By Aaron Calvin
A surprising amount of talent convened in the tenth floor of the Axinn Library last Thursday. All of them were connected by their past attendance of Hofstra University and their successful careers in Drama related careers.
Five Hofstra alumni came together in a panel to answer the questions of drama students concerning what will await them after their Hofstra undergraduate experience. The three women on the panel were Joan See of the class of '55, Susan Sullivan of '64 and Kelly Ruth Cole of the class of '08, while the two men who joined them were Tim Errickson of '93 and Fred Berman '94.
See has made a career from acting in commercials and teaching. Sullivan has many credits from drama as well as televisions shows and currently is on the cast of the show "Castle." Cole already has an impressive set of stage managing credits under her belt and owns and directs her own theater group. Errickson has made a career out of directing numerous productions. Berman currently stars in Broadway's "The Lion King" and is a successful voiceover actor.
The panel opened with commonly asked questions presented to the cast of alumni. The first question was one many in the audience were eager to hear, but perhaps didn't receive the answers they were expecting: "What was your first big break."
See, Sullivan, Berman and Cole were unanimous in their assertion that they didn't have one big break, but many little breaks. See described the anxiety that comes with each new experience, but also the enjoyment that came with working with the anxiety and using it to do a better job. Sullivan agreed while Berman discussed the series of little breaks he had, taking each job he could, slowly building his experience. Cole claimed she could trace every job she ever had back to connections she made at an internship her sophomore year at Hofstra. Errickson alone was the only one who claimed to have actually had a big break, but he claimed it was his being fired from a production that caused him to realize that he should decide his own career.
Another question the drama population of Hofstra was interested in was what these professional's experience just out of the university was like. See addressed the insecurity she experienced as appropriate and talked about how having questions was a natural part of the experience. Sullivan reminisced about avoiding first-year-stress by joining the Cleveland Playhouse, but left when she realized she needed to do something more. Cole described the hardship of adjusting to the first-year and her attempt to fit into the large, but seemingly small New York City theater community. Errickson described his experience forming a theater company with fellow Hofstra alumni and using that to get his feet wet. Berman lamented his ill-advised foray into children's theater and implored seniors to begin working on their post-graduation plans now.
The students attentively took in the advice of the cream of Hofstra's drama crop, asking the panel questions of their own while contemplating their own post-university world.