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Still in her sophomore year at Vassar, Meryl Streep played Frosine in Moliere’s „The Miser“ and took a deep dive into all aspects of performing in the theatre – she designed costumes for Tennessee Williams’s play, „Camino Real,“ and designed lights for several medieval mystery plays. Her interest in costume design led to an exchange program for a term at Dartmouth College, studying costume design, play writing with legendary drama professor Errol Hill, and dance. And while she did audition for the lead role in one of Dartmouth’s theatrical productions and lost out, Streep participated in the Frost Playwrighting competition and performed in two student-written plays before returning to Vassar.
I remembered thinking, at Vassar, people would sit quietly and answer questions with judicial, thoughtful, ruminative answers. But, at Dartmouth, it was different. Before the professor finished the question, there were five people standing up, words coming out of their mouths but they had no idea what the answer was. It was very inspiring; it was something I didn’t have in me. The climate and the expectation were playing to the proactive. My teachers [back at Vassar] would start questions and I would get up before they were done and say, ‘I don’t even think that question is valid!’ even though I really had no idea what the question was. (Meryl Streep in conversation at Dartmouth College, May 2000)
