By day, Shivam Sardana studies industrial engineering as a master’s student at NC State. But last semester, he spent his nights as Paris, pursuing Juliet Capulet in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.

Sardana is one of several students at the College of Engineering with a passion for theater. Last year, 412 College of Engineering students participated in the theater department. This included actors and stage crew.

Despite the tricky balance, staying away from the stage was not an option.

“Theater has been a big part of my life for quite some time now,” said Sardana, who was born and raised in India, where he fell in love with the theater scene and started doing plays.

Sardana’s role as a lead actor required three or four hours of rehearsal a week for two months leading up to the show, with more as the show approached.

Though his approach to his engineering work is different from his approach to theater, he found that the skills he learns for one helps him with the other.

“Theater demands you be present,” he said. “It challenges you to be more present, to be here, and to not be thinking about five days ahead, or what happened five days in the past. When I am engaging actively with theater, I’m more aware, more alert, more present, irrespective of where I am. It bleeds into the classroom.”

Not all students are theater veterans. Korban Lundberg, a first-year mechanical engineering and philosophy student who is part of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program, has always been curious about acting, but never tried it until arriving at NC State.

“Over the summer, I got to talk to a lot of voice actors from shows and games that I really respect, and all of them did theater in college,” said Lundberg, who was a swing for the roles of Romeo, Paris and Friar Lawrence. “I figured I’d give it a shot.”

For Luke Anderson, a mechanical engineering graduate and communications student who plays Friar John, his first foray into theater was a Hunger Games parody show that he auditioned for in middle school.

As Anderson finished up his time at NC State, his advice to incoming students who want to do theater is to work on time management skills early, to make sure there are no conflicts with rehearsal and to just do it.

“Theater keeps me sane,” he said. “When you’re engineering all the time, it can just be a lot of math and get kind of tiring, so the break is pleasant. But make sure to plan your time well and stay on top of your studies.”

Students are currently preparing for a limited run of Stupid F##king Bird, which goes from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1. The play features Lundberg as the character Trigorin.

Upcoming plays from the theater department include The Prom, The Importance of Being Earnest and Mapping Instincts. Auditions for The Importance of Being Earnest and Mapping Instincts will take place Feb. 24 and 25.

Visit the NC State University Theater website for more information.