We asked our cast about their personal experiences about college and “life after high school.”

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TIM BLACKWOOD (Bill) I am excited to help tell this story although my experience with college admissions was far less dramatic. I was confronted with several applications for schools like Notre Dame, MIT and University of Chicago, all of which extensive forms including multiple essays. However, I then saw the essentially one page application for Purdue University, and I thought "this is school for me." Yes, my entire future was determined by my creative writing laziness and I wouldn't change a thing.

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BETH BURROUGHS (Ginnie) When I applied to college, I had no idea what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. My brother is 3 years older and was already going to Virginia Tech, and so I applied there for early admission. I grew up in Corning, NY and there is also a Corning plant in Blacksburg, VA where Virginia Tech is located, and so VA Tech became a known entity and a school of choice for a good number of us from Corning. I got accepted, and so I went. I try to think that I got accepted for having good grades and participating in activities and writing a killer essay, and not because I was from Corning and my brother already went there. But I am a HOKIE through and through... and if you want to know what a HOKIE is... ask me sometime! And yes, we do the Hokie Pokie at football games.   

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REBECCA ROBINSON (Sherri) I’ve always been terrible in math and in grad school I was required to take a statistics class in order to graduate. Knowing I’m terrible at math, I went to every class, I sat in the front, I went to group study sessions outside of class, I hired a tutor.  I was prepped to master the final. I walked out thinking I aced it. I got a D. I needed a C to graduate. The professor told me that he’d never seen anyone work harder, so he took pity on me and changed my grade so I could graduate. I don’t think I’ve ever used statistics. 

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TUCKER SHEPHERD (Charlie) I just left high school, that's crazy! This is the real world now and I've gotta blast my way into being a productive member ASAP. All I've known for a few years is high school theatre. The moment I discovered that's where I needed to be I filled my schedule with it, and hopefully the time I spent there gave me what I need to continue doing what I love. I'm incredibly excited to continue theatre and that excitement is inversely proportional to my excitement for college and it's potentially monstrous debt. But who knows, maybe they'll give me a discount if I ask nicely. 

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JENNIE UNDERWOOD (Roberta) My parents were both teachers and I was an only child.  They were adamant that I would go to college and get my Undergraduate AND Master’s  teaching degrees as they insisted I have something to fall back on before I moved to NYC to become an actress.  So my mother filled out the paper work for Kansas State Teachers College (she didn’t have to pay a $50,000 bribe)—thank goodness they had a theatre program, albeit one that prepared you more for being a theatre teacher than professional.  I fulfilled their dream and mine—less than 3 months after getting my MA, I was in New York.  PS. I have never taught nor had any desire to.

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