Lights beam down. Family and friends have nothing but love and admiration for the actors. The roar of the crowd cascading through the theater. This applause is exactly what the drama students live for. One of the actors standing out amongst the rest is Junior and Co-President of Drama Club Ashley Cauthen.

Ashley Cauthen talked about her experiences in Drama Club.

“It’s a humbling experience, “ Cauthen said. “Because my first drama club I saw everyone doing so well and I had so much to learn. I was so excited because I had so much to learn.”

Since Cauthen’s first Drama Club meeting she has worked hard to improve and excel in Drama Club, main stage performances, and improvisation. Through all of this hard work Cauthen has found a second home on the stage with all her fellow actors she considers family. From the very beginning Cauthen felt that Drama Club was a welcoming environment to all students who are willing to go big and take a chance in any situation. Cauthen has gone on to become a leader of the theatre department.

“The main message that we try to send, because there has always been a huge barrier between non-officers and officers, and we are trying to break that barrier, is to make everyone feel welcome and they can come in and succeed at theater too,” Cauthen said.

When Cauthen first joined the Drama Club she felt there was a certain attraction for the people who don’t always have an outlet for their creativity. This outlet was able to nurture and improve upon basic skill sets. Cauthen was able to build from the examples she was presented with in the time she devoted to Drama Club.

“The lure of it for me was that I could learn a little bit more and see really good actors giving us examples of what to do,” Cauthen said. “The lure for people now, because most people take theater for the elective credit and for the people who take theater for theater this is their place to learn more, be more intense, and be concentrated on theater for theater.”