Howdy, y'all! I'm Alex, a queer and trans student from Tennessee. This year I'm involved with a lot: I'm serving as the Production Manager for the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals, acting as Social Chair for Amarna, rushing Phi Tau, giving tours on campus, exploring the offerings of the Dartmouth Outing Club, joining Farm Club, getting more involved with the O-Farm and sustainability on campus, and generally enjoying my second year here at Dartmouth!
As a theater-kid-turned-English-major who already loved Shakespeare before taking this class, highlighting this as my favorite class of the term is a no-brainer. This class is completely accessible to anyone who is has never read Shakespeare while still being an engaging class for seasoned Shakespeare enthusiast. Class time is mostly devoted to discussion of the texts, and I feel like I came out of the class with a strengthened ability to analyze the themes present in Shakespeare's works as well as a better comprehension of the nuances of language used in the plays.
Before this class, my experience on the technical side of theater was severely limited. I've been acting onstage for a decade, and even though I knew that productions would be impossible without what goes on behind the scenes, actually learning how to DO what goes on behind the scenes was another experience entirely. THEA 40 is an incredibly fun and informative class, and I can confidently say I have a much more comprehensive understanding of what it takes to make a show come together. And next term, I'll have to opportunity to apply my new knowledge and skills as Production Manager for the Rude Mechanicals, Dartmouth's student-run Shakespeare company! I can't wait!
In this class we read stage plays through various lenses. These lenses comprised a general overview of the different readings of a play necessary in order to get it from script to stage: reading as actors, writers, directors, designers, dramaturgs, etc. I had an amazing time I feel my foundation of theater knowledge has been enhanced by what I learned in this class! I've been able to apply this knowledge as I continue to read and write plays in my spare time.
If you're the brand of nerd or geek that can't go long without digging their claws into a little fantasy gaming, Dartmouth won't let you down. In my experience, the TTRPG (tabletop role-playing game) scene at this beloved Ivy leaves little to be desired – and I'll tell you why.
Finding Campaigns
I was lucky enough to stumble into like-minded friends who were avid D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) fans early in my first year here at Dartmouth. But even so, many of them were upperclassmen already in well-established campaigns. Where was I supposed to find one I could join, rather than just hear about?
Thankfully, one of my friends told me about the Creative Gaming Club. This club meets once a week to play board games, and about once per term they do an event where multiple DMs and GMs (aka Dungeon Masters and Game Masters – basically, the person who runs and organizes D&D games) host one-shots (one-shots refer to games of Dungeons & Dragons or other TTRPGs that only last for one long meeting, instead of stretching on across weeks, months, or years like full-fledged campaigns.) And, though the club itself does not host any full campaigns, DMs will often advertise their games on the club's GroupMe. Through this GroupMe, I was able to play in a term-long campaign (10 weeks) in both the winter and spring terms.
Through talking to similarly nerdy friends, I've also found a few other group chats and discord servers where Dartmouth students advertise and organize campaigns. This fall I'll be participating in a campaign formed on one of these informal servers, and I'm really excited!
Through the Dungeons and Dragons campaigns I've played I've made friends I may never have met otherwise: folks with completely different majors, extracurricular involvements, and class years. I'm thankful for the camaraderie and memories these games brought me during my first year here at Dartmouth, and I am excited to continue playing in games on campus in later terms!
Bonus: A Shoutout to The Fourth Place!
Did you know that the small town of Hanover has its own geeky gaming store? I bought my first set of D&D dice at The Fourth Place, as well as a dice bag, spell cards, and other D&D accessories. In addition to D&D stuff, the store sells tons of comics and merchandise for every classic nerd and geek franchise (everything from Marvel to Minecraft). The store also hosts weekly game nights and other events open to the community. It's a super fun store to have in a small college town, and I'm thoroughly grateful for it!
It's easy to forget how easy it is to access walking trails during the hustle of a Dartmouth term. As graduation nears, I am reminded of how special it is to step off campus and enjoy quiet moments in nature.
With a solar eclipse sweeping across North America for the first time in nearly seven years on April 8th came a road-trip with hundreds of other Dartmouth students to a zone of totality near campus: St. Johnsbury, Vermont!
