“I can do anything now — I know that performing is what I’m supposed to be doing,” says senior Sydney Lang who spent five weeks of her summer break learning from and performing with professional Shakespearean actors at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
She and the 12 other performers who were accepted into the intensive Acting Apprentice program spent hours each day immersed in classes and rehearsals for three distinct productions. It was a pivotal studying experience that not only enhanced her onstage performance skills, but also broadened her career outlook.
But first, a little backstory.
There’s nothing more Shakespearean than an unlikely plot twist — just when the audience thinks they have an idea how the narrative will play out (even in historical dramas), a new character or plot device shakes things up. Since art imitates life, and Shakespeare’s works have been read and performed for hundreds of years, it is surprising how often we get surprised when his stories (and our own lives) do not proceed as we anticipate they will.
Sydney has found this to be true, both on stage and in daily life.
At Olivet Nazarene University, she is majoring in opera performance and theatre production with minors in business studies and musical theatre. Many of her classmates knew they were interested in performance career paths from a young age, but Sydney did not even start taking voice lessons until high school. It was while studying ballet with an instructor who also sang classically that her interest in opera was piqued.
“I didn’t know music could sound like that,” she reflects. “I started to take a few lessons and my voice teacher helped me train well enough to audition for a scholarship for the School of Music at Olivet. I came to campus, took a tour, did a trial voice lesson with Dr. [Neal] Woodruff and ultimately decided to enroll. To be honest, Olivet wasn’t my first choice, but 100% it was a God thing that I came here — it was where I was supposed to be.”
When she first arrived on campus, Sydney decided to double major in music and history. She had not performed in any theatrical productions but was quickly initiated into performance training when her freshman roommate asked Sydney for help in preparing a monologue to audition for ONU Theatre’s production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe their first weekend of college.
“I got into theatre on accident,” Sydney admits. “In helping my roommate learn lines, I basically memorized the monologue myself. I knew nothing of theatre etiquette, so I decided to go with her to watch the audition. Unsurprisingly the director of ONU Theatre was surprised and confused when we both walked into the audition slot but she just asked if I wanted to audition too.”
Sydney was cast in the production and since then, she has been either in or part of the directing staff for multiple theatrical productions at Olivet each semester. Eventually, she changed her major to focus on performance. Every production provided a new source of inspiration and opportunity to learn more about the power of storytelling, and Sydney relished the parts she got to play. One role, the character Dr. Katherine Brandt in Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations, was particularly impactful.
“I think 33 Variations is one of the best plays ever written,” she reflects. “It was also a marriage of everything I love: Beethoven, music, theatre. Being in the cast was also the first time I realized that theatre could be more than just fun — there was deep meaning to be found. The struggle Dr. Brandt portrays in facing a terminal illness, wanting to connect with her family AND wanting to finish her life’s work before she dies was powerful. Hearing audience members respond at the end really helped me see the value [in live performance].”
Toward the end of her junior year, Sydney was considering summer plans when director of ONU Theatre, Kelsie Davis ’19/’22 MBA sent an email to students with various summer internships, jobs and programs of study. The apprentice 
program at the New Jersey Shakespeare Theatre caught her attention and even though the application window was short, she decided to quickly memorize the required monologues, called a friend to take suitable headshots and submitted the audition materials with just minutes to spare.
Then, as happens in all good stories, the dramatic pause. Following weeks of no response, Sydney assumed the door was shut. Then quite suddenly, an interview was scheduled followed by an offer. The fees for the five-week program were hefty, but her resourcefulness of combining personal savings with some extra Uber eats income, donations from friends and a grant from Olivet made the opportunity possible. In a matter of weeks, Sydney’s summer plans were confirmed.
She took her first solo road trip from Illinois to New Jersey and moved into housing for the program on the campus of Drew University, where the repertory company rehearses. For her five weeks in the apprentice program, Sydney lived, learned and worked with other professional (or pre-professional) actors. Classwork included topics like breathwork and body mapping, acting, viewpoints and imagery processing. While she had encountered many of the topics in classes at Olivet, the intensive program helped to solidify techniques. Additionally, the group of apprentices got behind-the-scenes perspectives on stage design, costuming and prop handling and also received tickets to see equity company members perform in two summer stock theatre productions.
“What we covered in the five weeks blew my mind a bit,” Sydney says. “We learned a version of Antigone in which all of us learned (and played) every part. Everyone was constantly stepping in and out of the characters. The set was super minimal so we did a lot of pantomime. It was so cool. I didn’t know you could break the rules of traditional theatre, but it was really insightful.”
Sydney was also cast as the character Rosaline in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, which the group performed at the conclusion of the apprenticeship. The character’s quick wit proved to be tricky for Sydney to get the hang of, but extensive rehearsals and coaching from program faculty helped her to eventually present the role in a way she felt proud of.
There’s a good amount of acting that come from gut instinct and natural reactions, but there’s plenty of technique to be learned through formal training and extensive rehearsals. By the end of the five weeks, Sydney not only gained confidence in her own voice as an actor, but also in the powerful connections that live theatre facilitates.
“Everyone was so fun to work with. I had a fear that I would feel like an outsider but an important thing I learned was that theatre kids are theatre kids no matter what,” Sydney reflects. “We are just people who like theatre; who want to tell stories. Doing the apprentice program gave me such a confidence boost and showed me my career aspirations to keep performing aren’t as inaccessible as I previously thought. Working with people who genuinely wanted to do well for each other gave me such a feeling of being alive.”
Be sure to see Sydney & other talented students in ONU Theatre’s fall play, Metamorphoses, on stage October 23-24, 29-31. Tickets at Brushfire.com/Olivet
For more information about ONU Theatre or any other of Olivet’s 200 areas of academic study, visit Olivet.edu/Academics.
