![\"A](\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Sam-Gay-200x300.jpeg\")
\u201cPerformance studies is something where, if you\u2019re passionate about something, focus on it,\u201d Gay said. \u201cIt will make the whole major worth it. I was focusing on mental health because I\u2019m also a psychology minor. That really interested me, and so I would use art to explore that. It\u2019s a very open field and it\u2019s one I\u2019m really grateful to have had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gay examined how it feels to have ADHD in a freshman year project by using an internal monologue. Another project titled \u201cI\u2019m Sorry\u201d addressed grief and anxiety through a character calling an answering machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe premise that you learn later in the performance is my character is calling the answering machine of her partner who died, but can\u2019t let that go yet,\u201d Gay said. \u201cSo the character keeps calling. The framing device is that the person on the other end is the answering machine, and I queued them \u2014 any time I asked a question as this character, they had to respond with \u2018I\u2019m sorry\u2019 and nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gay\u2019s career goals include becoming a voice actor, which became a fascination in childhood with behind-the-scenes clips of how voices in animated movies are recorded. It\u2019s an option discovered through exploring the performance studies courses and working podcasts into projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought I wanted to do stage acting,\u201d Gay said. \u201cWhile I enjoyed it, it was also stressful for me. It was stressful having to think of my entire body, including my voice, as something I have to manage on the stage. Voice acting was something I realized could be a lot more fun because I don\u2019t have to worry about my physicality, or how my face is emoting, as long as I\u2019m getting it across in my words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voice acting inspired Gay\u2019s senior capstone project, described as \u201ca little like a Ted Talk.\u201d The framing device is a research presentation about how to get into the voice acting industry. Gay said it sparked some concerned reactions from those who saw it, but it was all part of the performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause I do so much work about anxiety and mental illness, it\u2019s something I started expecting,\u201d Gay said. \u201cI had people genuinely worried I had broken down in front of them, or was going off script, when in fact it was part of the script. It was rehearsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoing productions about anxiety and heavier issues does typically lead people to be like, \u2018Are you OK?’ And I\u2019m like, \u2018No, no, no, this was how I got it out.\u2019 I use performance as catharsis. Getting it out during that performance meant that it wasn\u2019t something that I had to carry with me later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As graduation arrives, Gay credits the professors in the performance studies program for their guidance and support. \u201cThey were so good about caring for the students,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe amount of time \u2014 especially over COVID \u2014 that my professors would take a moment and say, \u2018OK, the room feels tense,\u2019 or \u2018It\u2019s that time of year, it\u2019s gonna be stressful,\u2019 and just take time to do breathing exercises with us,\u201d Gay said. \u201cThere was something that was so nice about that, the fact that professors would read the room and take a moment to get stressors out before continuing. It\u2019s something that was really impactful for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sam Gay\u2019s path at Texas A&M University began with math, but quickly shifted to performance studies as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. \u201cIt was at that time that people were putting more focus on artists, and how …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"featured_media":16173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58,144],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n