Reflection #5: On Stanford

I'm going to spill some thoughts that I hope to eventually turn into an open letter to the Drama Department at Stanford. Right now it's very scattered, but I need to put it to paper the internet to begin to gather and organize my thoughts.

This is inspired by the recent discoveries of Stanford grads, most with their Bachelor of Arts in Drama like me, making their way in theatre in New York City. For instance, Anne Kauffman graduated from Stanford and went on to become an Obie-winning director in 2007. I cannot tell you how much I wish I'd known that when I was at Stanford! I would have felt validated in my pursuit of my degree and career. I felt that Stanford took every opportunity to treat my choice of industry and career as though it were invalid. If Stanford wants to create an arts community (for goodness sake, there is a Stanford Arts commercial during every football game for the past three years!), it has to treat the arts as a viable career pursuit. The department should be interested in where it's alumni are, and not just it's doctorate students. I want to get an annual email saying "here's where your classmates are!" I want the Department to care about what I'm doing. It should take pride in the accomplishments of its alumni, not leave them for dead. Yes, there's a lot of turnover. But the more you invest in me, I'm going to return. I want to go in and offer advice to young playwrights and directors and actors and give them the opportunities I can and create a bond with them so that we can all support each other in our pursuits.

I know that if I want it I will have to create it. But if I gathered a list of the accomplishments and whereabouts of alumni from 2007-2009, would the Department send it out or at least post it on its walls? Or would I have to stalk people and be the renegade graduate trying to create community where there is none?

It seems absurd for a Drama Department not to create community and continuity among its students. Of all industries, theatre is the most dependent on how people can help each other. It is entirely about the connections you make. And those of us who just jump into the world are forced to start at the very beginning. As a result, I honestly feel stunted in the industry as a director, compared to some of my contemporaries who were able to leap into New York City or the professional theatre worlds because of the connections their drama departments gave them. That is my biggest regret having gone to Stanford. I wouldn't trade anything else (well, maybe I'd ask for 3 more directing classes). I want to fix that. But I truly believe it starts with the Department recognizing its alumni who are making their way as professionals and forging the connections between those people and their students. The popularity of the Department would go up exponentially. All we want as Drama students is to be taken seriously. When I arrived at admit weekend I was told if I hadn't changed my major three times by the time I graduated my advisor would not have done her job. I knew then that I wanted to be a director, and that the Department was going to try to stand in my way. I worked all four years to be taken seriously, and I had to do it outside the scope of the Department, which did not afford me the opportunity to direct and to prove myself... and couldn't even tell me there were people like me out there who I could look up to and see that it was possible to become a New York City director with a B.A. from Stanford University.

That just makes me angry.