By Nicole Smith
SHAWNEE – Caitlin Cullison, a goalie on the Oklahoma Baptist Women’s Lacrosse team, knows how to act on the lacrosse field, and off.
A senior interdisciplinary major, Cullison chose to study theatre as part of her three focuses. Most of her days this semester have so far been spent in classes, lacrosse practice, and rehearsals for her role in the upcoming play “You Can’t Take it With You.”
“It’s interesting,” Cullison said. “Right now, Coach [Beech] is really good about letting me get out of practice early sometimes or letting me miss a couple practices because we’re in the off-season.
Originally from Lempster, New Hampshire, Cullison said she always knew she wanted to go to OBU.
Caitlin Cullison
Photo courtesy OBU Sports Info.
“My parents had gone here so it’s kind of like a legacy thing and they had always said I would like OBU,” she said. “I do like the small community-esque vibe that you get here, and it’s also a lot cheaper than any of the state schools in New Hampshire.”
In the beginning, Cullison hadn’t planned on playing lacrosse until she got a call from the coach at the time. Cullison had experience playing the sport in high school, and the offered scholarship didn’t hurt either, she said.
“I was already basically set on OBU anyway, and it was really helpful to have the scholarship so I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s play lacrosse,’” she said.
To help manage her busy schedule and workload Cullison said she gets up early in the mornings to do homework and anything else she wants to get done.
“You get a lot of sleep, you’ve got to get up really early to do homework, and maybe eat some food once in a while,” Cullison explained. “Sometimes it’s really stressful but it’s worth it because you get really good bonds with your teammates and really good bonds with the crazy theatre people, who I love.”
Currently Cullison is playing the role of Reba, the maid, in the OBU theatre’s production of “You Can’t Take it With You.” While Cullison said some days can be as busy as going to class, going to practice, and going to rehearsal all in row, it’s all been a good experience so far.
“Reba and I have a lot in common, we both live with a bunch of crazy people,” Cullison joked. “But this play’s a lot of fun, I’m really excited to do it.”
With a busy lacrosse season coming up next semester, Cullison said this may be her last play to be a part of. A fact that she said, does make her feel a little sad.
“This might be my last play at OBU and I’m really sad about that, because there’s going to be some amazing things going on next semester,” she lamented.
Going into her last lacrosse season Cullison said she hopes to make it through the season injury-free.
“I’ve been hurt every year since freshmen year, something has been wrong with me,” she said. “So it would be nice to have a slightly injury-free season.”
After graduation, Cullison said she hopes to use her interdisciplinary degrees in Theatre, Digital Media Arts, and English to pursue a career in either cinematography or with National Geographic. Cullison said she feels her acting experience could be a huge help to her, especially in cinematography.
“I think it will help me understand, especially if we were doing something scripted,” she said. “I could better understand the actor’s perspective and better put into words what I wanted them to do in terms that they could understand.”
More importantly, Cullison said, she just wants to be happy. Being happy, she said was part of her decision to study theatre. Cullison had started to become more interested in theatre her junior year of high school and decided to make it part of her career.
“I really got into it my junior year of high school and kind of figured that I was good at it and something that I liked doing and that was my goal for the rest of my life, to just be happy and be able to do something that I like to do.”
You Can’t Take it With You” opens on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Performances will take place at Craig-Dorland Theatre inside Shawnee Hall on Oklahoma Baptist University’s campus. The production will continue through Nov. 13, with evening performances Nov. 3, 4, 5, 10 and 12, at 7:30 p.m. Matinees will take place Nov. 5, 6 and 13, at 2:30 p.m.