Hello, my name is Madison Niness!
Welcome to my first ever blog post! I'm calling my blog Madison Niness: Compulsively Creative because that's me in a nutshell. Through this platform I hope to share a lot with you: my thoughts, my passions, my experiences, and my aspirations. With any luck I will impact some of your lives, or at very least provide you with a bit of entertainment...
In honor of my first post I thought I would start off with sharing with a little bit about me so that you can get to know me and what I am all about. I am a twenty-two year old woman who loves to write, perform and create. Ever since I was a child I have loved to write and perform. I collected journals and notebooks like candy and played dress up like it was my job. I always knew that I would one day be a writer, proclaiming at age 5 that I wanted to be an author just like Dr. Seuss, the man with whom I share a birthday. In school I was always involved in choir, participated in talent shows and wrote mixed up fairytales in my free time.
But high school brought stiff competition in a town where everyone else took voice lessons and went to specialized camps over the summer to improve their craft and after my biggest role was only a supporting one, I thought I would be done with performing. My college searches were filled with Creative Writing and English programs instead of Theatre ones. I settled upon my parents' alma mater, Susquehanna University, after being accepted into the Writer's Institute and was off to start my dreams of being a writer for a magazine.
After mere months on campus without performing though, I felt like something was missing, a feeling of more than just homesickness. This feeling led me to a club meeting of Shakespeare readers, many of whom were theatre majors. Well it wasn’t long after that when I was walking into the registrar with a major declaration form with Theatre Performance printed at the top. Finally, I felt right again and The Charles Degenstein Theater quickly became my home away from home.
Seven semesters later, I am a senior at the top of my department, reading my own writing at Creative Writing Day and my Senior Creative Writing Department Reading, and working at the right hand of my Theatre Department Head as the Patron Services Supervisor, and preparing for my first department-appointed directing position when the world shuts down. Susquehanna University closes its campus and moves classes completely online. Just like that my senior year at Susquehanna ended.
With a shiny new degree and a tanked job market my new alumni status came with a lot more questions and uncertainty than I ever could have expected, but I wanted to make the most of my time. Holed up in my parents home with my two younger siblings, also sent home from schools, and our two dogs, Blitz and Luke I got my sh*t together, well as much as I could, created an online portfolio, and started this blog as an outlet for all of my cooped up creative energy. Now I can't wait to get up and write in the morning and see where this crazy new reality leads me! I hope you will come along on this adventure and continue to read with me!
xo,
Madison