Excursions and Auditions

It’s been a hectic first week to the start of my second year here at Fordham! Over the past week, classes have begun, clubs are holding their preliminary meetings, and everyone is settling into the routine of being back at Rose Hill. Personally as a sophomore,  I’m excited to get things going once again and get back into the groove now that I really know the ropes.

Jack Antonoff of fun. and Bleachers!

Over the past week, I’ve done a few fun things both off campus in Manhattan and here on campus in the Bronx! The first was last Thursday; I went with a group of my friends down to Webster Hall in the East Village to see Bleachers. (If you don’t know Bleachers, you should! It’s a side project of one of the members from

the band “fun.”) The concert was an absolute blast. Where I’m from in Louisville, Kentucky, we don’t tend to have many bands stop by us when they go on tours, so I love being in New York City where I can see nearly any band I want! Another awesome part of the concert was that when we looked up to the balcony, we could see Lena Dunham (of HBO’s Girls) enjoying the concert too! This made sense, as she’s dating the lead singer. Next to her, was Emma Myles (who played Leanne on Orange is the New Black) and Kimiko Glenn (who plays Soso also on Orange is the New Black). I’m not afraid to admit that casual celebrity sightings are among my favorite perks to living in New York City.

Five Honors freshmen at the Alice in Wonderland statue 

The following Saturday, I volunteered to help with our Honors Program Orientation. In this event, upperclassman Honors students take the freshman Honors students (of which there are about 35) to Central Park to let them get to know each other. We met up at Alpha House, the Honors Program building, where we ate breakfast and played an icebreaker game. We then headed out to take the D train down to Columbus Circle to let the freshmen begin their Scavenger Hunt through Central Park. My class, who participated in this event as freshman last year, still talks about our goofy antics, and we look back on it fondly as the first of many times that we all hung out together.

Finally, last Monday I auditioned for the Mimes and Mummers’ production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The Mimes and Mummers is a student-run theatre club on the Rose Hill campus that puts on four shows in our main auditorium in Collins Hall each year. This club is unique in two main aspects: first, they hire off-Broadway directors to direct each show, and second, no theatre majors are allowed to audition for their shows. This means that the shows are high quality, but the casts are filled with people who are just there for fun and because they truly enjoy acting. I got cast as Ophelia in the production, and I’m super excited to get rehearsals going. The show goes up the first weekend of October, so I’ve got a busy three weeks ahead of me!

The Mimes and Mummer' April 2014 production of A Streetcar Named Desire (I'm in the red dress!)

Blog by: Catherine Gallagher