“We put a guy in prison; ha ha, that’s so funny,” said Caroline Adcock, senior psychology major and theater minor, whispering just loud enough for only me to hear her. The two of us were standing on upstage behind the main action for a scene during rehearsals for “Twelfth Night.” As all the characters on stage laugh at Malvolio’s exit, Adcock’s comment made me see Malvolio slightly less as the antagonist of a subplot and more as another human being with his own story.
As we waited to go on stage during rehearsals for School for Scandal, Adcock and I came up with different back stories for our characters and how they relate to each other, sorting through different stories until we found the one that feels right. One day, I admitted that I felt like I was struggling to get into character as an old woman, and it was Adcock who suggested rehearsing some with a cane to help me get into the mindset.
“Are any of you familiar with the stages of grief?” asked Rachel Mihalko, senior public relations major and director of the one act play, “Dreamlost.” “I know you are, Caroline.”
Adcock grinned, and as we started the process to get to know our characters for “Dreamlost,” I could see that Adcock is in her element. Here, in this theater, her passion for the human mind intersects with love for performing arts.
Adcock acts with such ease that I thought she must have been doing theater her whole life, but while Adcock has been performing in the arts for 14 years through dance, it was not until she came to Union University that she became involved with theater.
She came into college knowing that she wanted to be a psychology major. As someone who listens well and who is fascinated by the inner workings of the human mind, counseling was a very natural place to put her gifts to use. In high school she started looking at what it would mean to pursue that as a career, and her interest increased as she discovered a passion for mental health.
“At the time, I thought it was totally normal and fine to have a daily break down in the girl’s bathroom over like a failed math test,” Adcock said. She just thought everyone felt that way. “Then just through learning about whether I wanted to do counseling and psychology, I was like, ‘oh, wow, there is something called anxiety!’ Wanting to learn more about that for myself and also for the benefit of other people all kind of combined to make me a psych major.”
Adcock has a gift for connecting with other people. When I first entered the black box theater at Union for a rehearsal, I felt out of place and new. It seemed like everyone else had their feet under them, and Adcock was one of the first people to reach out to me. She just talked and laughed with me as if I was not a total stranger to her. Overtime I became friends with more theater people, but Adcock was the first one that made me feel a part of the family.
One of the ways that Adcock has allowed her ability to connect with others to flourish is by being a part of Kappa Delta, one of the three sororities on campus. She has served on leadership for Kappa Delta as Alumni Relations Chair and has also served on the Panhellenic council.
When Alicia Wibbenmeyer, sophomore marketing major, joined Kappa Delta, she met with a couple of potential bigs, and was glad that Adcock was the one that was assigned as her big because she was someone that Wibbenmeyer felt connected to right away.
“We clicked off really well,” Wibbenmeyer said. “We don’t hang out a lot, because we’re both really busy, but whenever we do get together, we pick up right where we left off.… She’s very good at making things feel like you haven’t been apart for very long.”
Part of what drew Adcock to join Kappa Delta was watching Variety Show her senior year of high school, and she knew that she wanted to be a part of that sisterhood and be able to share a performance like that with others. In addition to variety show, Adcock also got involved with theater.
“The first thing I did involving theater was usher for ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.’ Because I wanted a free ticket,” Adcock said laughing. “That’s the way to go, dude. They need ushers, I don’t like spending money, it works out.”
From there, Adcock moved from working off-stage, to behind stage and also on-stage. Being a part of theater has become a place where Adcock’s unique gifts and talents all come together and overlap. Her ability to connect with others is highlighted in the way she interacts with people on stage and off. Her love for the psychology and understanding how people think creates fully formed and developed characters when she acts, and the opportunity to participate in the preforming arts satisfies an impulse of the creative arts.
“I think that something that theater and just acting has really taught me is, one of the big things they teach you is follow your instincts, make a choice and go with it; and whatever you do, whatever decision you make on that stage, commit to it,” Adcock said. “I feel like for me that has flowed into me in my personal life.”