Put your time where your Heart is!

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Madeleine George, BC, Psychology + English Major, German minor, Theater concentration, White Cross, North Carolina

Claim to fame: 

Shakespeare enthusiast, distance runner extraordinaire, director, Being From The South

Where are you going? 

LONDON! Getting my Masters at a joint graduate program between King’s College and the Globe Theater!

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2027?

1. Time is the single most valuable resource you have. Discerning whom you give it to, and what, and why, are the most important decisions you will make as an adult.
   Putting your money where your mouth is? OUT
   Putting your Time where your Heart is?? IN
   
2. Don’t apologize for the things that Matter to you.
   Some people will understand, and some won’t, and that’s fine. You don’t need everyone to like you, or to understand you: not everyone will. But luckily, you get to decide the folks you surround yourself with. They’re the ones who support you, who support your dreams and ambitions, who are there for your successes and failures and big days and lazy days and all the little ones in between, for the heartaches and celebrations and triumphs– who support and love you without conditions or restraint. Love ’em hard and keep ’em close.
   
3. Life’s a bitch to different people at different times to various degrees, and we all get kicked in the ass sometimes. So let’s treat each other with some grace. 

Technically I knew this before college, but sometimes you have to live something to know it.

Life’s too hard up here to be underhanded or indirect. Be as generous to each other as you possibly can. Love your neighbor as yourself, etc. 

“Back in my day…” 

I didn’t even know how to log in to Courseworks, let alone have it dictate my entire academic career. For exams, you had to bring a pencil and go sit in this interminable, dead-silent classroom for hours. It was crazy. 

Also– the GMT was in a three-quarter thrust formation. Wild. 

Favorite Columbia controversy?

The way they turn on “the birds” in early March at approximately 1:30 every morning to fill the campus with birdsong and convince us that we’re not all still crippled with S.A.D. and may actually still be in nature. 

What was your favorite class at Columbia? 

By far Postmodernism with Margaret Vandenburg. Was very, very lucky to have taken so many of classes with her before her retirement. 

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese?

No hard choices here, I’m already vegan!

Whom would you like to thank?

Most definitely Peter Platt who has kept me afloat these long years and who graciously took me on as an advisee even though it is technically ‘against the rules’. 

But also: every single person who has ever been on one of my production teams (Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Every Brilliant Thing, Bid Me Run, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stupid Fucking Bird, The Penelopiad, Antigone); the seasons of my life are measured by your presence. For everything I have done for these shows, it is remarkably little compared to all you have given me. Don’t be strangers. <3

One thing to do before graduating:

Watch the sunrise from one of the high side arms of Low… a bit of a painful awakening, but SO beautiful on a clear, warm day. 

Any regrets?

NOT going to Midnight Breakfast until senior spring. I love breakfast. I love midnight. What was I waiting for??

Portrait via Madeleine