Shannon Smith

Shannon Smith is an English major with minors in Communication and Theatre. She says she has always loved acting, directing, and costuming, so when she came to CSS she was glad to find out that the theatre program would give her experience in every aspect. She chose a Communications minor because she wanted to take Publication Design and Computer Graphic Design to gain experience that will someday lead into a career in publishing.

            Some of Shannon’s best experiences were the roles she had the opportunity to be cast in, which were all from different eras of drama. She took the lead in Antigone, played Hermoine in “The Winter’s Tale,” and Olga in “Three Sisters.” She said that each role she has been cast in because they have helped her to grow and change as an actor.         While Shannon believes that all of the professor in the Communications Department are great, her favorites are Merry Vaughan, Julie Ahasay, Tammy Ostrander, and William (Bill) Hodapp. Shannon learned new ways to perform as well as different ways to act from Merry through her class Acting for the Stage. Julie Ahasay directed Shannon in “Antigone” and she says they had fun, despite the tragic script they were working with. Shannon has had Tammy as a director for two different plays, one of which was “The Winter’s Tale.” She said her role as Hermoine was challenging and that Tammy pushed her to do better, rather than staying at the same level she had always been at. Shannon says that her Theatre History classes were very informative and she liked that Bill like them perform pieces from famous plays in class.

            Shannon’s favorite classes were Acing for the Stage with Merry and Directing with Tammy. She liked Acting for the Stage because Merry gave them a lot of freedom to pick monologues and scenes to perform, which allowed them to be more creative on stage. In Directing, Tammy gave the class the first half of the course to prepare and they spent the second half directing students in “Out of the Hat” plays. Shannon says the class was very challenging and it also helped her to realize how much work the director puts into a show.