J.Crew sweaters, pressed khaki pants, and Birkenstocks are all common sights on Boston College’s campus, an indicator of the large suburban population and ubiquitous finance bros. And while fashion choices aren’t a direct reflection of creative expression, there is undoubtedly some correlation.

This can make the campus feel, well, a bit bland at times.

Though it might not be overtly visible among the flocks of finance majors, the small niche that is BC’s arts scene has been intently going about its business, cultivating a competitive and dense creative culture. 

BC has a multitude of dance, a cappella, and comedy groups, as well as a successful theatre program. Yet, there are very few notable BC graduates who have gone on to work professionally in creative fields. Most alumni end up in conventional, white-collar professions—law, business, politics. 

This prompts the question: Is BC doing enough for its arts scene? 

(Chris Berkery / Heights Archives)

Performing amateur bits in the customary My Mother’s Fleabag baseball shirt, a young Amy Poehler, BC ’93, could only have dreamed of the comedic and acting success she’s reached today.

From eight seasons of Saturday Night Live to her increasingly popular podcast, Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Poehler has established her place among the Hollywood elite.

Poehler is easily BC’s most famous alum of the past century. Though she has historically said little to The Heights or the University as a whole, Poehler maintains she is a “very” proud alumna.

“Boston College rules,” Poehler said in a statement to The Heights.

Poehler regards her decision to attend BC and her involvement with on-campus improv group My Mother’s Fleabag as the first dominoes tipped—the start of a series of events that would eventually take her from Chestnut Hill, Mass., all the way to Hollywood.

“If I had not gone to school at BC, I wouldn’t have discovered improv, and wouldn’t have decided to move to Chicago to be an actor,” said Poehler. “Questioning my decision would be like playing with fire. We all remember what happened in Back to the Future.”

BC is an important part of what Poehler credits with her current success. But among BC alumni, Poehler is the exception, not the rule. 

BC’s Jesuit values prioritize a well-rounded liberal arts education—the extensive core curriculum is just one example. Jesuit values are often regarded with a rigid, conservative connotation, but Poehler believes this philosophy helped shape her creative instincts.

“The world and the business I am in has changed so much since I graduated many years ago, but I like to think the school and the overall Jesuit philosophy helped me figure out how to be a creative human in the world,” said Poehler.

While the Jesuit approach has benefits, it still undoubtedly discourages creatively inclined high school students, who want to immediately specialize in their art form, from considering the University.

(Photo Courtesy of Will Donnellon)

That explains why for lots of BC’s creative alumni, the arts were not on their mind going into their freshman year—if the arts were their priority, they likely wouldn’t have come to the University.

Cameron Esposito, BC ’04, now a notable actress and comedian, made her choice to attend BC without any creative aspirations inhibiting her decision. Even during her freshman year, her passion was yet to be realized—she was a rugby player, not an entertainer.

“I was a big jock,” Esposito recalls. “And at BC that’s totally part of the norm.”

In fact, Esposito had never done any type of live performance until she joined Fleabag during her sophomore year—the same group Poehler graduated from a decade prior. But being a part of an on-campus comedy group, especially one with connections to both the Boston improv scene and Saturday Night Live, was something Esposito immediately had pride in.

“It was selective,” said Esposito. “At the time, it was super cool. Step, or a cappella groups, or any of those things—people really went to those shows. It was a cool art scene to be involved with.”

Like Esposito, recent graduate Will Donnellon, BC ’22, had no dreams of working in the entertainment space. He enrolled at BC as a political science student, with dreams of a Capitol Hill office. 

“I had no ambitions in anything creative,” said Donnellon. “I’d worked on campaigns my whole life.”

Nevertheless, the first club he joined was The New England Classic, a satirical newspaper.

“I immediately made friends and got validation on stuff I thought was funny,” said Donnellon. “Because of that, I started making TikToks.”

Donnellon’s involvement with The New England Classic, as well as his moderate success posting videos online, inspired him to try out for Hello…Shovelhead!, BC’s premier sketch comedy group. He regards that as one of the best decisions he made. 

Donnellon emphasized that immersing himself in the arts scene proved to be a revelation in terms of his college experience—it gave him access to a completely different side of BC.

“You think you know everyone in your grade, and then you realize, ‘Oh, these are just the same 200 people that go to the same bars every weekend,’” said Donnellon.

In addition to introducing him to a different demographic of BC students, his involvement in Shovelhead provided him with an understanding of sketch comedy that he now uses in his career.

“I owe my relative success to the fact that BC offered these kinds of things,” said Donnellon. 

Now, Donnellon is a member of the online sketch comedy and entertainment collective Almost Friday Media, and also co-hosts the podcast Will & Rusty’s Playdate. Both ventures have been extremely successful, garnering millions of followers across accounts and platforms.

Still, Donnelon distinguished between BC as an institution and BC as a community.

“That being said, The New England Classic is not a sanctioned club by BC,” said Donnellon. “They tried to shut us down. When I say BC, I mean the students, more than anything … the institution, that’s not necessarily something I want to vouch for.”

Somehow, Esposito and Donnellon both left college as young, ambitious creatives. The transition from rugby to improv, or politics to TikTok, shouldn’t happen if BC only fosters an environment for financiers, lawyers, and other white-collar workers. 

While it may not be doing much for the arts scene, BC is still a place for students to realize their passions—just maybe not in the most traditional way. 

Much like Esposito and Donnellon, Paul Jeffrey “PJ” Byrne, BC ’96, could never have anticipated that, despite his time prepping for a career on Wall Street, his future would be in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Aside from the Scorsese movie, Byrne has been in the HBO limited series Big Little Lies, the 2022 motion picture Babylon, and, more recently, legal drama The Rainmaker—to name a few. But, during college, his focus was entirely on numbers and analysis—the creative side would come much later.

“I chose Boston College because they had a good finance program,” said Byrne. “One of my good buddy’s mother said I would really fit in at BC, so if it weren’t for her, I would not be sitting in Jersey City right now shooting this movie, I Play Rocky.”

Byrne recalled that during his time at BC, he was far from the typical theater kid. He was a finance major living with athletes in an eight-man suite in Walsh Hall. 

One day after finals his sophomore year, he tagged along with a friend who was auditioning for a play, mainly because he hoped they’d grab celebratory drinks afterward. But to his surprise, the impulsive decision changed everything. He landed the part, and his friend didn’t.

Byrne’s buddy might have been the one who led him to acting, but the one who kept him there was John Houchin. Houchin, a BC Theatre Department professor, convinced Byrne to audition for Tartuffe.

“For whatever reason, the way the show is written in iambic pentameter—the beats—made complete sense to me,” Byrne said.

Still set on his future in finance, Byrne saw acting as a hobby. By his senior year, he was being recruited by banks and had punched his ticket to Wall Street. But the influence of his professors—Houchin, in particular—made him rethink the path he wanted to take.

One day, