Courtney Drummond:

Hi, I’m Courtney. I study Theatre and I minor in Human Resource Management. So what I love about the Theatre Studies department is that there’s such a wide variety of skills that you can learn. I came into Theatre Studies wanting to learn acting and I’m gonna leave with the ability to direct, produce, stage write, stage manage, and all these things. And it means that I can go into the industry with not just one skill but many, and I’m gonna be able to continue doing what I love because I hit all those skills.

What I love about Otago is the culture. My staff and my friends aren’t just that — they’re more — they’re gonna be my colleagues, and they are now too.

Luke Robb:

Hey, I’m Luke Robb. I do a major in Theatre Studies and a minor in History and English. The reason I chose to come to Otago was because I wanted to make a degree that was right for me. I didn’t want to just be locked down into just performing on stage or just reading a script all day. I want to be able to learn about all aspects of theatre, and from coming to Otago I’ve been able to do things backstage, on stage. I’ve been able to write scripts, I’ll be able to analyse scripts, and really get a more in-depth look in the theatre.

What I really appreciate about being at Otago and doing Theatre Studies here is that I get to integrate with all different year levels and all different sorts of people. I’m not locked down to just my year level. When I was in my first year, I worked with people in third year. Now in third year, I work with people in first year. I get to practice skills and impart my learnings onto other people. And I do really appreciate that about the university as a whole.

Ryan Hartigan:

Kia ora, my name’s Ryan Hartigan and I recently came back to Aotearoa New Zealand after 12 years in the United States. And I came back specifically to take up a position here at the University of Otago, which should tell you a lot.

I came here because I wanted to be in a place that was interdisciplinary. I want to be in a place where theory and practice were not divided. I wanted to be in a place where students had no barriers to get on the stage. And in Otago I found all of those places in one institution. I thrive on the fact that I have colleagues who are experienced practitioners like myself. We are working professionals — artists, academics — who bring all of those elements together in everything that we do.

We believe in being highly collaborative with our students. We want to make sure that they have all the skills that they will need, whether they’re working professionals in theatre or whether they take all of those skills transferibly to many other industries. And we have award-winning professionals who have come out of here as directors, as actors, as arts professionals, as teachers, as event management, as management more widely — because all of these things are highly marketable and we find a great deal of success for our students.

It’s worth mentioning that we have this amazing new arts building — a new Performing Arts Building — which is up and running, and I’m standing in it right now with the state-of-the-art studio. These are the kinds of things you can access here as a student, and you can access them quickly. There will not be barriers placed in your way. You’ll be on the stage, you’ll be in the studio, you’ll be meeting your fellow students, you’ll be making the bonds that you need right now, that you need in the future, and that will take you forward to success.