By Ryan Klink

“Oh my ears and whiskers…Oh my ears and whiskers! The Queen…she’ll have my head! Off with my head!” yelled the White Rabbit frantically, hopping from one side of the stage to the other.

There may not actually be a white rabbit about to be beheaded by an angry queen, but the young actor with bleach-blond hair and big fake rabbit ears certainly makes it seem real.

Brandon McMullin, entering his junior year as a drama major in the fall, is actively pursuing a career in theater.

McMullin leads a hectic life as a Hofstra drama student- the classes, meetings and late night rehearsals, not to mention squeezing in social events such as karaoke and cabaret. McMullin manages to keep up with it all.

Fortunately, the drama department offers a way to help freshmen adapt to their new lifestyle.

“I think that one of the things I liked best about Hofstra’s drama department right off the bat was getting my ‘drama buddy,'” McMullin recalled. “During the summer going into freshman year, I got an upperclassman assigned to me to be my ‘buddy’ and to show me the ropes of the department.”

But not even McMullin’s drama buddy could prepare him for the next four years of his life.

“I can’t even believe some of the intense exercises I’ve been a part of already during my classes,” McMullin said. “‘Movement for the Actor,’ which is one of the many classes I’ve taken so far, helped me connect a lot more intensely with my body and my movement on stage than I had ever been before, and it taught me some really unconventional ways to explore and display emotions.”

The art of acting is a hands-on craft, one that is perfected more through rehearsing and performing than through studying. The most rewarding aspect for drama majors is being a part of as many productions as possible during their time as a student. Although some will prove to be more rewarding than others, the more experience students gain, the more prepared they will be for a life in the theater.

“My first role at Hofstra was the fall semester of my freshman year, in which I was a Nazi in The Diary of Anne Frank,” McMullin said. “After that I was assistant stage manager for a senior practicum, which was very tedious for me, but at least I realized that I could never be a [theatre] production major,” he laughed. “Then came Alice in Wonderland in the spring of freshman year, in which I was the ‘White Rabbit,’ among other roles, and my first department show came in the fall of this [past] year.”

Department shows are directed by a faculty member, rather than students.

Being an active drama major is not only about taking part in the theatrical productions. The art of dance is another aspect of many students’ lives, and McMullin is no exception.

“I’m a proud and active member of Danceworks,” he said with a smile, referring to the student-run dance company on campus. “We do a lot of philanthropy in addition to the amazing show we put on each semester. Everyone in Danceworks is extremely talented and fun and, besides Alice in Wonderland, I think this is the best thing I’ve done at Hofstra.”

Although the semester is over, that doesn’t mean the work ends for drama majors. Although McMullin is through with rehearsals and classes for the summer, there is always more work to be done.

“As for now, I’m gonna keep practicing my audition monologues and the clichéd ’16 bars,'” McMullin chuckled. “I try not to let the rejection of not getting a role bother me,” he shrugged hopefully, “but maybe next semester there will be a lead role with my name written all over it.”