If you've been around the theatre building at all in the last five years, you're probably familiar with Abigail Bugh as a student or maybe even as a coordinator in our dance program. Before the start of the 2021-2022 academic year, she transitioned into a new role as Graduate Programs Coordinator for the School of Theatre and Dance. I sat down with her this past week to get her story.

Abigail's journey to becoming a full-fledged Texan began on the other side of the country in Pennsylvania. Nestled into her cozy corner office on the second floor of the SOTD building, she recounted the path that brought her to Lubbock: “So, I'm from a little town called Phoenixville in Pennsylvania. It's like a suburb of Philadelphia. And I did theater pretty much all my life there, after school and all through high school and, you know, I fell in love with it!”

Phoenixville was the perfect place to grow up if you were a budding arts lover, like Abigail. There are local artists, festivals, and a little theatre that famously serves as the film site for the classic horror film The Blob (1958)! She found fertile ground to explore her interests in the performing arts while in her hometown.  She considered studying theatre in college, but like many others, Abigail had a plethora of other interests she was eager to explore:

I went to school in the center of the state, at a little college called Shippensburg University, ironically the only other university in the country with Red Raiders as a mascot. So, I've been a Red Raider my whole life! My initial plan was to go into school counseling, but I wanted to stay engaged in theater which, like French, I love and have studied all my life. I declared a double minor in theatre and French, went to France for a summer, and am almost fluent in because of my experiences there.

Abigail graduated from Shippensburg with a degree in Psychology and two minors in Theatre and French respectively. In search of her next adventure, the other Red Raider school called her name:

I went straight to graduate school from undergrad, and my boyfriend, now fiancé, applied to graduate schools at the same time. He's a political scientist and was looking into PhD programs. I was looking at both counseling programs and theater programs, just to throw all my darts and see what stuck. We needed somewhere that would take both of us. I interviewed and auditioned at Tech, and I got in! And here we are!

Abigail is a graduate of the MFA Performance and Pedagogy (P&P) program. The P&P degree plan has a structured balance of coursework in performance theory, technique, and practicum, alongside multiple teaching responsibilities scattered throughout three years. This degree serves as a unique and exciting opportunity for students like Abigail looking to pursue academic careers: “I found my love of academia here. As soon as I arrived, I wanted to enter that world, working with students and teaching the artists of tomorrow. My strongest voice as an artist was in the classroom.”

As Abigail discovered her new love for the academic world, she also found she had a unique passion for movement training. She returned to this interest more and more throughout her artistic and pedagogical journeys: “I really have a home in teaching. And I really love movement. Teaching movement is where my love lives. Teaching as a graduate student helped me find my voice as a professional.”

Abigail graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Performance and Pedagogy, a reinvigorated love for movement and dance, and--like so many other graduates to come before her--a hunger for employment:

I was on the job market for almost a year, and it was right when COVID was starting to hit. So, the job market was… not great. As a graduate student, I made a lot of close connections with the dance department, just because of my love of movement. Rachel Hirshorn-Johnston [Associate Professor of Voice & Speech] gave me a call and said they had a job for me.

Abigail soon became the assistant to the head of dance. In that role, she was instrumental in the accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Dance for the school's new MA in Dance Studies. On top of that, her work in overhauling the program's reporting of university learning objectives received special commendation. The school used her first report as an example for all other programs across the university! As her administrative flare grew and grew, Abigail felt a desire to expand her work with the School of Theatre and Dance. When the graduate programs coordinator position became available, and she stepped swiftly into it: “It felt like a natural progression. I had a love for the school and a desire to get more involved.”

But what exactly is the Graduate Programs Coordinator? The answer: a full-on superhero. She does a little bit of everything:

I consider myself an administrative fairy for graduate students. I help with enrollment and graduation--getting everything sorted and making sure all the boxes are ticked. I'm also a recruitment coordinator, planning the budget and calendar for recruitment for the school. On top of that, I create the course schedule for each semester--and I really love doing that. It's like a big puzzle, and I like puzzles and lists.

Abigail thrives amid the chaos, and she says there is one facet of her job that is extra special:

My favorite part of the position is the graduation checks. I chat with every single student one-on-on to discuss their theses and reassure them. I like being that point person, which gives me an opportunity to get face-to-face time with students.  That is one of the loves that I found in grad school, working with students.

These days, if you find her in her office, she's likely poring over a graduation checklist with a student, plugging away at the school's calendar, or planning a recruiting event. Outside the building, however, Abigail is staying on top of her creative outlets. A certified yoga teacher and aerial silks enthusiast, she has found exciting ways to lean into her love of teaching and movement.

If you're a graduate student at Texas Tech's School of Theatre and Dance, you can rest easy knowing you've got a superstar like Abigail in your corner. Make sure you stop by her office sometime soon to say hi!