Take Your Desk to the Stage

Elise Robinson
Theater Major
Artistic Director, Theatre Limina
Minneapolis, Minn.

Learning through Directing

"The most important learning experience I had in college was my senior honors thesis, for which I directed my first show. I developed an evening of woman-centered performance and worked with five actresses over eight weeks of rehearsal. Being directly responsible for an entire performance pushed me to use all the skills I had been developing as a student at CSB and SJU: communication, problem solving, synthesizing language and movement, finding my artistic and directorial voice, etc. It was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done, but also one of the most rewarding.

"As a theater major, I learned that—at its best—theater is a collaborative art, where the input of multiple artists combines to create something larger than the sum of its parts. My senior honors thesis reaffirmed those teachings, and started me off on a lifelong passion for directing."

Learning with Others

"I’m currently the Artistic Director for Theatre Limina, a Twin Cities based theater company founded in 1997 by a number of CSB/SJU graduates (and other local theater professionals). The company was founded out of a desire to produce high quality, innovative theater with an attention to original works. Coming out of the CSB/SJU theater program, many of us were trained in process-oriented, collaborative, transformative theater—and we weren’t finding a lot of that in the Cities!

"We started off small with some work in the Fringe Festival and have built up to full seasons with five shows a year, a directing internship and a regular smash Christmas show. Theatre Limina currently has five CSB/SJU alums on its Board of Directors. We have also worked with numerous CSB/SJU students and alums as actors, staff, and crew."

Learning through Passion

"This might sound hokey, but every moment working in theatre is a learning experience! After spending most of my post-college/grad school years in academic theatre, it’s been an interesting transition to the overworked, underpaid (or unpaid!) life of a small theater company director. We are truly doing theater out of a deep seated love for it, working at day jobs to pay the bills and devoting our “spare” time to building the theater company we love.

"I frankly can’t imagine how I’d do it without the foundation of knowledge I got at CSB and SJU. College really taught me to find my passion and follow it with discipline. It’s the hardest and most gratifying work there is, and CSB and SJU gave me the tools to do it!"

Office of Admission
College of Saint Benedict
Saint John's University
PO Box 7155
Collegeville, MN 56321
(800) 544-1489
(320) 363-2196
(320) 363-2750 (fax)

E-mail admissions@csbsju.edu