“Theatre can’t be done alone. It’s based on hard work, collaboration, and discipline. The skills you learn in theatre apply to most everything in life.” Those are lessons Caroline Price, the new head of Cornell’s acting program in the Department of Theatre, has learned during her broad experiences as an actor, director, and teacher. Price grew up in a theatrical family, watching the classic movie musicals from MGM and RKO, singing along with script in hand. Her mother is a theatre critic, and Price tagged along to shows. On the drives home, they talked about the plays. “I’m still always asking if we’re being true to what the playwright intended. My mother taught me that was the most important question,” Price says.When she was 11, her family moved from Maryland to Maine, where she was cast in her first show, the musical “1776.” The friends she met through theatre became like family, whetting her appetite for more performing, she says. Price pursued theatre in college, performed in a national tour, and acted in New York before pursuing graduate studies and teaching. She loves both acting and teaching, and says she came to Cornell last summer because this community offers the perfect opportunity to do both.Path to CornellBorn: MarylandAge 6: Started studying danceAge 11: Moved to Maine and first stage roleTheatre degrees: B.A., Keene State College; M.F.A., Wayne State University Tour: Four shows with Repertory Theatre of America, 64,000 milesStage career: 11 yearsTeaching: Jacksonville State University; Wayne State UniversityFamily connections to theatre:Mother: Journalist, satirist, theatre criticFather: Community theatre actor Brother: Stage rigging sales managerGrandmother: Introduced her to summer stock in Annapolis, Maryland, as a child
Those are lessons Caroline Price, the new head of Cornell’s acting program in the Department of Theatre, has learned during her broad experiences as an actor, director, and teacher.
Price grew up in a theatrical family, watching the classic movie musicals from MGM and RKO, singing along with script in hand. Her mother is a theatre critic, and Price tagged along to shows. On the drives home, they talked about the plays. “I’m still always asking if we’re being true to what the playwright intended. My mother taught me that was the most important question,” Price says.
When she was 11, her family moved from Maryland to Maine, where she was cast in her first show, the musical “1776.” The friends she met through theatre became like family, whetting her appetite for more performing, she says.
Price pursued theatre in college, performed in a national tour, and acted in New York before pursuing graduate studies and teaching. She loves both acting and teaching, and says she came to Cornell last summer because this community offers the perfect opportunity to do both.
Path to Cornell
Born: Maryland
Age 6: Started studying dance
Age 11: Moved to Maine and first stage role
Theatre degrees: B.A., Keene State College; M.F.A., Wayne State University
Tour: Four shows with Repertory Theatre of America, 64,000 miles
Stage career: 11 years
Teaching: Jacksonville State University; Wayne State University
Family connections to theatre:
Mother: Journalist, satirist, theatre critic
Father: Community theatre actor
Brother: Stage rigging sales manager
Grandmother: Introduced her to summer stock in Annapolis, Maryland, as a child