dirty rotten scoundrels

In December I was cast in Hale Center Theater Orem's regional premiere of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. To my surprise I was called back for one of the two main characters...which I felt honored to even be considered for. In the end I was cast in the ensemble, which I was fine with, because it meant more performances and a better paycheck.

marketing strategy for HCTO

If you haven't heard, four time Tony Award winning actress and singer Audra McDonald is going to be performing at HCTO this summer in 110 in the Shade. As an intern at HCTO I crafted an entire marketing strategy to sell tickets to the event. I was actually very proud of the work that I did (along with some great fellow undergrads from the Marriott School). You can download the strategy here.

grad school

At the beginning of October (after having played around with the idea of studying abroad in Italy in the winter) I decided to apply to grad school for theater management and producing. The two schools I applied to?

Go big or go home.

Curtains opens!

Here are some pictures from Curtains, which was one of the most fun experiences I've had onstage. The cast was amazing and I loved everyone. Doing a show 8 times a week for 8 weeks was killer, but I loved every minute. Here's a link to some pictures: CURTAINS PICTURES

And THIS is a video that a news station from Park City did about the theater.

classes- fall semester 2009

In September I started the Integrated Management Core, a group of five classes that all Marriott School of Management students have to take. Some classes were better than others...here's my breakdown:

Supply Chain Management: This class is boring to most, but super relevant to some. Unfortunately for me, it was boring. Supply Chain is an interesting subject, but not an emphasis that I would want to start my career in. What I learned from the class is that I'd rather hire an operations manager to run the supply chain for my company.

Organization Behavior/Human Resources: Such a cool class, with a great professor (Troy Nielson, for anyone who has to take this class). There were so many applicable principles surround human behavior and organizations that were taught in the class. It was great.

Intro to Marketing Management: One of my tougher classes of the semester (also one of my only classes where I got a solid A this semester [I got mostly A-s]). This class was a rude awakening to what my marketing emphasis would be like. It gave a great overview of what marketing really is (changed my entire perception of marketing) and taught me some basic principles that prepared me for my last semester in the Business school (Winter 2010). The professor (Steven Huff) is a genius. Completely recommendable.

Business Ethics: Marriott School students are known for their high ethical standards and behavior. This is great. But this ethics class wasn't. It was redundant (I felt like the same principle was taught over and over) and the professor was ridiculous (don't take it from Mark Bigelow. Actually, if you're taking it in the fall, take it from Liz Dixon, who is amazing). I'm disappointed that a class that is supposed to be one of the main tenet of a Marriott School education was a let down.

Intro to Finance: A breeze. It felt like a review of Accounting 210. Taught by the former dean of the Marriott School. The lectures were unnecessary, since I could just download his slides and learn all of the information from them. I was fine with that, since I got a nice break in my day by skipping. A.

Mentoring/Career Planning: I'm quite the peculiar Marriott School student. I don't really plan on entering the corporate world post-graduation (which is what the school pretty much pushes us for), so when I was forced to make a career plan and find a mentor for the semester I ran into a road block. There aren't very many theater managers and producers that have graduated from BYU. Because of this I had to conform to the resources available to me and I ended up having a mentor from Sony, who works as a business analyst. It was still interesting to talk to her and gain some insight into the entertainment industry, but it still wasn't what I wanted to do.

Doctrine and Covenants, Part 1- Best. Religion. Class. Ever. Take it from Patricia Rushton. She gets what a religion class is supposed to be like.

internship at Hale Center Theater Orem

Partially due to my involvement with the theater during "Singin' in the Rain", and partially due to my friendship with Sean Murphy, I was able to begin an internship in the Marketing department of the Hale Center Theater Orem. At the beginning, my responsibilities were fairly vague, but after about a month the internship began to shape and allow me to use a lot of the skills I was learning in the Marriott School. I'll make a post later where I talk about what I learned and did as an intern at HCTO.

cast in Curtains

In August I got cast in Hale Centre Theatre's (in Salt Lake City) regional premiere of "Curtains". Rehearsals began in the middle of the month and it was one of the most fun rehearsal processes I have been involved in.

finally choosing my major

In early August I had to make a huge decision. I had been accepted to the School of Accounting (a pretty big accomplishment, considering the competition). I also had been accepted to the School of Management (another big accomplishment, since it is highly competitive). Lastly, I was considering switching to the acting program within the School of Fine Arts.

