Student Spotlight: Meet Alea, a performing arts degree student at University Centre Rotherham
Faces of University Centre Rotherham:
Alea Stubbs, BA(Hons) in Theatre, Acting and Performance
While many performing arts students dream of bright lights and big stages, 18-year-old Alea Stubbs isn’t preparing for a career in front of an audience – she’s preparing for a career in front of a classroom.
Now studying for a bachelor’s degree at University Centre Rotherham’s performance department, higher education has made her realise her passion lies in inspiring young people and using creativity to bring education to life.
Alea’s journey into higher education
Performing arts has always been central to Alea’s life. Through school, she gravitated towards acting, studying GCSE drama which led to her enrolling on the level 3 diploma in Performing and Production Arts at our sister site, Rotherham College.
While she knew she wanted to be involved in performing arts, she didn’t know which pathway. That two-year course proved to be eye-opening for Alea. She learned that performance techniques could be used not only to entertain, but also to educate and empower.
This sparked the ambition to pursue a degree that would broaden her creative abilities while also giving her the academic foundation to move towards teacher training.
“My end goal is not to be an actor but to be an educator, so the academic side of studying a degree is what appealed to me. I could have applied for drama schools but in that sense I would be trained as if I was going into the profession. It would be really intense, really directed towards proceeding in an acting career, and that’s not where I want to be.”
Why Alea chose University Centre Rotherham
At school, Alea always saw herself moving away to study in Lincoln. But studying the level 3 diploma at Rotherham College completely changed her perspective. Continuity of learning really mattered to her and she didn’t see the point in starting over somewhere unfamiliar.
Progressing directly from Level 3 to the degree programme at University Centre Rotherham felt like the right next step, giving her that seamless transition with familiar faces and the reassurance that the tutors already understood her learning style and career ambitions.
“As soon as I started the level 3 course I knew this was where I wanted to be. At University Centre Rotherham, I knew I would have the same tutors who I already had a good working relationship with. It felt comforting to know that my education would be in their hands.”
Staying within the same learning community allowed Alea to focus on developing her skills without worrying about adjusting to a new environment.
“I struggled academically in my first year of college but I made quite a lot of progress in the space of a year and saw major improvements due to the teachers’ support. I knew there was going to be a jump from college to higher education but because of the education I’d already received, it didn’t feel as high pressure. I knew what I was going into, knew what the standards were, and knew this was where I needed to be.”
Being a smaller university campus with reduced class sizes means learners like Alea receive more one-to-one support from tutors and also get to be part of a close-knit group of learners.
“It’s one of those courses where everyone bonds like a family. We’re all really close and supportive and most of us moved up from level 3 together. If you are struggling or need help with anything, it’s so much easier to get support from tutors here.”
Academic life
The performance degree is delivered full-time over three years. However, contact time on campus is just ten hours a week, which means learner can study flexibly around other commitments.
Those sessions at University Centre Rotherham combine theory work with lots of practical sessions in our theatre and rehearsal spaces over in the Eastwood building. There, learners have access to a range of facilities including an industry-standard camera rig which they use to practice acting for camera and screen.
The degree covers various modules across the three years, from naturalism, Shakespeare and absurdism to historical context and theatre in education and community arts.
Learners have multiple opportunities to devise their own innovative performance based on specific styles of acting they prefer.
“Not every style of theatre is suited to everyone, so the degree is a really good way of being introduced to new styles and finding out if you like them or not. The course content is quite varied and we explore lots of different acting techniques, so you get a flavour of everything,” says Alea.
“We’re also encouraged to apply those techniques practically, so you’re not just getting your knowledge from being told it over and over in a three-hour lecture. You go away and applying it to your performance, so you can understand how it looks and feels, and what your opinion is of it.”
Throughout her time at Rotherham College and University Centre Rotherham, Alea says the standard of teaching and support from her tutors has encouraged her to develop her skills as a performer.
“Practical skills aren’t just what help you develop as a performer. You don’t realise how the theoretical knowledge you gain impacts your performance. It’s a very scientific subject really.
“The first book I ever picked up was in my second year of college and it was on Grotowski poor theatre. I only picked it up out of curiosity in the library because we’d just had a lecture on it.
“I remember my tutor, Aiden, sitting down with me and showing me which parts were relevant and which not so much, giving me advice about how to use those techniques. I’d finally found something I was really interested in and it really helped me going forwards.”
Developing skills for teaching through Performing Arts
Although she isn’t aiming for an acting career, Alea recognises how valuable performance training is for future educators.
The degree allows her to build a versatile set of skills that are directly transferable to the classroom, whether that’s confidence and communication or leadership and problem-solving.
Acting is very subjective and opinion based. People will either like it or they won’t – and actors can’t control that. Doing a degree teaches students about resilience and how to collaborate together.
Performing also teaches you how to hold a room. It helps you understand people, manage different personalities, and communicate clearly – skills every teacher needs.
“It’s really hard being in a group of people who are all highly creative and all want very different things from a performance. On this course, we learn about problem-solving to help us get through any creative clashes. There’s never a right or wrong way and you learn ways of working with different styles and tastes to create something you believe looks good on stage and is entertaining.
“Confidence is a basic skill we all need in life. If you’re going for a job interview, you can’t sit there cowering in a corner. A lot of people who came onto the level 3 course with me were really anxious or didn’t know how to communicate with people or be part of a group. To watch my course mates develop and now be taking on leadership roles has been really magical and is part of the reason I hope to go into the teaching profession.”
Gaining experience beyond the stage
Since starting the degree in September, Alea has already gone above expectations by volunteering as a student mentor for the level 2 and 3 diploma students, something she initially did last year while in her final year at college.
To gain some experience that will help her teaching career, Alea comes into college during her days off to support the teaching team by offering more one-to-one support for learners. That could be sharing her theoretical knowledge in a presentation or helping students practice their script or a monologue.
This experience has helped Alea understand how the arts can shape confidence, wellbeing, and expression – particularly in younger learners.
“Not everyone is suited to this subject and that’s okay. But there are so many ways it can help develop children and young people. It’s been a really heartwarming experience to watch these learners develop and progress over the last year.
“That’s not to say it’s easy. They’re a class of loud performing arts students fresh out of school so it can be chaotic at times but I can tell they want to be there and they’re doing it for the right reasons.”
Looking ahead
As a first year degree student, Alea is looking forward to working through the variety of modules on the course – well, most of them!
“Next year we have a module on acting to camera which I really don’t enjoy. But I said I was awful at Shakespeare when I started and then I auditioned for the role of Juliet as I knew I needed to go for something outside my comfort zone. I also did my monologue on Macbeth. You don’t realise how much progress you make until you look back.”
After graduating in a few years’ time, Alea plans to progress into teacher training by studying for her PGCE here at University Centre Rotherham.
Her long-term ambition is to do a master’s degree in a drama school to gain more experience within the industry.
Alea’s advice to others
“Just go for it. You can consider the pros and cons for weeks, months even but you’ll never experience that change until you go for it. Don’t overthink it, dive in and see where it takes you.”
Find out more about the performance degree at University Centre Rotherham.