2020 Arts Award: Meg Ellis
by Ally Lardner ‘21
Senior Meg Ellis reflects on her journey as an artist through her involvement with the theatre community, as well as her perspective on creative collaboration.
Meg Ellis ’20
Major: Theatre
Minor: Management & Leadership
Arts Festival: Co-Production Manager 2020, Assistant Production Manager 2019, Stage Manager 2018
Dramatics Society: President, Technical Director
Stage Manager: City of Angels, Pride and Prejudice, and No Exit
Assistant Stage Manager: Assassins, Evita, and Chicago
Director: The Vagina Monologues, Pippin, The Good Body, and The Addams Family
Assistant Director: 9 to 5: The Musical and Back the Night
Designer: The Shape of Things and Murder on the Nile
Robsham Theater Arts Center, Senior Technician
Council of Theatre Majors and Minors
How have you been involved in the arts at Boston College?
Most of my involvement is through the theatre community: the Theatre Department and the Dramatics Society. I started assistant stage managing, and that’s what locked me in. I assistant stage managed two shows my freshman year, and was marginally involved outside of that. And then the community and the work made me want to continue, so that was my gateway to the arts. And through those initial shows and relationships I built, and the work I was doing, that all opened up opportunities for other work: stage managing, directing, working with the Arts Council, getting into designing. . . everything came from those first two shows.
A shot from Meg’s production of Pippin (2019).
What has been the most meaningful arts experience for you at BC?
A really pivotal moment for me was directing The Addams Family. It felt like a risk in a lot of ways. It was something that not everyone was totally on board with happening; it was something I was scared but excited about; it was a challenge for my experience level and age. But I had a really good team and support system for it. Being able to complete that project and have it go well encouraged me to take bigger risks and take on bigger roles, which was really important for my next two years at BC.
How has your work in the arts informed your next steps after graduation?
I came into BC not knowing if i was going to participate in theatre. I knew I was probably going to stay connected to the arts because they had always been important to me. But I got involved my freshman year right away, with Assassins (Contemporary Theatre) and then Evita, which kind of locked me in.
I’ve talked to a lot of different people about this — how I cycled through a lot of different options of what to major in,
and ultimately nothing could fulfill me the way the theatre did.
In taking all those theatre classes, I felt really fulfilled and like that was what I wanted to spend my time and energy on. I started looking at ways for other classes to contribute to that education, so I took up that minor in Management and Leadership. The business classes are certainly centered in the corporate world, but I’ve been able to really connect it to the arts for me. It’s been really encouraging and I feel like I have options going into the arts after graduation — I know that that's what I want to try first, working in the arts. Hopefully as a stage manager, but I’m open to seeing where that goes.
What advice would you share with underclassmen about the arts at BC?
Meg’s set design for The Shape of Things (2020).
Try everything.
I think people say that a lot, but I mean it really sincerely. I started doing things I never thought i would do: sound designing, set designing. . . I had never thought that was something for me. There are a lot of really awesome and really talented people at BC and in the arts community, and if you are interested in something, you can find a person who’s good at it. You can learn a lot of things by making those connections and putting in the effort to try new things.
Who’s your inspiration or mentor in the arts?
I think in the BC community, a person who’s been really important to me and has really encouraged me to move forward, take risks, and try things has been George Cooke. He's been a really important figure for me.
I don’t know that I have one inspiration or muse, but the singer Sammy Rae is very inspirational to me. I like her message. I like her ideas about sharing her music, her art with her Friends.
“This is an example of a piece of art that gives me chills. Galen Hooks is a big inspiration!”
She doesn’t call them her fans, she calls them her Friends, which has become a big part of how I think about art.
“This is best experienced in its entirety, but 5:07-5:27 is a specific time that gives me chills.”
Rather than people, I find that a moment of something can be really inspiring to me. I tend to remember those things that are really important to me. Like in a song, if a couple of seconds give me the chills, or I see something happen on stage where I'm like “Whoa.” I’ll remember that, and try to recreate something like that.
I think a big part of my reason for sticking with the arts at BC has been the community. The majority of my friends and the people closest to me have a connection to the arts, and that’s how we connect to each other.
That’s how I connect to a ton of people, and I think that’s an important part of the arts for me.
