Welcome to my year three recap of being a PhD student. It now feels like I have always been a PhD student. Was there ever a time when I was not? Was all of that life before a fever dream? Is THIS life a fever dream? I do not know.

I reviewed the last two year’s posts and can confirm that sometimes it still feels like I have done nothing, though at the same time, it feels like I am strapped into a roller coaster going full speed.

Can also confirm that as far as feeling lost – year two still takes the cake. I don’t feel lost anymore but I do feel a bit panicked about how I’m going to get it all done. And I am definitely constantly sighing over the problems first and second year me have made for third and fourth year me. But here we are.

February 2024

As I mentioned at the end of last year’s recap, I was excited to submit the annual review paperwork on time only to learn that it actually had to be submitted a month in advance. LOL. Oh well.

I continued TAing the first and second year technical theatre courses and working part-time organising paperwork for the apprenticeship course I was assisting my supervisor with.

I was hired to adjunct some online courses. That university required a three week new faculty orientation class which started during this month. I also did a little digital producing.

I passed my transfer exam! It really wasn’t so bad at all and it was kind of cool discussing my research as like everyone in the room’s sole focus. So that was cool, but it was definitely a weird day. I have never been as nervous about an academic event in my life as before I walked into that assessment room. Then I just did the thing. One of my supervisor’s was there to support me. Afterwards, we had a supervisor meeting, so it was weirdly like, right back to business? My partner and I made plans to have dinner at a restaurant I had wanted to check out in Canary Wharf for some time and I wound up with a weird amount of time between the end of my exam and meeting and dinner, so I headed over early and figured I could sit at a coffee shop and study or something but I had like this wild burst of adrenaline, I suspect from the whole thing, as I got off the DLR and just wound up aimlessly wandering some shops for like an hour before settling in at a bar and trying to study but failing. Then he turned up and we had a fairly mediocre dinner at the place, but at least our curiousity about the restaurant was satisfied. It was just a very strange, but actually kind of nice, day.

Since like almost immediately after the transfer exam though, I have felt like I’ve climbed into a pot of water that is slowly starting to boil. There has felt like a relentless pressure to actually finish this thing now.

I also began to purse my GOLD accreditation more seriously and found a faculty member to mentor me.

I started working on an essay for the postgraduate essay contest at the conference I planned to attend over the summer.

I resubmitted my Ethics application to include more information about the workshop I was developing.

My partner and I went away for the weekend to Peterborough to check out the town and see if we might want to move there because rent in London is just way too much and we realised that I only really needed to come to London once or twice a week most months and some months it’s just one day a month for a supervisor meeting. It was a nice weekend, so we started looking into places to live with an eye towards moving over the summer.

My sister-in-law and cousin came to visit during reading week and we had several adventures around London including a super fancy high tea and a roadtrip out to Bath and Oxford.

March 2024

In March, the teaching continued. This time of year is particularly fun for TAing the first and second year technical theatre students because they break into more specialised masterclasses and production meetings for their shows and it’s just a little more fun to teach than the general concepts.

I attended the most boring academic conferences around RPGs. How can you make role-playing games that boring? Surely, it was just me. And it not really being my field. But yikes.

I finished the adjunct training course and awaited a teaching assignment. I did a little digital producing. I also continued on the apprenticeship paperwork.

I worked on drafts of two of my thesis chapters, the methodology and the literature review. I continued looking for theatre companies that might be willing to work with me as case studies. I also chatted with my supervisors about removing one element of my case studies so I could move forward with what I had from the one I completed over the holidays and they agreed that would be fine.

At the end of the month, I competed in the 3 Minutes Thesis competition at my university and won my Faculty heat. The prize was £1000 and the opportunity to compete again in the school-wide competition later in the year.

I submitted my essay for the postgraduate essay competition. I also submitted an abstract proposal for a journal article in Performance Research and a different article to the Journal of Consent-Based Performance.

I also submitted a proposal to a conference in Istanbul in the fall to bring over my workshop about risk management for immersive performances.

April 2024

I continued TAing for the first and second year technical theatre courses. I did a little digital producing. I helped one of my classmates prepare for their transfer exam. I was assigned a course to adjunct with the remote university. I continued with the apprenticeship paperwork.

I submitted a proposal to present a paper at the conference I attended last August.

I started prepping to run my first workshop for my thesis research in June 2024 at my university.

