“Don’t lose your soul.” During my senior year of high school, I heard this warning over and over when I shared with my conservative Christian community that I planned to major in theatre alongside English literature. “The arts are dangerous nowadays.”

This December, I will receive my Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in Medieval and Renaissance studies. As I near my graduation date, I can’t help but reflect on the numerous voices, both in person and online, that discouraged me from pursuing a “useless” or “frivolous” degree.

Perhaps to their satisfaction, I did not complete a theatre degree, although classical and musical theatre are my greatest loves. I have, however, devoted every semester to the performing arts, spending an average of 12 hours a week in rehearsal spaces

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