Sydney Olson
CFAC Creative Works Contest
2024 Winners
Sydney Olson | Essay
3rd Place
Theatre & Media Arts | Acting
Sydney Olson is a senior studying acting. After she graduates, she hopes to move to New York to pursue acting in both theatre and film. Her goal is to become a full-time performer.
"I looked in the eyes of several audience members, and I saw my personal belief in the truth of human nature reflected back at me in their empathetic tears. I understood my purpose as an actor and a member of the global theatre community. I’ve experienced the impact of Shakespeare’s words on human connection, and I have been forever changed by it."
Summer of Shakespeare
By Sydney Olson
In Act V Scene I of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Isabella, in the midst of grief and with complete conviction in her religious values, says, “For truth is truth to the end of reckoning.” It is an impactful sentiment, even on paper. However, reading this line does not compare slightly to the immense empowerment I felt delivering it to a crowd of hundreds, across the world in the Czech Republic, surrounded by Shakespearean masters.
I looked in the eyes of several audience members, and I saw my personal belief in the truth of human nature reflected back at me in their empathetic tears. I understood my purpose as an actor and a member of the global theatre community. I’ve experienced the impact of Shakespeare’s words on human connection, and I have been forever changed by it.
In April 2024, I was sitting on the floor of my parent’s house in Taylorsville, Utah, debating which plays from my collection of Shakespearean texts I should pack in my limited luggage space. Over the last few years studying in the BYU Acting BFA, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the Bard, his pentateuchal rhythms, and his penchant for soul-swelling language. Though my study had been great, I felt there was a barrier between me and the text. I could not fully grasp how Shakespeare’s words have such power to connect people, but I was determined to find out.
Thanks to the generosity of the TMA Student Grant and Study Abroad committees, I spent six weeks with the BYU TMA program in London, Stratford-upon Avon, and Bristol, unpacking Shakespeare’s text in his homeland and viewing a wide spectrum of adaptations, followed by four weeks in the Czech Republic, where I worked alongside world-renowned Shakespeare masters in the advanced track of the Prague Shakespeare Company’s Summer Intensive, culminating in a performance as the leading heroine of Measure for Measure at the Bez Zabradli Theater in Prague.
Studying in London allowed me to see dozens of Shakespeare shows, dissecting them side by side to understand the truth that lay at the core of his works. I toured his hometown and several sites that inspired his writing or performances. Most impactful was seeing three different shows in the Globe: a replica of the theater where Shakespeare performed most of his plays. In seeing different productions of similar or, in some cases, the same text, I was able to add new tools to my box as an actor and learn from the techniques I saw in successful actors. The way one actor stretched the words with relish added a certain depth of emotion to their performance, where another actor’s clipped manner of speaking helped the audience to become lost in the story. Watching these, I was inspired to improve my own acting and utilize the skills I observed in fresh and innovative ways to personalize them with my style.
Seeing these spaces also provided a unique spiritual perspective on Shakespeare that I had not been able to understand before; he was human, just like the rest of us. Even the world’s greatest playwright started as a child and grew into his potential.
Gathered over the course of intensive study and observation in London, I took these ideas with me on the plane to Prague. I wanted to learn how humanity and growth relate to personal artistic identity. In Prague, I studied every single day from 9 am until 11 pm at night to solidify my acting technique and rehearse with the Measure for Measure cast. The instructors came from all corners of the world and included directors from major Shakespeare festivals, professors from other universities, and scholars of classical text. I was cast as Isabella, a role notorious in the Shakespearean canon for its complexity, and worked over 60 hours in rehearsal to accurately portray the faithful maiden.
In the course of my study, I learned how to bend the words in such a way that they floated as naturally off my tongue as modern speech, and use my physicality to express human emotion and metaphor at once. I also learned ensemble building techniques, working with my fellow actors to create a community of art and expression in which everyone’s voice was valuable. I gained introductions to Stanislavski, Meisner, psycho-physical theatre, Chekhov, clown, intimacy choreography, and original practice by experts in each field. It was an invaluable experience for my technical acting skills that transformed me from an aspiring actress into an artist with practical knowledge of how to create a theatrical world for the audience to experience. I feel confident in my future acting endeavors, Shakespearean or other, that I am able to command text in a nuanced, interesting way that expresses emotion fully using techniques that demonstrate a broad education in the field of acting.
However, the most important thing I gained in my experiences this summer was a complete shift of perspective in the nature of growth and learning; we are all divine beings with limitless potential to achieve our goals. We all have the ability to create meaningful art, whether we identify more closely with a famed bard writing in Elizabethan England or a girl sitting in her parent’s basement in Taylorsville. We all have the ability to learn to love learning, and gain inspiration from the experiences around us. The people I connected with in the PSC intensive and while seeing theatre in London came from all corners of the world, and yet we found common ground in our hope to learn from each other and the art around us. My faith in God’s eternal plan of progress was strengthened as I witnessed a strong learning community coming together around me. I found truth in the words of Shakespeare: a human, connective truth. The truth of our divine identity and limitless potential for growth really will remain truth, to the end of reckoning.