Ashley Woods (Spring 2017)

This will fly by. Three months is not long. You will blink and be in your last week of classes. Don’t wait to befriend your classmates. It took three weeks for me to hang out with my fellow actors outside of class. And you know what? They’re great. They’ve become some of my best friends. They are immensely talented, love to laugh and have fun, but will also rip your throat out on stage if the scene calls for it. In my opinion, those are the best friends an actor can have. So my advice is this: grab beers with your class often (San Pedro Brewing Company has a great happy hour). Watch movies together. Hang out in the lobby and talk about religion, or poetry, or boyfriends. Crack stupid jokes with your class. If I could go back to day one, I would make it so we all went out for dinner together after class and got to know each other over IPA and nachos. Maybe before class starts, organise something on the class Facebook page. All it takes is one person with their shit together to organise a group outing. After all, you will trust people more onstage, if you know you can trust them offstage.

--Ashley Woods (Spring 2017)