My Fourth Year as a Theatre/Drama PhD Student

melissabondar
Feb 12
11 min read

Well, I thought when I wrote my third year as a PhD student update that I would be writing this update from a place of being completely finished with my studies.

I am not.

But, ya know, one step at a time we get there eventually. The end is so in sight. I’m just a few minor corrections away from freedom. And I do feel like I’ve done things this year, so that’s a lovely difference from other years.

February 2025

This was a weird a month – the winter as a whole was fairly stressful. My partner’s mom had a stroke in January and we spent every weekend going down to London to sit with her in the hospital. My supervisors were very understanding and offered to help me sort a brief leave because things were very chaotic for about 3-4 months, but I managed to continue without the leave.

I TAed the first and second year technical theatre courses again. This year I just completely taught them on my own as my supervisor was on paternity leave.

I attended my final Strand 3 training to prepare for my viva.

I did one digital production event. I continued adjuncting at the other university and I volunteered to work at You Me Bum Bum Train’s show a few evenings.

I worked on my case study chapters for my thesis. My second supervisor and I got confirmation from Routledge that a book proposal we had submitted to write a production management textbook was approved and we signed a contract to write a book, which seems absolutely wild.

And my first solo article was published!

Bondar, M. (2025). Micro-Events: A Potential Tool for Navigating Consent and Accessibility in Immersive Theatre. The Journal of Consent-Based Performance, 3(2). https://journals.calstate.edu/jcbp/article/view/4096/3945

I also started taking a series of driving lessons so I could take my UK driving test. I decided to try learning manual… by the end of the lessons I decided I am absolutely not taking the test in a manual car.

March 2025

I continued teaching and it was, again, the fun time of year for technical theatre where we focus on masterclasses and production meetings. I also continued adjuncting at the other university.

There was no digital producing. I did do a guest lecture at the University of California via Zoom on financial literacy skills for stage managers. My partner and I were in London every weekend except the last weekend when we went up to Scotland for a friend’s wedding.

I finished writing up my case study chapters and started the workshop chapter of my thesis. I sent in a proposal to present again at TaPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association) in August; however, I applied to a new working group focused on scenography.

I was strongly encouraged to submit for the 3 Minute Thesis competition again at the university. I felt kind of like I had to since I won last year but also sure I could not possibly win again, so I created a very mid submission.

April 2025

We started the month with my favorite class of the year, the mock tech day with my first year tech students. April also had a nice spring break gap after that first week at my university. I also continued to adjunct at the other university.

I did a small amount of digital producing and the virtual murder mystery company I used to work for needed a stage manager to run a few of their games for a few days that month.

We went to London a lot again.

I received a check for $150 for the Journal of Consent-Based Performance article!

I started working on the discussion chapter of my thesis. My co-author and I put together the ethics proposal for our book interviews. This took… forever. With many revisions.

I was the only submission for the 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) from my faculty, so I won £1,000 prize and advanced to the university finals.

May 2025

I finished up teaching the first and second year technical theatre modules. I continued adjuncting at the other university.

My proposal was accepted for TaPRA and I applied for funding from the university.

I failed my UK driving test for the first time.

I finished my discussion chapter. We revised our ethics forms yet again for the book proposal.

I went home for two weeks to go on the Memorial Day camping trip with my family. I also put in a request to use my £1,000 (which had to be used on “research activities”) to attend an immersive show in Portugal to consider how safety might be considered when the audience don’t all speak the same language and I asked for permission to pay for Mental Health First Aider training. Both were approved.

June 2025

I continued adjuncting at the other university. I started working for an additional digital producing company, so that all picked up a bit in June between the two companies.

I organised another PGR Sharing Party.

I finished my conclusion chapter. The ethics forms were approved for our book interviews.

At a supervisor meeting in the middle of the month, my supervisor told me to have the whole thing done by the end of July, which created a state of panic as I had a week-long training booked in for July and two weeks of my best friend visiting. I attended the university-wide 3MT competition but lost.

I failed my UK driving test for the second time.

I went to Lisbon to see A Morte de Corvo on the university’s dime. It was so hot there.

July 2025

I continued adjuncting at the other university. I did a bit of digital producing.

I attended a multi-day Mental Health First Aider training with my 3MT winnings. I wrote and edited like a possessed woman and finished my nearly final draft of my thesis by mid-July so all three supervisors could review it before they went on vacation in August (England just shuts down in August, pretty much).

I learned my top choice for an external examiner was on the panel I was put on for the TaPRA conference and I couldn’t get a clear answer on if that was a problem, so I withdrew from the conference.

Most importantly, I drank lots of lovely cocktails on Saturday at Cocktails in the City.

My best friend came to visit and we hiked part of Hadrian’s Wall, went to a ton of castles and old houses and spent a long weekend in Dubrovnik.

August 2025

My best friend went home. I was still adjuncting and did a little digital producing.

My partner and I went to Egypt with my brother and sister-in-law for a week.

I drafted all of the industry reports for my case study companies and sent my interviewee’s copies of the chapters they were mentioned in to allow them to provide feedback on if they felt wildly misquoted or taken out of context or misunderstood. All who responded to me at all by the deadline gave me the green light to proceed.

I got the feedback from my supervisors and addressed it all so that I was able to finish my thesis and send it over to them to agree it was ready to submit on one of the last days of the month.

I got a cake to celebrate. Sending my supervisors the “finished” version of my thesis was honestly the first time I think a section of my brain turned off in nearly four years. It a fantastic day.

I also sorted interview plans to send out invites to partner groups to volunteer to be interviewed for our book.

September 2025

I continued adjuncting and did more digital producing than usual.

