Growing up in New Hampshire, Megan “Meg” Hamblen had countless opportunities to explore her love for the stage. At first only a hobby, Hamblen quickly acquired a liking for the theatrical arts when she started working as a stage manager at a local theater company. She loved the atmosphere, and she knew that theatre was the right path for her. Upon her arrival at URI, she saw something special in the program, as she states, “At URI Theatre, you’re not just learning within the confines of a typical college major – you’re learning a trade, a business, and you are becoming an indispensable professional in an industry that has defined the human experience for thousands of years.”

Working to lead portions of THE 100, the introductory theatre general education course, is an opportunity for which Hamblen is incredibly thankful. “I learned so much about why representation and accessibility are so important,” she said. Hamblen took her Theatre experience a step further, working as Assistant Director on URI’s 2018 production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Serving as aid to Theatre Alum Rachel Walshe – URI’s first Rhodes Scholar who now teaches in the Theatre and Philosophy Departments – Hamblen helped Walshe copy and paste the Bard’s words into a diverse, more modern setting.“The experience working with such a well-respected director who produces relevant work taught me so much about the industry that I’m entering and the kind of art I want to create,” she said.

Hamblen has big plans for the near future, aspiring to one day launch her own performing arts company. “The mission of the company would be to make theatre and arts education more accessible to people in rural communities, and to extend the limits of what theatre can do, and how we tell the stories that matter to us,” she clarifies. “Theatre is such a powerful means of bringing people of all walks of life together, and we need unity now more than ever.” When asked to give advice to incoming Theatre majors, Hamblen doesn’t hold back, calling out those who criticize the art form and those who study it: “Theatre isn’t easy- and don’t listen to anyone who tells you that it’s ‘not a real major’ or ‘a waste of time’… It demands a lot from you, but it has also opened the door to so many life changing experiences.”

-By Chase Hoffman, Writing & Rhetoric and Anthropology Double Major, URI Class of 2021