Upon arriving at Indiana Wesleyan University in the fall of 2009, Kendra Emmett-Goldwasser was intending on studying education. When she began to register for classes, she discovered all the education classes were full and her advisor encouraged her to register for a theatre elective. Little did she know, registering for this class would change the rest of her life.
While taking this class, she met a communication professor, Greg Fiebig, who allowed her to feel invested in through the classroom. She decided to change her major to theatre. IWU, being a smaller school, allowed her to have hands-on experience in the theatre, both on and off the stage. “I really enjoyed pretty much anything theatre department related,” she said.
It was not just the theatre program that Emmett-Goldwasser loved, but the entire communication department. She made many friends through the program and felt nurtured within the community of the communication department. One requirement of the communication department is to participate in an internship at some point before graduation. During her junior year, Emmett-Goldwasser interned in Virginia at the American Shakespeare Center as a production assistant.
When Emmett-Goldwasser graduated in 2013, she obtained a theatre degree with not one concentration, but with all three concentrations that IWU offers for theatre students: performance, technical and management. She applied to a graduate program at Mary-Baldwin University for the Shakespeare Performance Graduate program and spent two years earning her Master of Letters. Before completing her third year to obtain a Master of Fine Arts, Emmett-Goldwasser was offered a position at the American Shakespeare Center within the box office and intermission services.
Before Emmett-Goldwasser could wrap her mind around the changes her life was encountering, she was promoted to Assistant Touring Troupe Manager and Understudy this past Spring. She is currently in Baltimore, Maryland, touring the shows Romeo and Juliet, Our Town, and Two Men of Verona, the same show she interned with during her junior year. She is excited to return to the stage this December and January performing as an understudy on stage. “It’s been really great, lots of hard work, but really great work. I love what I do,” she said.
In December of 2015, Kendra married Aaron Goldwasser. Aaron is another member of the American Shakespeare Touring Troupe, and they were married on the American Shakespeare Theatre stage. Greg Fiebig, Kendra’s professor at IWU, had the honor of marrying the couple. Kendra is uncertain if she will return to Mary Baldwin to finish off her master’s of the arts degree, but she is content with the spot God has settled her into in the moment, “It really worked out quite well.”
