Name: Hannah Sheppard
Year: Senior
Majors/Minors: Theater and Communications Major, Human Resources Minor
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Involvement at Xavier:
Xavier Theatre, Leadership Intern in the Office of Student Involvement, Cultural Co-Chair for Black Student Association, Resident Assistant and Senior Resident Assistant, Student Alumni Association member, Worship Leader for Coalition of Christian Outreach, member of the President’s Action Advisory Team for Diversity and Inclusion.
Tell us about the show that you’re doing right now.
Right now I’m doing The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged (revised). So these three guys from The Reduced Shakespeare company in L.A. decided to put all of Shakespeare’s works into 90 minutes. It’s a comedy and there’s everything from rapping to football to actual Shakespearean text. It’s been a good time. We get to work with a Tony Award-winning director so it’s really fantastic to see his vision and work with him and some really talented students; it’s nice. And it’s funny, everybody should come. I think a lot of people are turned off by Shakespeare because they don’t get him, but this play is really not Shakespeare. It’s called “Reduced” for a reason because it really is reduced.
You’ve been here for four years, what is one of the best moments you’ve had at Xavier and that you will remember when you leave?
I am the recipient of a really prestigious award. I was runner up for the Antonio Johnson Scholarship Award, and I was Macy’s runner up so Macy’s gave me a scholarship through the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. That was a really cool moment because it’s super competitive, and I didn’t expect to win it. In fact, I just remember being so shocked that someone had to tap me on the shoulder and tell me that they called my name, because I was just not expecting that at all. That was probably a really dope moment, to see somebody recognize your work and your efforts and you know that you didn’t do it for an award, you didn’t do it to get a scholarship nor did you do it to be the runner up. You did it because you loved it, because you wanted to do it, so it was really cool to see that. Antonio Johnson really represents giving back and working hard and fighting for justice and he’s a huge community builder. When you think about someone from the outside looking in, thinking that same thing about you is really humbling, because you aren’t doing anything for recognition. So that’s a moment that I will not forget.
Another one comes from my freshman year. I was Gary Coleman in Avenue Q, and if you’ve never seen Avenue Q watch it, because it’s hilarious. That was the funniest play I’ve ever been in in my life.
Do you have a plan for after graduation?
I do have a plan. I’m not ready to share that plan with the world, not yet, but I do hope to change the world for sure. Everybody keeps asking me what I’m going to do after graduation and my answer is always change the world, but that’s not a write-off answer for me because I think we get so stuck in finding a job and finding what’s next and connecting the dots, when in reality we should just be pursuing our passions and looking to seek justice and help people and be better people. And when all of that stuff comes, the rest of that just comes with it. It’s not a cop out for me, it really is a true answer that everyone can change their little world around them. We are so gung-ho on changing the world. Everyone’s not going to put a policy in place that changes the whole world, but everyone’s world, their world view is the direct interaction they have with people. It’s who they see every day, it’s who’s at their coffee shop, it’s who’s in their classes. So if you can change that, you change the world. And that’s not an easy concept for people to swallow because it’s not competitive and it’s not recognition on a global scale, and no one’s going to come to you and give you a Nobel Peace Prize. I’m not saying you shouldn’t shoot for the stars, I’m just saying I think people can recognize right here right now we all have the opportunity to change someone’s world. And whether we use it or not is up to us.
Is there anything you want to say before leaving Xavier?
I have grown tremendously–mentally, emotionally, and physically, even. I think that if people are not ready to be changed by college and be challenged because of that change, they didn’t do it right. What I mean by that is when you come to college you’re opened up to an entire new world view of people, of religion, of culture, of academia, of work ethic, that you now get to decide how you interact with it for yourself. So if you leave college the same way you came into it four years ago, you did it wrong. Because I’ve intentionally throughout my college career put myself in spaces where I was stretched. The RA position stretched me. A lot of my classes stretched me. My majors have stretched me. If you don’t come out stretched and you’re still comfortable, you didn’t do it right. You gotta go back and try again because you should be pressed at some point, and that pressure makes you grow; it makes you blossom and realize at the core, who you are. Because up until now your parents have told you who you are and your friends back home have reinforced that message. In college you literally get the opportunity, if not completely, to at least partially recreate yourself. For me that recreation wasn’t intentional. I came to college like, I’m going to do this thing called college, and the situations that I put myself in or that I found myself in, stretched me. So that’s what I would say to people, to be challenged to go outside your comfort zone and be challenged to learn about things that make you uncomfortable to do things that maybe you’ve never done before. And that’s okay, because the FERPA law says your parents can’t even know about it, so do you!
Thanks to Hannah for our conversation. You can see her and the rest of the cast in “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged” (revised). The show opens Thursday Feb. 18, and you can get buy your tickets here.