Here is why you should consider augmenting your college experience with a summer at Hathaway Brown Theatre Institute (HBTI)...

"As someone who just turned 22, a lot of people tend to ask me why I continue to return to Hathaway Brown Theatre Institute. Well, for one thing, the training they continue to give me each year still pushes me. There is never a day at HBTI where I don’t learn anything, whether it’s Bebe reminding me about alignment at the barre, or Fred pushing me to find the truth in a character and make it more like Jessica and not a caricature. At 22 years of age, I am still able to soak up so much information. While HBTI continually moves me forward in acting and dance, I have learned life lessons there that are completely invaluable.

·         HBTI has taught me how to focus and conduct myself professionally.

·         HBTI helped me transform from a crybaby into a strong young woman.

·         HBTI helped me to recognize that I had things in my life that were holding me back, and HBTI encouraged me to let go.

·         HBTI taught me that good theatre is not based on where it is, what awards the show wins, or how many professionals are in the show with you. Good theatre is good theatre.

I keep telling myself that I keep coming back to HBTI because they keep doing shows that I love and want to be a part of, but that’s really only a piece of it. Something I learned at HBTI is that when you play a character, no matter how rough that characters situation is, you must “play the hope”, or “have hope through adversity”. Thanks to HBTI, I don’t just apply this to my characters anymore. I apply it to Jessica as well. As a BFA musical theatre student, I have days where I sometimes start to forget why I chose to do this for the rest of my life. Spending one day at HBTI reminds me why. HBTI gives me hope."

Jessica Hirsh, BFA/DANCE major at YSU; Recent HBTI credits: Judy in A CHORUS LINE, Aunt Eller in OKLAHOMA!