Rosie Vasen

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Hi! I'm Rosie and I'm a senior in the history department from Brooklyn, New York. I've been involved in theater at Princeton since my freshman year and have worked with the department and with student theater companies. I've directed, acted, and worked on tech teams here and am happy to answer any questions you might have about any of these roles!

Theater gave me an amazing foundation and community at the beginning of my Princeton experience and helped me to be able to branch out to other groups, like All Nighter, which is now one of my main extracurriculars. Since I did theater in high school and did not have a great experience, I was hesitant to continue in college but being involved in the arts community here allowed me to meet and work with amazing people and learn how to more effectively manage my time with school work and everything else on campus.

However, it can be difficult to feel completely comfortable in a competitive performance environment, and I've often felt intimidated and let down by the audition process and am still learning how to navigate the department. Even though I’ve found some of my closest friends through theater, watching them get roles that I did not is still stressful and can be disheartening. Talking about and acknowledging the stresses of competition at Princeton is incredibly important, and though it was difficult, some of my best conversations about my anxieties were with people within the arts community. So ultimately, I decided to pursue the theater certificate because I believe it continues to expose me to incredible artists, pushes me to build my self confidence, and provides me with an important skill set that I use in my everyday Princeton life.

Please reach out if you have any questions. I’m always happy to talk about Princeton arts or anything else you have in mind!