I filled out a final RDA form to submit with my thesis and was amused to find that there is literally nothing about Strand 4 or Strand 5 on there. So, like… did they even matter? On the one hand, yes, because they made sure I engaged with academia beyond just the narrow focus of my research project. On the other hand… this explains why my supervisor’s never really seemed to care about them.

I did a mock viva with all my supervisors and they were happy to let me submit everything to the committee that organises the examinations.

I organised 8 friends to read a chapter each of my thesis spread out over the next 8 weeks and began meeting with one a week to review, which was kind of awesome because it was a chance to chat with some friends I’d not talked to in a long time.

My cousin and her son visited for a long weekend at the end of the month.

I edited the first draft of chapter one of our book written by my co-author. A paper I submitted nearly a year ago came back and needed revisions to resubmit, so I did the revisions and resubmitted.

October 2025

I adjuncted and did more digital producing. I worked the last week as a production assistant for a Climate Migration symposium, which was really interesting.

I attended my final welcome week for Postgraduate students and presented my research at the Research Slam, where you have 60 seconds to share your current research project. I continued meeting up once a week and reviewing my thesis a chapter at a time. I was told I’d get about three weeks notice of my exam, so I just… waited.

I did the first interviews for my book. I edited some of my co-author’s chapter drafts.

November 2025

I continued adjuncting and did a fair bit of digital producing. I also wound up doing some seasonal work for a digital murder mystery and pub quiz company (different from the one I used to work for). I applied for a part-time lecturer position at the university I’ve been attending for the spring.

My best friend came back to visit for a week during her fall break (she’s an elementary school teacher) and we explored more old houses.

I finished up my chapter a week with a friend viva prep and still had no word on when this viva might be. My supervisors also helped me start chasing this as my registration expiration was coming up on 2 February and the exam had to be done by then. I started to get stressed out that I was going to incur extra fees due to the school’s wildly slow and unresponsive admin.

I submitted a proposal to present a poster at USITT in March and found out it was accepted. I applied for funding to attend the conference. I finished my interviews for our book and drafted my first chapter for it.

December 2025

I continued adjuncting and there was a lot of digital producing and murder mystery company work. I interviewed and got the lecturer position at the university and started doing some prep work for the courses which started in January (the same courses I’ve been TAing for the last three years). I was also excited because research time is built into that contract, so I get to allocate that time to writing the production management book.

I still didn’t know when my viva would be at the beginning of the month and two of my supervisor’s aggressively chased a response for me (bless them). It was scheduled for 30 January. …literally the last day possible before my registration was up. This stressed me out quite a bit because if I got major corrections, I was absolutely going to have to reregister for another year, which was like a surprise $20,000 cost and no one seemed to care I was so freaked out by this, which was genuinely one of the most stressful and upsetting things that has happened during this whole process.

So in a pit of anger and despair I just sort of ignored everything about my thesis and studies this month, while praying I got minor corrections, which gives you three months to complete them but you don’t have to pay any extra or re-register.

I drafted my second chapter of our book and did some edits to my first chapter after getting feedback from my co-author. I edited some of his chapter drafts.

I went home for two weeks right after Christmas.

January 2026

I started the month at home in New Jersey and did the orientation for my lecturer job virtually. I also continued adjuncting. I taught the first year technical theatre course at my university.

I prepped for my viva by printing a copy of my thesis and reviewing and annotating a chapter a day when I wasn’t working. I also made a presentation for my viva.

I followed up on the funding for the USITT conference and noted that if it wasn’t approved (it had already been approved at the first level of my research centre) that I needed to know to drop out because I applied for a discounted ticket in exchange for doing volunteer hours and I didn’t want to get an extra $300 charge for not notifying them in enough time that I’m not coming.

I went to a really excellent immersive theatre production that reminded me a bit why I like it – that feeling has often waned over the last four years.

I defended my thesis in person, so I went to campus the day before to do a room check and decided to stay at a hotel around the corner because the trains can be really iffy sometimes. There was a PhD student meetup that evening, which was kind of lovely to see some folks I rarely see and to stay distracted. My defense was scheduled for 2:30 the following afternoon, which was kind of lousy (a day of nerves), but I reviewed my discussion chapter over breakfast and then got a manicure and pedicure to kill some time. Then I met up with my boyfriend who took the day off work to be with me. We played cards in the little café in the building where my viva was scheduled until right before and my second supervisor came into the defense with me. It took about two and a half hours in total and I passed with minor corrections! Thank God. Seriously.

February 2026

I taught one of my classes and then my partner and I disappeared for a long weekend in the sun in Morocco. And once this journey is finally complete, I will add a final update of how the last few months go.

This year’s accomplishments:

I taught Production and Technical Theatre for first and second year students on my own as a TA.
I got hired on a lecturer contract to teach Production and Technical Theatre.
I finished a full draft of my thesis and submitted it for examination.
I passed the examination with minor corrections (!!!).
I was the PGR (postgraduate research) student representative for my research centre.
I organised and presented at another Postgraduate Sharing Party at the university.
I won one of the 3MT prizes at my university.
I obtained a Mental Health First Aider certification.
I got to go to Lisbon to see an immersive performance.
My second journal article was published (first solo journal article).
I co-authored a book proposal that was accepted.
I wrote two book chapter drafts.
I edited five other book chapter drafts.
I did five interviews and transcriptions for our book.
I had a workshop accepted at a conference, even though I had to withdraw it.
I had a poster accepted at a conference.
I attended several immersive theatre performances.
I attended a few dozen academic workshops.
I finished all of my Strand workshops.
I was an active member of a PhD support group called The PhDoerz.
I worked part-time all year.
I made it to a few family events and went on some pretty stellar vacations with friends and family.