Mary Mullane ’21, is a graduate from the college of arts and sciences with a BFA in Theater. Last year, she began her professional career at Trinity Rep as an understudy where she strengthened her education and acting skills. This experience inspired her to apply to graduate acting programs, including Juilliard. Mullane is one of 18 accepted students (roughly 1,500 audition every year for the Juilliard acting program) and will be starting in the fall as a part of Group 57 in New York City.
What was your journey to URI?
URI was the last school I applied to! I knew I wanted to study theater, so I was applying to a lot of city schools and schools outside of Rhode Island. While I was auditioning at other schools, I eventually applied to URI. When I finally toured the campus, I was like, ‘Oh, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for.’ URI was the one that actually clicked and it was the only place I could really see myself.
Did you know you always wanted to study theater?
I did theater in high school, but I was talking to my parents the other day, and I don’t remember having a conversation with them about, you know, this is what I want to do for school. It just happened, and they were so supportive. I’m so grateful for them.
There are people in high school who love to act and perform, but for people who want to do it in college, it’s like, ‘Oh, you’re serious about it.’ Originally, I wanted to go for musical theater, however it’s just acting here, which now, plays are more of my comfort zone. I still love musicals – I’m a child when I go to see a musical, and I’d for sure love to do one again.
How would you say URI prepared you for a life in the theater – especially while enrolled in the thick of COVID?
The second semester of my junior year here was when COVID hit, so we had the rest of that year on Zoom. But we were still able to do so many things, I mean it just shows the strength of the program. We learned how to make self-tapes (for auditioning), which is something I don’t think I would have known how to do.
When I got back my senior year, my acting class got to meet in person while other majors didn’t have a single in-person class. Tony Estrella, my professor who helped me grow immensely as a performer, ensured we were six feet apart while we did Shakespeare scene work. I really think I left the program stronger than if COVID hadn’t happened. I really think we were forced to do things we wouldn’t normally have done, and the program really shifted in a great way to make it more of a positive experience.
What’s your favorite memory at URI?
KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival). I was nominated for KCACTF as an alternate for a Little Night Music at URI. We had to prepare material with a partner (Edhaya Thennarasu, who I had a blast with) and we made it to finals together. The support from the university, not just from the theater department, was overwhelming. They were interviewing us about it, and it was just one of the proudest moments I’ve had. It felt like we were a team the whole time we were there. I compare theater to sports, and that was like THE big sporting event.
I was also an orientation leader and that was a blast! I met some of my best friends, and getting to welcome students to a school that I love so much – that was probably overall my favorite thing to do at the university other than theater.
Do you have a favorite production you performed here at URI?
The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe. It was an all female-identifying cast and crew which was a dream. It was also easily the coolest set I’ve ever been a part of. The play takes place at a soccer practice so we had real turf and we even had soccer players from the unviersity come and train us. I grew up playing sports, so I think it just tied together all of my favorite things.
What’s been your biggest challenge in the theater?
Probably understudying in a production of The Good John Proctor by Talene Monahon at Trinity Rep about a year ago. Trinity is a theater I grew up going to; that’s where I saw my first show as a kid. So I felt a lot of pressure going in because it was my first professional theater gig. As an understudy, you must do all of this work and not know if you’re ever going to go on. It was humbling and it made me remember why I’m doing it. You have to be there every day, constantly on your a-game ready to go if anything happens. It was there that realized I wanted to go back to school for this because I loved learning almost as much as I did performing.
What was your audition at Juilliard like/What did you learn at URI that helped your audition experience?
There are so many YouTube videos of people talking about their audition experience, but I really tried to not watch those because I just wanted to have my own experience. I mean, it’s Juilliard. When I was in middle school, I thought I’d go there someday. So it feels like I’m living within a dream right now.
So I scheduled my audition in New York and prepared 2 monologues (a classic and a contemporary), backup material, and a song. The first day of auditions started at 7:30 in the morning. Thankfully I was one of the first to go, so I went in and performed my pieces, and had to wait a few hours to find out if I moved on. There were 200 people in my audition room. It was wild. When they finally posted the first list, I got in the back of the line, and when I made it up to the board I couldn’t believe I saw my name. So, 6 people from my group got to move onto round two later that day.
Round two had a total of 19 students and we were asked to perform our pieces again, while faculty worked them with us to see our potential for growth. So I left doing my monologues entirely differently than I had prepared them – which is something I learned how to do at URI! It’s important to go in with the mindset that you have to be prepared to try different things. The third round of auditions cut the group down to 16 people. Then, at the end of the day, 11 candidates moved onto the final round for an interview. My name was on that list and it was 7pm, so it had been a 12 hour day, but I didn’t care. I was able to go into that interview being completely myself.
Then, we had to wait another 2 months to find out if we made it to the final call back weekend. Just when I thought it was over, I got an email inviting me to New York. I couldn’t believe it. There were a total of 50 finalists. Over the course of the weekend, we performed our pieces again, participated in workshops and classes, saw a play, and made so many friends along the way. Thankfully, it was only a 2 day waiting period before you found out if you got in. An email meant you didn’t, and a phone call meant you did. So I was at work anxiously checking my email every few minutes until I saw a ‘spam’ number calling my phone. It was Juilliard and they said they were excited to invite me to be apart of group 57! There were 18 accepted students total across the BFA & MFA program.
It still doesn’t feel real. I just had SO much fun. It never felt like a competition and everyone was so incredibly humble. I think that says a lot about the school.
Dream roles?
Eliza Doolittle, My Fair Lady
Baker’s Wife, Into the Woods
Rosalind, As You Like It
Emma, People Places and Things
Marie Antoinette, Marie Antoinette
W, Lungs
Stephanie, POTUS
Lady Macbeth, Macbeth
Eurydice or Eurydice’s Father, Eurydice
Madame Thénardier, Les Mis
If you could tell your freshman-year self anything, what would you tell her?
Take it all in. You’re going to learn from people you wouldn’t expect to learn from, but every lesson you learn will help you on your path. There’s no timeline; don’t feel like you must move to New York right after you graduate because Rhode Island theater is freaking incredible. It’s all going to be okay. Take it all in, girl.
A special thank you to faculty and staff of the URI theater department
David Howard
Paula McGlasson
Rachel Walshe
Jeff Church
Tony Estrella