Shakespeare’s Case for Vulnerability: Giving Voice to Pain and Suffering is a combination of two pieces of work. The research centers around understanding the communication of pain and suffering and how this factors into our everyday lives, in combination with an interview and video project called Evolution of Woman. This project sought to determine the different facets of pain and suffering and how, specifically, Shakespeare communicates these concepts in his work. This work also explores how the representation of pain and suffering was different between male and female roles in Shakespeare’s writing. From this research, questions were developed to interview Shakespearean experts and actors. These interviews explore the details of portraying Shakespeare’s characters and how gender plays a role in the characters’ expression of pain and suffering, as well as what it means to be a female actor in plays that are dominated by male characters.

When you think of actors, you probably think of the glitz and glam of Hollywood. It is a career many desire to have because of this initial perception. Who does not want to live the lavish life of an actor? Who does not want to get paid to basically play dress up? The truth is acting is much more, and less, than that. In fact, there are almost no two actors with the same exact journey to where they are. The career itself is very subjective, which is quite the scary thought to many including myself. Since I was a kid, acting is all I wanted to do. However, I have also always been someone who enjoys stability and consistent next steps, which is why I have been terrified at the idea of pursuing acting for so long. It is not a career that guarantees success. It is not even a career that has one definition of success. What is not shown behind the flashing lights and the glamour is what it truly takes to “make it”. Like I said, there are different variations of “making it” as well. Because of this idea that a career in acting is not all one thing, I wanted to find the commonalities. Are there things anyone who wants to be an actor, whether it is theater, film, television, or commercial acting, can do to increase their chances for success? What are the steps necessary to be taken seriously in this industry? In this thesis, I am going to explore the intricacies of this career to try to answer these questions.

I created a sketch comedy show called Funny For A Girl, which featured the talents of women in both the film and theatre communities. The show began as a very vague idea, and throughout the year of 2019, the show began to come to life. I immediately brought on a producer, who helped form the crew while I was working on building the cast. The writing process took about four months. There was lots of writing and rewriting, basically up until the end of August, when rehearsals started. Filming began in September, and by the last week of September, we had an entire show ready, consisting of nine sketches and four stand-up acts. The show featured a variety of sketches, including Lesbain Bachelorette and So You Want A Good Yelp Review? (SYWAGYR). The production team and I proposed the show to Binary Theatre Company, which picked it up as the first show of its season. The show ran in the Prism Theatre from October 4th through the 6th.

Funny For A Girl gained quite the following on social media in just a week, and the show was completely sold out before it even opened. I was interviewed by both The State Press and ASU Now, and I’m being considered for a second feature in ASU Now as part of the graduate spotlights. The show was a huge success, and it really helped me narrow down to what it is I want to do with my life.