Each year, the Creative Arts department presents their fall production. This year they presented Noises Off!

If you enjoy plays within plays. You would love Noises Off! The play is broken up into three acts but within each act they are performing one act of the play within the play, Nothing On. The entire play is set in a living room of the Brent’s country home.

I’ve never seen a play within a play type of production and it was definitely interesting! I think it’s cool because the actors and actresses that are in plays know first hand what it is like to be in a production so because of this, I think it can make for a very interesting performance.

To make it believable, inside the program for Noises Off there was a program for the play within the play, Nothing On. Not only was their a playbill but they had an entire cast list with bios and everything! I thought that was very interesting and cool that they were able to make the performance even more authentic.

I also enjoyed the fact that there were many underclassmen involved in this play. Upon reading the program, I learned that a majority of the people involved with the  play are freshman and sophomores. It’s great to see new Siena students getting involved in Stage III and Creative Arts!

As always I would like to thank the Creative Arts department and Stage III for putting on these shows every year! If you didn’t attend this production be sure to attend the next one! Not only do they do a fall performance but they always do one in the spring too!

If you’re interested in a performance by Creative Arts coming up soon, be sure to attend the Siena Chamber Orchestra performance this Thursday November 30 at 7pm in Foy Hall!

In a day and age where STEM fields are the most lucrative jobs to go into, Liberal Arts fields tend to be stigmatized for not having a lot of jobs. I’m here to dispel this myth and explain why it’s actually amazing to have a Liberal Arts degree!

• The concepts, ideas, and skills you learn in your Liberal Arts classes are what employers are looking for and not finding with other majors!
  • Analytical thinking is a skill that Liberal Arts majors know how to do so well. A New York Times article stated that, “the competencies that liberal arts majors emphasize — writing, synthesis, problem solving — are sought after by employers. A 2017 study by David J. Deming, an associate professor of education and economics at Harvard, found jobs requiring both the so-called soft skills and thinking skills have seen the largest growth in employment and pay in the last three decades.” This is great news!
• Maybe in the past the salaries of Liberal Arts majors were low, but now they are increasing tremendously!
  • Andy Anderegg graduated with an English degree and went on to get her Master’s in Fine Arts. Her first job was at Groupon where she started off making $33,000 in 2010. However, she ended up rising up the ranks and now she makes well over $100,000 in 2016 (Wall Street Journal).
  • A LinkedIn study showed that over HALF of the top twenty highest paying fields were Liberal Arts majors. Some of these majors included, Visual Art, Sociology, Journalism, and History!
• There are MANY jobs for Liberal Arts majors because our field is so diverse and we can do SO much with what we learned in school.
  • Many companies are seeking out Liberal Arts majors like English and History. For History, a Forbes article cited that “career options for history majors include intelligence analyst, management consultant, research analyst, and patient services rep.” Meanwhile, “The top positions for English majors include writer/editor, communication specialist, marketing coordinator, and sales manager.”
  • These jobs aren’t just your run of the mill office jobs. Companies that are currently hiring English and History majors include, United Healthcare, Oracle, Amazon, and the National Parks Service (Forbes).

So before your parents or your friends tell you that your useless English, History, Religion, Sociology, etc, degree isn’t going to get you a job, show them my article! Better yet, don’t feed into stigma and do your own research on a major that may have a bad rep. You may be pleasantly surprised in what you find out!