The incredibly wonderful people of Coney agreed to be a case study for their performance, 1884, so I went to see the show this month.

Most excitingly, my first-ever journal article was published this month! It was a discussion of some of the failures from that conference my classmate and I co-convened in June 2022 and while the whole process of writing this piece was a roller coaster, the comments from the reviewers were so valuable in helping me better understand practice-as-research as a methodology.

Bondar, M., & Pires, C. E. (2024). A Phenomenology of Misfits: A Case Study of Practice-as-Research in Higher Education Symposia. PARtake: The Journal of Performance As Research, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.33011/partake.v6i1.2217 

May 2024

I finished up TAing the first and second year technical theatre courses. My partner and I planned to go away for the May bank holiday, which is at the same time as Memorial Day in the States, and I was so excited because it had all been a bit full on during the spring term. I thought I would be done with all my teaching obligations, but this was also the first year when I had to do all the grading for my students too.

I continued adjuncting a general humanities course at the remote university. I did a little digital producing. I continued with the apprenticeship paperwork.

I found out my abstract proposal to Performance Research was rejected, but I was selected to present my workshop at the conference in Istanbul and sent in a funding request proposal to my university.

I attended the extra training for the 3 Minute Thesis presentation the following month.

I had a booth at the Broadway Stage Management Symposium again, but, to be honest, it was probably the least involved that I have been in years. In 2023, I at least put together these little 15-minute expert Q&A’s. We were going to do something like that again but it all fell apart a bit.

I submitted the paperwork for the GOLD award. I also got COVID again and missed several days of work because it completely kicked my butt this time and I just coughed and slept for days.

I did the interview with the performance maker and the production staff of 1884 for my second case study for my thesis. They suggested I also speak with their producer, so I reached out to her too, but her interview got pushed back to later in the summer due to her schedule.

At the end of the month, my partner and I went to Venice for the long weekend and it was a really fantastic trip. Everything had been so chaotic for weeks leading up to it. I had also been struggling mightily with my thesis and on the plane on the way back I outlines my entire introduction chapter and that whole bit of the thing just sort clicked into place. So, there are definitely benefits to stepping away from everything for a few days sometimes.

My partner and I decided to definitely move in together and move out to Peterborough, and I sent notice to my landlord that I would be moving out in July.

June 2024

I continued the remote adjuncting and did a little more digital producing than previous months. I continued with the apprenticeship paperwork.

I competed in the university-wide 3 Minute Thesis competition and won the People’s Choice prize for an additional £1000 and that also made me the alternate in case the Judge’s Choice was not available to represent the university in the U.K. wide competition in the fall.

 

I started attending a lecture series that ran a few times over the summer on Creative Articulation Processes. I reached out to the performance maker of BOUND to see if they would agree to be my third case study.

My paper presentation for the other conference was accepted. I realised that both the conference in Istanbul and the other conference were actually the same week. I was pretty sure the school would not pay for both, so I paid the £99 fee to attend the local conference digitally.

No one signed up for my first risk workshop for my thesis, so I wound up cancelling it. I drafted the introduction chapter of my thesis.

My partner and I headed up to Peterborough to find a place to live and, fortunately, by the end of a long and strange day of looking at flats, we found one we liked and put in an application for it.

My best friend came to visit for two weeks starting the last week of June and we spent the last weekend of the month in York.

July 2024

I continued adjuncting remotely. I confirmed that I was going to co-teach a new course (for me) called Performing Technologies in the fall with one of my classmates.

I went on more adventures with the best friend and we went over to Austria and Germany for a long weekend.

As soon as she left, I did the IOSH Managing Safely for Theatre and Performance course, which is a week long health and safety course. It was a necessary certification as part of my PhD research.

I also attended an Interactive Dramaturgy workshop and another Creative Articulations project. I continued to work on my literature review and methodology chapters. I was notified I had become a GOLD Associate Fellow, so that was pretty cool (that was the goal).

The BF and I tried to soak up a few last fun things to do in London. Peterborough isn’t super far away but we knew we weren’t likely to do nearly as much in the city as we used to once we moved. This included a day at Cocktails in the City, which is now our third year at this event and it’s one of my favorite things we do each summer.

After discussion with one of my supervisors, we decided to move my next proposed workshop date for my thesis research to an online workshop and we circulated that info with a few partner groups like ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) and PMF (Production Managers Forum) and I actually got a few sign ups!