After weighing my options and taking into consideration my future plans I decided to take a spot in the Marriott School of Management's Marketing program. My decision was based on two factors: (1) As a marketing major I would be able to graduate within a year, making my total amount of time in school only 3.25 years, and allowing me to catch up on the two years I "lost" by going on a mission (Lost is in quotes of course, because I don't consider it a loss of time). (2) The marketing program would allow me to combine my creative side with my analytical side. Indeed, the marketing program requires creativity, but also financial practicality, which are tools that would serve me into the future.

If I had chosen the School of Accounting, I would have a guaranteed career, with a nice salary right out of school. However, the program would have also consumed my life. I would have had to give up a lot of my goals with the arts, and my creativity would have been stifled. While the lure of money was huge, in the end I felt like I needed to be true to myself.

As an acting major I would have had a lot of fun. But I also would have graduated in 3 years, instead of 1. That would make me 25 years old upon graduating with an undergrad degree. And a BFA in Acting isn't really something I can do much with. I can always perform, even without a degree, and I have proven this throughout this last year.

My Bachelor of Science in Business Management Marketing has placed me in a versatile position with so many options for my future. I'm pretty sure I made the best choice.

classes- summer term 2009

Over the summer I took some classes, one of which was a general, and the other which was a pure elective as I considered changing my major (yet again?).

Biology 100: Such a fun class. We didn't have any tests, only a few papers. The class was team taught by two great woman who really cared about our learning. That's what it was about. I think all generals should be like this; unfortunately it's probably not as possible during the fall/winter semesters when there are 300-400 students in a class. But with 75 it was completely possible.

TMA 123: This was the elective I took, an intro to acting course. It was so great to be back in an acting class and working on monologues, scenes, and other things I grew up doing. My professor, Kym Mellon, was a dream, and she pushed me past my limits. It was great.

Jogging/Weight Training: I took two activity classes during the summer term. It was hard to wake up for the classes everyday (7am for weight training, with jogging immediately following), but the benefits of working out every day made it worth it.

my chance to shine

During Singin in the Rain one of my favorite people on earth, Ames Bell, lost his voice so I got to go on for him and sing his "Beautiful Girls" solo. Luckily we got it on video.

Click Here!

Singin in the Rain opens

While I was in Millie I also started rehearsals for Hale Center Theater Orem's production of "Singin' in the Rain". It was one of the most fun experiences I've had. It even rained on stage!

Millie Opens

Here are some pictures from Scera Center for the Arts' production of Thoroughly Modern Millie.

MCom320 Research Paper

Click here to read my research paper from my advanced business writing class. I wrote about the influence of social networking on Obama's presidential win. I liked it, and so did my professor.

Thoroughly Modern Millie

I had told myself when I got home from my mission that I would give up on theater and probably never return to the stage. Well, I got a call from a buddy from my mission who said that they were looking for male dancers for Thoroughly Modern Millie...so I reluctantly went to the first rehearsal. Millie would be my springboard back into the arts and shape a lot of my future choices. Although it wasn't the most amazing production, it was a lot of fun and I'm so happy I did it. I made friends with some people that I can't imagine my life without...one of the best choices of my time here.

winter semester 2009

winter semester was busy, but not nearly as hard as fall. here are the classes I took:

Comparative Literature 202: We read a book a week in this class, approximately 200 pages per class period. It was rough having to do so much reading but I love reading, especially post-1500s lit, and our professor exposed us to Shakespeare, Goerte, Marquez, and Darwin, along with other great writers. It was a fun discussion class. Great experience.

M Com 320: This was an advanced writing class. Tough, but useful (it was advanced business writing). The professor (Liz Dixon) and I became really close and she remains one of my mentors to this day.

Math 119: Calculus applied in a business setting. Not as hard as everyone makes it sound. The key to acing this class was to do the homework and go to class...which I surprisingly did.

Stat 221: Annoying lectures. But simple. I could have applied myself better. But in the end there were only 2-3 concepts that I used in later classes, which makes me question the usefulness of the course as a whole.

Doctrine and Covenants: I had really high hopes for this class and professor, but I left feeling underwhelmed. The lectures were entirely driven by the professor, instead of really being a chance for students to discuss and internalize the principles (which is what he claimed his purpose was).