Where are they now? From Stage to Simulation: A Theater Graduates Journey Beyond the Spotlight

By Makayla Varner

For most people, being fresh out of college typically means you’ve reached the height of motivation and inspiration. It’s that period in time when you want to get out into the world, explore and find your place.

Brock Vickers, a GSU student who graduated with a bachelor’s in theatre in 2011 and a bachelor’s in multimedia journalism in 2012, was no different from this crowd.

He rushed out into the world, excited to be part of the theatre business, and for a while, he did it full-time. 

Vickers traveled all over America—Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, Georgia, California, Texas—performing for different theatres and living the life he’s always dreamed of ever since his first play in elementary school.

During his time performing, joy was spread, laughter was heard, and lessons were learned.

One of the most important lessons that Vickers learned was this: Don’t confine yourself to one specialty; expand yourself, use the skills you learned through the things you’re good at and use those to your advantage.

Find your place in life.

That’s exactly what Vickers did—through the tough moments and the joyous ones, he found his place in life.

Here’s how he did that.

Why He Chose GSU

Vickers wanted to start getting experience in theater as soon as he could; GSU matched this value of his, unlike many other colleges that focused more on education rather than experience.

There was also the matter of wanting to come out debt-free, a wish that every college student likely shares. With the HOPE scholarship, as well as other state scholarships, Vickers was able to graduate without debt by attending an in-state university.

“I have two friends. One went to Juilliard, the other went to Yale,” said Vickers “They’re both getting close to their sixties and they have not paid off their student loans.” 

Unfortunately this story is very common among students going to big universities. Students are able to get experience, exposure and connections that they might not get otherwise, but they’re very likely to leave with a heavy amount of debt, said Vickers.

By the time he graduated with his theatre degree, Vickers had built himself a lengthy resume detailing all the shows he had done and the experience he gained at GSU, amounting to double the shows compared to other people he worked with later in his life.

Choosing GSU, an in-state university, proved to be the right move for him. Since he graduated without debt, he was free to travel all over the country, catch theater gigs whenever possible and live the life he always dreamed of.

Fresh out of University

The experience Vickers gained from his time at GSU proved to be invaluable; very quickly after graduating, he had the opportunity to become an apprentice at the Hedgerow Theater and performed around 40 professional plays, staying with them for about three years before moving on to the next chapter in his life.

However, Vickers quickly realized that being a full-time actor wasn’t going to cut the bills, so he started taking up secondary jobs everywhere he traveled.

This led to him getting his bartending license in 2013, where he started making connections with the people he met, which ultimately led him to positions in PR and marketing.

“There’s no such thing as a full-time actor,” said Vickers. “Even if you're fortunate enough to make a living off of it, very rarely is it still enough to pay the bills.”

As Vickers grew older, he realized that he wanted a more secure life and soon found his way into his current position at Forio, a company that creates simulations for MBA business schools such as Harvard or Stanford. 

His current position doesn’t mean he’s set aside theater, however—he still loves to perform and takes the chance to do so whenever the opportunity presents itself. He’s even had the opportunity to be a part of a film recently released on Amazon Prime Video titled The Last Patient.

The skills he learned from his years traveling as an actor as well as the experience he gained in his marketing and PR positions set him up for what he does now, a job he truly enjoys and feels that he can express his creativity freely.

“I try to encourage young actors as much as possible to have as much license over your creativity as you can,” said Vickers. “If you’re just an actor sitting around waiting to get cast, you’re going to be sitting around a lot.”

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