Taking the Right Classes

When I decided that I was going to take on another major, it was a difficult endeavor.  Since my freshman year, I was set on being a psychology major and really interested in taking all the classes offered at W&M.  However, I felt that I was really missing an activity that I had been fully involved in throughout high school and numerous summers.  I really missed being in theatre and being able to dedicate myself to an area that I had a great interest in.  Before I made my decision, I looked up the required classes on the website so would know what I was getting myself in.  Upon looking at the classes, I was really nervous with the different types of classes that I would need to take.  When people think of theatre, they mainly think of acting.  But the major requirements include various areas of the theatre including design, directing, stage craft, and theatre history.  I figured that I would just start with a couple of the classes and see how much I liked them, in order to judge whether or not it was a good fit for me.

And I’m so glad that I did.  I decided to take both theatre history classes in the same semester because they were classes that were required for the major but also fulfilled a general education requirement.  And they ended up being two of my favorite classes.  The two “history” classes are divided up into two parts; Ancient Greece to 1750, and then 1750 to the present day.  In both classes, you just read a lot of plays and have class discussion on the different characteristics and the styles of theatre employed by the author.  Having a break from reading a boring monotonous textbook has been very refreshing.  Many of the plays we read in class were plays that I would want to read anyway so it was pretty painless.  I have learned a lot in the classes so far because going into the courses, I did not know a lot about the background of many plays.  Another one of my favorite aspects of my theatre courses are the size of the classes.  Both of my classes have 10 to 15 students in them.  The intimate class setting is very enjoyable and makes the discussion much more inviting when you know all the members of the class.  Along with getting to know the students, I have been able to develop a personal relationship with my professors.  Since there are so few students in the classes, the professors are able to address all of the students needs and can call on them by name.  That’s something that really can’t be found in a 200 person introductory course.

Overall, my experiences with these courses have really made me appreciate the academic focus that W&M has to offer.  Having a class that I actually want to go back to every day is a good thing, I’d say!

– David Mendler ’11