FSU Trailblazer: Robin Mackey

Although Florida State University is home to many brilliantly talented individuals, I had the honor to interview Robin Mackey for this week’s FSU Trailblazer! Through production for The Vagina Monologues, I have had the opportunity to get to know Robin and see all the amazing hard work she’s put into just this production while also being busy with a million other obligations. Robin is ambitious and always working at a 100% to achieve her goals, which I greatly aspire to do in the future. I am so thankful Robin took the time out of her crazy schedule to answer questions for this interview!

Image via: Robin Mackey

Q: What is your hometown?

RM: I’ve been shuffled back and forth between Chicago and West Palm Beach, FL. They both resonate with me as home.

Q: What’s your major?

RM: BA Theatre / Minor in English

Q: What year of school are you in?

RM: Senior.

Q: Why did you pick your major?

RM: I had gone to both a middle and high school for the performing arts and had majored in Theatre. After spending the majority of my life in the theatre, I knew this was what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. I wanted to use theatre as a platform for change and a conduit for bringing people together.

Q: What is your favorite thing about FSU?

RM: Okay this one is so easy because anytime anyone asks me this I say MANCC (Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography). It’s the only center for choreography that is located at a major research institution and provides residencies for artists to develop or continue works here at FSU. Most of them culminate with a public or private showing. MANCC has produced some of the most potent pieces I’ve seen. EVER.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?

RM: Currently, I don’t have a lot (really any) spare time. I am directing two shows, assistant directing the School of Theatre’s production of Hedda Gabler, Executive Director of Ellipsis: Student Theatre Productions, taking classes, on top of applying to a million of jobs for post-grad life. BUT when I used to have free time I loved taking group fitness classes at the Leach, reading (SO MUCH READING) and writing for pleasure, and also just thinking—like giving myself time to sit and rest and let my mind do whatever it wants, kind of like meditation maybe? But not as strict.

Image via: Robin Mackey

Q: How would you describe yourself?

RM: One word: FLOTUS. No, I’m kidding, I could only ever aspire to be like Michelle Obama—but honestly, who wouldn’t? I am very independent and ambitious. I get very passionate about situations quickly, but I pride myself on being able to take a step back and look at things logically before any decision is made—although sometimes the heart still wins when it is meant to be. Oh, and I call myself a disciple of David Bowie (RIP).

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

RM: Ten years is massive. Sometimes I feel like I can’t even see where I’ll be in ten minutes! In ten years I plan to have obtained an MFA in Directing from a top notch theatre program that also has a strong Theatre Studies program. Then hopefully I’ll have gone on to take residencies or fellowships for directors or artistic leadership positions where I can be given the resources and opportunity to explore and create impactful political and socially charged pieces. I kind of think I want to write a book. I don’t know exactly what it will be on yet, but more and more I’m thinking about it. In that case, I would probably model the book off whatever my thesis is on. So I guess in ten years, I might be either applying or already studying in a PhD program. I have an unhealthy obsession with Stanford’s Theatre and Performance Studies program—two of my former professors went there for their PhDs and the faculty at Stanford is remarkable. Also, maybe I want to teach at the university level? I could teach and direct for the school during the year and then over the summer be free to work elsewhere and travel. Honestly, who knows where I’ll be?!

Q: What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment during your time at FSU?

RM: During my sophomore year, my friends and I devised a site specific theatre piece called Sissy that took place in the 3^rd floor men’s restroom. It’s a piece that explores the way society fetishizes gay culture through very superficial, surface level stereotypes and our many failures at sex. We had such success at FSU that we decided to try to tour it to other theatre festivals. This past summer we took the show to the Orlando International Fringe Festival with added shows and a sold out run! We won the Fringe of the Fringe Award which is awarded to the show that really demonstrates what “Fringe” is. It’s something that epitomizes why the Fringe was created—to innovate and push boundaries of theatre, to question and confront the big ideas. I couldn’t have done any of this without everything I was exposed to and learned about in my classes or from my professors and peers here at FSU. P.S. If you think Sissy sounds cool, ULoop did an interview with me about it all last year where I go into more depth about the process and the show!

Image via: Robin Mackey

Q: If you could go back and change something in your time at FSU, would you? If so, what would you change?

RM:  Definitely! I would change that I never got to take a class from Theatre Studies professor, Beth Osborne. She is one of the kindest women I have ever met, and I haven’t even taken a class to get to know her that well! But I’m low key obsessed with how brilliant she is and if she reads this I hope she laughs and know how much I wish I could’ve studied with her.

Q: Is there anyone who’s been really influential in your time at FSU?

RM: Definitely. Many of my teachers have really shaped me into the artist and scholar I am today. I have always been more interested in getting to know my professors and picking their minds than being one of the students who hangs in the back, unnoticed. I would say the professor who has influenced me most is someone who has ultimately changed my life, Dr. Kris Salata. On the first day of the first class I took with him, I immediately knew this man possessed brilliance like no other that I would meet during the course of my life. Over the past three years he has become a dear friend and precious mentor—always pushing me to ask questions, not to accept limits or boundaries, and to expand the definition and gravity of what life and theatre is or can be, to think vertically and to practically apply this deeper thought to my work as a human, an artist, director, writer, etc. I truly cannot picture what my time at FSU would’ve been like without the guidance of Kris. Also, as many people know, I’m in love with his dog Zsa Zsa. I frequently dog-sit and refer to her as my child. I know it sounds insane, but this dog is in touch with the soul and I’ve never met another animal as smart or as gentle as Zsaz.

Q: In your theatre productions, are there any major themes that you like to address?

RM: I guess I always like to create or work on theatre that is about something. Whether it is something like Sissy that explores social experiences and painfully inaccurate stereotypes or my next project of two politically charged one acts written by Caryl Churchill that examine the millennial generation’s willful ignorance to current events and the world that extends beyond the radius of ourselves, there has to be something deeper that we can share with the audience.

Image via; Robin Mackey

Q: If you had to pick one specific thing you did while at FSU that really influenced where you are today, what would it be and why?

RM: Hands down it was asking MFA Directing student, Carrie Colton, to work as an Assistant Director on her Tennessee Williams one act Talk To Me Like The Rain… two years ago. Since then I have worked on almost every show she has directed at FSU. I have learned so much from her. Every day I am reminded how lucky I am to have her as a mentor and friend. The pieces we’ve worked on together will stay with me forever—especially Requiem. That process was something that connected every one of us that collaborated on the show. Carrie is a radiant individual with an unmatched sensitivity and inquisitiveness towards her art.

Q: Were there any volunteering events that you participated in that really impacted you?

RM: For the past three years I have volunteered in the annual production of The Vagina Monologues for the Women Student Union at FSU. My sophomore year, I was in it as a performer, and the past two years I have directed it. My involvement with the WSU has impacted me as both a woman and as a theatre artist. I love being a part of The Vagina Monologues because it serves as an opportunity to produce a piece of theatre that addresses something a lot of people, to this day, consider taboo. I strive to make each production I work on more inclusive than the last—over the last two years I’ve cut some pieces and added newly written pieces from women across the world to some students right here at FSU! We need to be sharing and representing real voices of real people from this point in time. Some of the pieces stand the test of time, but others are simply outdated in their thinking of what it is to identify as a woman. I’ve learned a lot about myself and how the world reacts to people who unapologetically say the word VAGINAS a lot and at a very audible volume.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add that I might not have thought to ask you?

RM: Support student theatre! Check out Ellipsis: Student Theatre Productions, Rogue Productions, and the Black Actors Guild on Facebook for all the upcoming events!!