole responsibility of the authors. They do not represent the views, opinions or policies of the University.
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