This week justArts spoke with Sarah Brodsky ’15. Brodsky was the president of the Hillel Theater Company during the 2014 through 2015 year and a double major in Theater and English. 

justArts: You were president of Brandeis Hillel Theater Group this year. What was that experience like?

Sarah Brodsky: I loved it. I’ve been on the e-Board for three years. My sophomore and junior years I was the co-secretary treasurer of HTG, and this year, being president, I definitely learned a lot. I was accepted in the group right away. HTG really prides ourselves on being a family and being a safe space for people. I definitely felt that my freshman year, when I did a show with HTG—I did Footloose second semester, and that e-board kind of sucked me in and made me not want to leave. This year, as president, I definitely got a taste of what it feels like to continue bringing people into the group and continuing to make them feel like they are at home with HTG and make it feel like a family. 

JA: What was your favorite experience in theater at Brandeis?

SB: That’s tough. I’ve done a show every semester for the eight semesters I’ve been here, and each one’s definitely taught me something different. I strive to have experiences in theater where I’m going to learn either from the people I’m working with or learn something about myself as an actor. For a long time, for three semesters, I did senior theses with seniors in the theater department, and that was really amazing—to watch people be really passionate about the projects that they were directing. With the UTC, watching underclassmen directors, underclassmen designers, underclassmen actors really build something from the ground up has always been really amazing. I was fortunate enough this past fall to be directed in a BTC play by one of my very favorite professors, so I’m a little biased, but it’s really hard to pick just one favorite, because I really loved all of them. 

JA: How did you decide to be a theater major, and what was your favorite aspect of the theater major?

SB: I kind of knew since my junior year of high school that I wanted to double major in English and theater because those were the classes in high school that I was most passionate about and that I really did the most with. My first semester, I took the Intro to Literature class and the very first theater class, which is Theater as Performance, Theater 10a, and I just loved both of them so much and it kind of validated that I do know what I would like to be studying. I didn’t know what I would want to do with those degrees at the time, but I knew that’s what I wanted to be studying. I think in the Theater department itself, it’s the professors that get you. It’s a holistic program—it’s not just acting, or just directing, or just design. You’re required to take a little bit of everything—a little bit of the literary side of theater, a little bit of the design side, the creative management, directing side. I really appreciated getting the opportunity to explore within that, because coming in, all I knew that I wanted to do in theater was act, and I still love acting, but through this department I learned about dramaturgy and the literary aspects of theater. I learned about management and business and how to work within a theater company, so I really appreciated how much diversity the theater program provides. 

JA: What advice would you give to someone considering the theater major or to someone looking to get involved in theater at Brandeis?

SB: In terms of the major, I would definitely say take a lot of diverse classes, even if it’s something that you don’t think that you’d be interested in. At the end of the day, I didn’t think I’d be interested in designing, directing or playwriting. ...When I did step out of my comfort zone of acting and take other classes in the department, I discovered so many other passions and I wonder what would have happened if I had allowed myself to take that [a] step further and explore things that I didn’t know as much about. So, I definitely recommend taking a diverse group of classes in the department. Talk to your professors; the professors in the theater department are some of the nicest people on this campus, and they really care about their students.