Date of Award
2023
First Advisor
Aimee Michel
Second Advisor
Sara Katzoff
Abstract
From 2000-2003, I studied theater at Bard College at Simon’s Rock followed by the University of Southern California without completing a Bachelor’s degree. I then entered the workforce and never had the opportunity to participate in theater again. I spent 10 years, from September 2009 to November 2019, working in various roles in car dealership sales departments. This thesis primarily consists of scenes in which I attempt to convey four stories from that career that I either experienced myself or, in one case, became a hyperbolic parody of the exaggerated fictions I often overheard being told by coworkers. The goal was provoke empathy for those who work in a deeply distrusted yet ubiquitous industry and occasionally to indulge my love for mildly subverting some common theatrical conventions. It also contains my process notes which document my experience returning to creative writing and critically considering and creating theater for the first time in twenty years while processing the insecurities that accompanied returning to complete my degree as an older adult whose previous educational experiences did not end as intended.
Recommended Citation
Segil, David, "Ups: Scenes from a Life in Sales" (2023). Senior Theses. 1669.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/sr-theses/1669
Simon's Rock students and employees can log in from off-campus by clicking on the Off-campus Download button and entering their Simon's Rock username and password.