The Online Reflector

By Nicki Crisci
OPINION EDITOR

Starring in theatre productions such as “The Shape of Things to Come” and, more recently, “Hedda Gabler,” senior Ryan O’Shea has made her mark in the theatre community and will graduate this May with many experiences under her belt.

“I casted her in the first show I directed here, “Pippin,” her freshman year,” said associate adjunct theatre professor Jennifer Alexander. “She really stood out because she had a great singing voice and acting talent.”

A theatre major from Evansville, O’Shea was involved in the theatre at age nine, performing in community productions and school plays. While O’Shea didn’t go through high school thinking she would be a theatre major in college, her last year made her rethink her choice of a future career.

“My senior year in high school, I didn’t plan on being a theatre major at all. I thought about English or political science and going to law school,” O’Shea said. “Then the second semester of my senior year, I panicked and realized I didn’t want to do anything else but theatre, and ever since then, I haven’t doubted it and can’t imagine doing anything else.”

O’Shea has a passion for the theatre and hopes to pursue it as a career no matter what difficulties she may face. It’s a scary profession, according to O’Shea, because the main job is auditioning to get more jobs, which is a big waiting game.
“I’d rather be happy and poor, though,” O’Shea said.

In addition to the theatre experience she tackles at UIndy, O’Shea holds a part-time job and stays on top of her academics.

She claims her experience performing in plays has helped her in the classroom, because it has given her a better memory which helps her retain information more efficiently.

“She is one of our top academic students that we have, and she’s a great support and mentor for other students,” Alexander said.

O’Shea has had some exemplary achievements in her college career, receiving four Irene Ryan nominations for her roles in such plays as “The Shape of Things,” “Baby,” “The Trojan Women” and “Black Comedy.” She is also a member of the national honorary theatre fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega.

Always enjoying new experiences, O’Shea recently was able to study abroad for a semester in Northern Ireland at Queens University Belfast. She found the opportunity to go when she saw a university announcement about a scholarship for free tuition to Northern Ireland. Interested in her own Irish heritage, O’ Shea said she always wanted to go to Ireland.

“Everything fell into place perfectly, and I couldn’t think of a reason not to go,” she said.

While in Ireland, O’Shea took two drama classes and a cultural studies class that focused on Northern Ireland. She said the classes were different in the sense that the drama classes were theory based rather than the applied type offered at UIndy. To her, the combination of the two styles made the classes unique.

What she enjoyed most about the program, however, was the experience she had with people there. She had expected to hang out with a lot of Irish students. But living in a hall with 11 international students, she found herself interacting with a more diverse group of people.

“I thought it would be awkward. But the second week, we were all watching an episode of “Friends,” and everyone was laughing at all the same parts,” she said. “I thought it was funny that everyone loved “Friends.” We are not different at all!”

She said her experience while away led her to meet new people and become friends with people she never would have before.

Coming back from Ireland with new experiences and connections, O’Shea returned to UIndy for her last semester with a fresher perspective.

“It really was an experience that developed her so much as a person,” Alexander said. “It has enriched her as a human being, and you see the difference this semester in how much she has grown up and matured while she was abroad.”

After she graduates in May, O’Shea will miss some things about UIndy. One thing she will miss is being a student, and not facing the real world and working a full-time job just yet. She said right now she is like a “big fish in the pond, and that’s sort of a comfortable place to be.” put out in the professional world.”

Most of all, however, O’Shea will miss the close ties she has made with faculty on campus who have become to her a second family.

O’Shea said she feels well set up by the theatre department to go out and make a living with the skills she’s learned.

“Over the past four years, I’ve seen growth in her not only as performer, but as a human being and as someone the other students look up to,” Alexander said. “I think she has a very strong theatrical career ahead of her. She’s one of those students you are proud to.”