The theatre program at Arkansas Tech has been facing difficulties this semester.  Despite these difficulties, the program has had past successes.   One case of success lies with Cassandra Andrus, an alumnus who graduated from Tech with a degree in speech and a concentration in theatre in 2010.

Since graduating from Tech, Andrus has been accepted into Sarah Lawrence in Bronxville, New York.   Sarah Lawrence is a liberal arts college that specializes in performing and visual arts.

“I currently live in an absurdly tiny apartment in New York City. Every day I ride the commuter train to Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville. I am a first-year graduate student; this particular program offers a studio-based MFA in Theatre. I learn by making actual work and exploring what I'm interested in,” Andrus said.

“Why exactly did I get accepted into Sarah Lawrence? Well, one of the determining factors, I later found out, is that I sewed the envelope for my admissions materials out of felt. Moreover, I think it is because I had a good teacher, Kate Brugh who helped me find my artistic voice and process, who helped me explore all areas of technical theatre. I believe Ardith (Dr. Ardith Morris, director of theatre) cultured me in the history of theatre---she is a very smart woman who helped me contemplate the origins and essence of theatre to discover what it is about the art that appeals so much to humanity,” Andrus said.

Morris and Brugh are the two tenured professors in the theatre program.

“I received the maximum amount of gift-aid, but unfortunately this is still not very much. I have taken out a lot of loans, live in a sketchy part of the city and will probably end up applying to one of those programs that pays back your student debt if you work in a dismally impoverished school, or being sent out to a state university in the middle of the country that will put a lock on my classroom,” Andrus said.

“I believe I was accepted because my beliefs in theatre are aligned with those of Sarah Lawrence. Every other graduate school wants you to be a costumer or an actor or a playwright. I believe that I am none of those things; I am Cassandra. I do everything. I make theatre, not business. I think the art world is very ugly, exploitative, self-seeking, and business-oriented. (I believe a lot of things are like that, actually.) At Sarah Lawrence, theatre is a holistic experience. Not only are all disciplines of theatre utilized, but your whole experience and self becomes a part of your work. We are making new work. The cradle of all theatre is not Broadway, it is wherever we say theatre happens,” Andrus said.

According to U.S. News website, “Sarah Lawrence College is a private institution that was founded in 1926. It has a suburban setting and the campus size is 44 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Its tuition and fees are $45,212.”

Sarah Lawrence College thrives in a personal atmosphere.  There is a 9:1 student to instructor ratio.  The Sarah Lawrence website says, “At Sarah Lawrence, you’re not sitting in some huge lecture hall…but face to face around a table with no more than 14 other students and a professor. Everyone has done the reading or worked out the problem set since the previous class session. A conversation begins around an idea or a particularly interesting question, and gradually everyone is involved…The conversation touches on individual projects, and topics for further exploration reveal themselves. Often there is laughter, often excitement—and usually, by the end of class, new understanding.”

The College Prowler website states that 11 percent of students received federal grant aid; 50 percent received institutional grant aid, 7 percent received state grant aid, 54 percent received student loans.  A total of 63 percent of students received financial aid and/or loans.  Sarah Lawrence has a total of 342 graduate students.

“I will add that it was the steadfast spirit of the Arkansas Tech theatre faculty that helped me get where I am today,” Andrus said.