With her charming Southern accent and vivacious personality, students appreciate Dr. Christi Spain-Savage’s enthusiasm for literature and theatre both inside and outside the classroom. Whether she’s having a discussion with her students about their current Shakespeare reading or reading through possible play selections with members of Stage III, Dr. Spain-Savage dedicates her time to truly getting to know her students. She is a very strong member of our Siena community and it was a huge pleasure having the opportunity to sit down and speak with her!
Number of years at Siena: 3
Favorite play: King Lear by William Shakespeare
Favorite book: The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Her Campus Siena: Where are you from?
CSS: I’m from Texas! A little town called Sonora – it’s south of San Angelo and west of San Antonio, so really kind of in the middle of nowhere. It’s only about an hour from Mexico, so it’s VERY far south.
HCS: What first made you want to pursue a teaching career here at Siena?
CSS: I got my PhD at Fordham and although it’s much bigger than Siena is, the classes were very small. In fact, we have 18 students in our basic writing classes and our Intro to Lit classes were capped at 21, so my background was much smaller in terms of who I was teaching and the class sizes. We also went through a very extensive pedagogy program, so we were very taken care of throughout this program and the training was very specific and for small classes. I knew that I was more of a small school girl in terms of teaching, I never really taught in a place with lecture type classes, and I like to get to know everyone in the class and know their names by the second class! I didn’t really know about Siena other than my experience at the interview, but everyone in the English Department was so nice and so welcoming, so that was a terrific experience. I got the sense of a small community and knew that I was really going to like it here. I love the mission of a liberal arts college as well, especially this day in age. I think that learning how to critically read and write and to communicate verbally is very important, despite the discipline or the job that you go into.
HCS: What’s the best part about teaching English here at Siena?
CSS: Definitely getting to delve into the text with a smaller class! English majors in my experience have been very dedicated and committed and great students, so you’re not going to run into a situation where someone hasn’t read. Even in the Intro to Literature classes, I feel like students come prepared and ready to discuss. Just being able to talk about text and getting to see the students’ insights that I haven’t even thought about, in regards to a play or short story, is really what makes the class fun. I really thrive off of those moments!
HCS: Your enthusiasm for discussing aspects of theatre in your classes is very contagious! Can you tell me a bit about your interest in theatre and how that began?
CSS: I was always in church plays from when I was little! I did community theatre in Sonora too; we did The Sound of Music and The King and I, and it was always so fun for kids! I was always kind of drawn to it, and then in high school, it really started to become a passion. Now, even though I’ve gone into more a text-based learning, I’m still involved at the theatre here at Siena!
HCS: Do you have a favorite class or topic to teach? If so, which one?
CSS: My favorite topic to teach this far has been Shakespeare from the bottom up! I kind of organized it around this theme because I’m interested in issues of class and gender. This class would be really cool to be able to look at the lower class characters and to think about how those scenes examined the overall picture and main plot of the plays instead of always starting with the protagonist. I also taught Elizabethan Literature last semester and that was really fun, as we got to do representations of Elizabeth, both direct and indirect. That was fun in terms of early modern history, thinking about the fluctuations of life and what was going on culturally and politically as well. Being able to examine and think about the literature representations of this time period with students was so fun and fascinating!
HCS: What’s the most rewarding part of being involved with theatre?
CSS: I’d have to say the collaboration of all of the different parts and seeing them all come together. From an acting perspective, you’re really only thinking about the play from your character’s point of view. For instance, when we read Measure for Measure, I was thinking about Mistress Overdone and her motivation whereas the director is having to think of the bigger picture. When we analyze text, in a way, it’s almost from that “big picture” directorial view. Even now, I see the collaboration at the theatre at Siena because I’m the faculty advisor for Stage III, the theatre club, and I got to be part of this season’s selection. I’ve really enjoyed having the opportunity to be able to select plays with the students and to hear their opinions about what will work and what won’t work. Just to see everything come together is so exciting and you really don’t get that excitement from watching a film. There’s always electricity in the room during a live performance and you never know what’s going to happen that night!
HCS: If you could portray any character in a play, who would you choose and why?
CSS: I’ve always wanted to play Lady M in Macbeth! But when I was acting, I was a little bit too young because I was in my twenties and she needs to be a bit older. I actually auditioned for it and I didn’t get the part, so that part always kind of stuck with me. I wanted to play her because she just holds so much power in the play and she’s seen as an equal to her husband. I think just in terms of the character, she’s so interesting and I would love to be able to play her!
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