In the middle of the month, we made the big move to Peterborough. Six days later we went to the States for two and a half weeks for vacation. So… clearly not a super production school month.

August 2024

I continued remote adjuncting and did a little bit of digital production work.

We spent the first week of August in Maine on a family vacation, which was really wonderful, before settling in back in Peterborough and actually setting up our home here.

I attended another Creative Articulations lecture. I went to see BOUND. I continued working on my literature review and methodology chapters to submit them for review to my supervisors in September.

September 2024

I continued remote adjuncting and did a little digital production work. I also went to Istanbul for that conference and did my first workshop. It went really well. There were a lot of unanticipated cultural differences to consider and the attendees were heavily skewed towards performers and actors, but I learned a lot and it was so exciting to finally just do it.

I found out I was shortlist for the postgraduate essay prize at the other conference, but I did not win. I was encouraged to submit it to a journal though to see if they would accept it, so I did. I did my paper presentation and it went well. I was kind of sad to not be able to attend that conference because the working group I’m usually a part of is really just so lovely and the people are so kind and so interesting. Hopefully I can go at the end of my final year.

My first supervisor asked if I wanted to co-author a book chapter about his theatre company with him and two others and I thought, why not? So I agreed. This was a questionable choice as the way his theatre company functions has often caused me a lot of anxiety. But… writing credit. Sigh.

I interviewed the performance maker for BOUND and she put me in touch with the production staff, though I had a lot of trouble getting in touch with them.

I completed the data collection for the 1884 case study. I submitted the drafts of my lit review and methodology to my supervisors for comments. I also wrote and submitted the first draft of my first case study of Dead Letter No. 9.

I went to pay my last big tuition payment, and I was supposed to have the £3000 of prize money from the 3 Minute Thesis competitions applied to it and it wasn’t and it was a hot mess and evidently the only person able to undo the hot mess was first out sick for a few weeks and then on a bereavement leave and in the end I had to magically come up with £300 extra. It was all sorted a few months later but it was an absolutely WTF moment among so many that have happened with anything administration related in this degree. I cannot wait to sever ties with this place entirely because of the administration here.

At the end of the month, I did my second workshop and it went really well. It was full of production staff. I learned a lot. It was such a relief to have two done.

I also signed up to do yoga once week and started studying to take the U.K. driving test, because we quickly learned it sucks to not have a car when living in the suburbs.

October 2024

I continued the remote adjuncting and did some digital producing. I also started TAing the Performing Technology course.

I typed up my introduction chapter and submitted to my supervisors. I also started working on my second case study chapter. I started working on prepping my final workshop.

My dad came to visit for a week and I showed him around London and we went over to Stonehenge.

My supervisor who is building the production management apprenticeship course and I chatted and decided that since the last UK production management textbook came out in 2002, we should propose a new one and write it. Though the goal is to not start focusing on it until next fall, we wrote up a book proposal and sent it to Routledge to see what their thoughts were about it.

I continued working on the book chapter with my other supervisor.

I kept doing yoga once a week. I also passed the UK written theory driving test and hazard perception test. That hazard perception test is absolutely wild.

November 2024

I continued the remote adjuncting and did some digital producing. I also continued TAing the Performing Technology course.

My partner and I went to Cornwall with some friends to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. Cornwall is beautiful and an absolute pain in the butt to get there.

I

attended a workshop to talk about the 3 Minute Thesis with interest students. I also met with an academic researcher who was partner with the company that put on 1884 who was focused on collecting audience data, which was super interesting.

I spoke on a panel about transitioning from Industry to Academia at the end of the month.

I submitted a draft chapter of my second case study to my super supervisors and continued doing revisions of the earlier chapters based on their feedback. I finally heard back from the Journal of Consent-Based Performance and they accepted my paper with major revisions that I only had like two weeks to do if I wanted the paper included in their next issue.

The production management book proposal passed the first level of review and was moved on to the second level of review.

I continued working on the book chapter about my supervisor’s theatre company.

My other best friend came to visit for a long weekend for the first time and we went to another fancy tea and wandered around London a bit since she had never been here and all around had a lovely time.

I also did my final workshop for data collection and submitted the paperwork for my annual review so it would actually be fully submitted on time this year. I also worked on the paperwork to confirm all of my data collection was done and my final year 2/2/2025-2/2/2026 qualified for the reduced tuition scheme.

