Many students who act in productions at Geneseo are not theatre majors; some have plans for a different future though they enjoy being onstage. Senior Hamza Murtaza, who is pursuing a career in medicine, is one such student.
Murtaza has been in three shows since he arrived at Geneseo: “The Game of Love and Chance,” “The Grapes of Wrath” and “Where There’s a Will” as part of GENseng. “Hands down my favorite role was in ‘Where There’s a Will,’” Murtaza said. “It was the role I could most closely relate to.”
Beside his biology major, Murtaza has taken up a theatre minor. “It was such a good time playing Hasmukh in [‘Where There’s a Will’] that I wanted to do more theater,” Murtaza said.
Alongside his extracurricular acting career, Murtaza is also involved in Men of Action and Change and is an assistant for the Women’s Varsity Field Hockey team. More notably, he is the current captain of Geneseo Bhangra. He said that he is proud of the group’s success and of his role in it.
Despite only having two weeks left of classes before he graduates, Murtaza still has some affiliation with theater through his acting class. He said he has a comedy scene left to perform then an entirely different scene with a different partner for his final exam, which he has worked on independently.
Murtaza admitted that he doesn’t have a plan for participating in theater once he graduates. “I haven’t really given much thought to theater after Geneseo. My main aim has always been to pursue a career in medicine.” He did add, however, that he is not against the possibility. “If life presents an opportunity in the future I probably won’t hesitate to go for it.”