Ellen Culloty is a JCU senior student majoring in History with a minor in Legal Studies. She grew up in Ireland and moved to Arizona when she was 13. She has been an active member of the Performing Arts Company at JCU since her first semester and has interned as the stage manager. She has participated in multiple shows both as cast member and a stage assistant. She was recently admitted to St Andrews University in Scotland to do an MLitt in Museum and Heritage Studies.
Tell us about your background. How did you end up at JCU? I was born and bred in Bandon, Ireland, a small town deep in the country. When I finished primary school, I moved with my family to Arizona in the United States, where my dad had gotten a job.
After high school, I wanted to go back to Europe to study. I sent my common application to colleges all over Europe, and I found JCU. I had never even been to Rome. I saw that JCU had a great history program and so many good testimonials from History majors. I just went for it, got a nice scholarship, and today I think it was the best decision I’ve ever made.
How did you decide to combine a major in History with a minor in Legal Studies? I’ve loved history since I was a kid. I remember falling in love with it when we started studying the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, when I was about 10. I loved that my teacher spoke about it with such passion. I realized in that moment that I wanted to be so passionate about something as to inspire other people. My ultimate goal is to work in museums and curate exhibitions, and part of that is working with documents and understanding their legal and historical significance. I thought that a legal background would help me understand it all better.
Have there been any classes or professors that have had an impact on you? At JCU, most of my law classes were interdisciplinary, combining topics like sociology and art crime. They’re some of the best classes I’ve taken here. The professors are amazing. I loved Art Crime with Professor Crispin Corrado.
One of the classes that impacted me the most was Public Speaking with Professor Carolina De Luca. Public speaking is something I struggle with. It makes me so nervous, which many people find surprising since I enjoy acting. But it is not the same thing: when you’re acting, you’re not really you. For Professor De Luca’s class, we could choose the topic and the speaking style, and that allowed me to do research on things I was interested in and then present them in a format that was engaging. The class challenged me to stand up in front of a lot of people… and not faint!
I also took several classes with Professor Vanda Wilcox. She’s one of the best professors at this school, she’s phenomenal. Last semester, I took her History, Culture, and Popular Memory class. It was a different angle to approach history from – we looked at monuments and other kinds of memorabilia and tried to understand the lasting cultural impact of memory. For my paper, I chose to talk about First World War theater and how people used it as a coping mechanism to process collective memories of trauma.
Ellen Culloty as Cleopatra in JCU's 2025 production of Antony and Cleopatra
Tell us about your passion for acting and your participation in JCU’s Performing Arts Company. I’ve been performing in plays and musicals since I was four years old. The theater was a space I felt immediately comfortable in. It allows you to step out of yourself and explore alternate realities. You get to interpret many people with many complex backstories. I especially love dramatic acting because you have to tap into something within you to be able to communicate those kinds of emotions effectively. You can also learn from the character.
I always found that most interesting part of acting is playing a character I don’t like. You have to take a step back and look at the wider context of the play and then dig deeper. There's always an underlying story of why this character is the way they are. And then you have to tap into that to be able to add the nuance: you're portraying the character verbally, but you're also portraying what makes them this way. I find it really challenging, but I love it. It is my greatest passion in life, and I'm privileged to be able to do it here at JCU.
You have also worked as an intern for the Performing Arts program. What did your role entail? My primary role was that of stage manager. I would organize the actors, send out reminders, and help with inventory for props and costumes. This semester we put on the musical Tick, tick… Boom! by Jonathan Larson. When the actors performed during rehearsals, I gathered the director’s notes and gave feedback to the rest of the company to implement the changes into the show. I also did other things like working with light and sound, which I had never done before. My role was the bridge between director and cast, so I had to work on mediation and communication so that everyone was seen and heard. It was a great experience.
What are your plans for the future? I have been offered a place at St Andrews University in Scotland to do an MLitt in Museum and Heritage Studies. I know they have a theater crew there, so I would love to continue acting as an extracurricular.
Do you have any advice for people who want to join the Performing Arts Company? Even if you’re not a singer or a dancer, put yourself out there anyway. I've been in every musical show at JCU and I can't sing or dance – but they still found a place for me. That, I think, is the nature of theater: there is a place for everyone.
Audition! While no one likes to admit it, sometimes people see things in you that you don't necessarily see in yourself. I will accept any role I'm offered because the people who are looking at you have experience and understand what is needed for a role. They can also see the potential in you. So that would be my biggest piece of advice: audition, if you're thinking about it, and then put yourself forward for anything that's on offer, because they will find space for you.
Any advice for students who are interested in studying abroad? Take the leap! Give it your best while you’re studying abroad, and if you find it’s not really your thing, it’s still only for a small amount of time. If you’re committing to a full program like I did, just go for it. It was one of the most frightening things I’ve ever done in my life – moving away at 18 to go and live in a country where I didn’t speak the language, and where I didn’t know a single person. It takes a while to adjust, but you need to just throw yourself into it.
And join clubs! I joined the Performing Arts immediately and that helped build friendships. You’re not going to be comfortable all the time but just sit with that feeling of discomfort and you’ll realize that the biggest step was just getting there in the first place. Just enjoy everything else. There’s so much you can be a part of and that you can make a part of yourself by experiencing it.
