Only on Cornell’s 18-day block plan could you travel to New York City, attend 22 professional performances, visit several museums, and meet a Broadway performer whose story started on the Hilltop.
The 17 students who took the course, Theatre and the Arts in New York City, did all of that and more in just 18 days during Block 2. The course is led by Professor of Theatre Scott Olinger, who has designed the experience to be both immersive and transformative.
“Teaching on the block plan allows us to go for a longer period and truly immerse ourselves in the environment,” said Olinger.
The class quickly forms a bond as they experience show after show together, and seeing how they respond to each show makes Olinger smile—especially because many of his students have never seen a production as sizeable as the New York performances.
“It’s really rewarding to watch their faces when 100 people parade across the stage at the Met, or a 50-foot-tall puppet drops down onto a stage,” Olinger said. “It sparks curiosity, which feeds their work back on our campus. It also often galvanizes their thoughts about the type of theatre they want to do, whether it’s a big-budget spectacle or a small, intimate dramatic work.”
Throughout the trip, students are challenged to think critically about each performance, discuss what they saw, and reflect on whether the decisions of the playwright, director, and production team were effective in telling the story.
“I want to expose them to the wide variety of professional theatre experiences that are available,” Olinger said. “It takes a long time for most professionals to get to Broadway, if that is their goal, so it’s helpful to understand how to make a living working Off Off Broadway or Off Broadway, or in film and television when starting out. To that end, we try to connect them with as many professionals as possible, letting them start to ask questions about the profession and network.”
One of those professionals the group met during their trip was Charlie Thurston ’08, who is making his Broadway debut in “Liberation.” He’s been in numerous theatrical performances (“Here There Are Blueberries and Macbeth in Stride”), films (“Boston Strangler” and “Money Monster”), and television shows (“Julia” and “Dexter: New Blood”). He’s also a playwright and audiobook narrator.
After receiving his M.F.A. and working on numerous productions and television shows, he made connections and is now acting in his first Broadway show.
“Honestly, I think that the block plan helped prepare me for a life as a freelancer,” Thurston said. “It taught me how to fully invest in the task at hand, truly immerse myself, and then wrap it up and shift to the next.”
He met with the students after a performance of “Liberation” to answer their questions and chat about life as an actor.
“The main thing I hope they took away from the conversation is that no life in the arts looks the same,” Thurston said. “To make it in such an unpredictable industry, you have to embrace the chaos, say ‘yes’ as much as you can, and build the life you want, not the life you think you’re supposed to have.”
Ava Powers ’27, a junior at Cornell majoring in engineering and minoring in theatre, enjoyed seeing someone who was in her shoes not that long ago performing under the lights of a Broadway stage.
“It was really fun to see a Cornell alum on stage,” Powers said. “Talking to Charlie and other alumni was a great reminder that you can go far and make a name for yourself, even if you start out at a small school in Iowa.”
Powers says the biggest thing she learned from this off-campus theatrical exploration was a deeper appreciation of theatre.
“This trip is actually one of the things that drew me to Cornell and the block plan, and I can’t imagine doing it any other way,” Powers said. “I loved being fully immersed in the world of New York theater for two weeks.”
As for Olinger, he’s thrilled the students enjoyed their block-long visit and knows their futures will be brighter because of it. Theatre and the Arts in New York City is offered every three years at Cornell.
“Students regularly tell me this course changed their lives, that their professional trajectory was altered by this trip and the connections they made,” Olinger said.
It’s only a matter of time before some of these students step into the spotlight, shaping the future of theatre and sharing their journeys with the next generation of Cornellians.