When Classes Collide!

As a student with a difficult major and three minors, I have to take many classes. Most of the time my brain feels overwhelmed with different types of information from each class. Every once in a while these classes collide and give my brain a break. This has happened so much this past week that I knew I had to write about it.

The first instance of this was with Arts Marketing and Principles of Social Media. Both of these classes have been teaching SMART objectives and SWOT analysis. In Arts Marketing we are all responsible for the marketing of one of our spring productions. We are still in the beginning stages so we are focusing on objectives and strategies. I have found this especially interesting because I am in charge of this year's big-ticket show. “Hello, Dolly!” is a classic and respected musical so the marketing of it is intricate. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how I want to approach it. In Principles of Social Media, we are talking about the same topic but on a different scale. That class focuses more on marketing businesses or oneself. I’ve learned to take a different approach when thinking about it this way. Seeing this same strategy applied to different areas of marketing has been enlightening.

Another overlap was between World Theatre History and the production I am stage managing. In World Theatre History we are studying ancient Greek theatre. Currently, we are reading “Oedipus Rex.” I am an avid reader so I have enjoyed diving into a classic play. This was also brought up in rehearsals for “Commedia dell’Arte.” Our director asked us if any of us had ever read “Oedipus Rex” because one of the characters is Greek and references it. Most of us are also in this history class so we have. This crossover was intriguing to me because these are both original styles of theatre in their respective countries. I think it’s amazing that two styles that are so different and so far apart can eventually overlap. 

I love it when my classes collide like they have this week. It helps me understand a particular topic better because I am studying it more and I have multiple perspectives on it. I sometimes struggle with the number of classes I need to take but this week has had a slightly smaller load and for that I am grateful.