December 2024

I continued the remote adjuncting and did some digital producing – overall a very definite drop in that income again this year. I did a quick double check and compared to year one of the doctorate, I made just under 25% of what I was making then. I also finished TAing the Performing Technology course, and I attended an information session to volunteer with You Me Bum Bum Train on their immersive performance in January.

I finished and submitted revisions on my introduction chapter and a first draft of my workshop chapter. The workshop chapter was a hot mess. The introduction chapter is pretty much finished though, which feels pretty good.

I did the revisions to my article for the Journal of Consent-Based Performance and submitted them. They confirmed the article was accepted and would be published later in the winter.

I went home for the holiday and it was fairly manic between finishing up my thesis chapters that were due and trying to catch up with family and friends. I caught a pretty good cold.

January 2025

I stayed in the States for an extra week to work a high paying stage management gig, which was, quite honestly, anxiety inducing to try to call a show after not calling any for a year. I also continued with the remote adjuncting and started TAing the first and second year technical theatre courses again. No digital producing this month though.

As I walked home from the stage management gig, I pulled something in my knee and have spent the rest of the month hobbled to the extent that I suspect I should take the NHS up on it’s free over-40 physical and let them know about it. It may take years to actually get it fixed but it would be free over here.

I reached out to a company about doing some practical driving lessons before trying to take the test. I may try to learn how to drive manual since I have to pay for the lessons anyway. No dates are set yet though.

When I finally got home to my partner in the UK, his mom had a stroke at the end of that same week which has been pretty severe. So we have been down to London every weekend and I suspect that we will probably be doing the weekend trip to London through March or April.

This has sort of resulted in some scattered progress this month, but my supervisors have been understanding, which feels almost callous to mention. I had hoped to submit my thesis in June but we had a back-up plan for September worked into the plan, which we all agreed to pivot to during the supervisor meetings this month.

My supervisor team switched up again. This is like… the fourth iteration of supervisors I’ve had since I started with my third supervisor on like constant rotation. I am excited that my new third supervisor is from the literature department and a fairly intense editor. So I think that will be good as my other two are strong subject matter experts but not necessarily the best at thesis-style storytelling and just putting the thesis together.

I got a notification that my article for the Journal of Consent-Based Performance is scheduled to be published at the end of the month. And apparently they send a small author honorarium, so I’m excited about that. Even if it’s like $10 that’s more considerate than like any other academic journal. We’ll see what turns up.

I continued to work on the book chapter about my supervisor’s theatre company since it was due on the last day of the month. As expected, it all came down to the last day of the month.

February 2025

Well, year three came to a close on the first Sunday, so not much to report here. My mind is completely boggled that I may be reporting I’ve finished this thing by the next one, that still seems very far away.

Every other year I would mention that it felt like I did nothing all year and then I would make this list of accomplishments and feel a little better. This year I already knew I did. Quite a bit. I feel like I am on a runaway train.

 

But here are this year’s accomplishments:

• I ran two terms of Production and Technical Theatre courses for first and second year students on my own.
• I co-taught a third year student’s course on Performing Technologies.
• I became an Associate Fellow with the GOLD programme and now I get to put AFHEA on my email signatures.
• I wrote drafts of my introduction, literature review, methodology, first and second case studies and workshop chapters.
• I have a nearly completed Introduction chapter.
• I was the PGR (postgraduate research) student representative for my research centre last year and this year.
• I won two of the 3MT prizes at my university.
• I finished developing my workshop and presented it three times.
• I passed my transfer exam.
• My first journal article was published.
• My second journal article is completely done and accepted and just awaiting publication.
• I was the first author on a book chapter draft that has been submitted.
• I co-authored a book proposal that looks promising.
• I worked on developing a Level 7 (Masters degree) apprenticeship course with one of my supervisors.
• I presented a paper at a conference.
• I presented a workshop at a conference (and got to go to Istanbul on the school’s dollar).
• I finished collecting all the interview and observation data for case studies.
• I attended a few dozen immersive theatre performances.
• I attended a few dozen academic workshops.
• I finished all of my Strand 4 projects (health and safety training and co-convening the Symposium from my first year).

If you’re considering a PhD in the liberal arts, below are a few other posts I’ve written on this doctoral journey so far:

• My First Week as a Theatre/Drama PhD Student
• My First Year as a Theatre/Drama PhD Student
• My Second Year as a Theatre/Drama PhD Student
• What I Did in the Year Leading Up to Getting Accepted Into My Theatre PhD Program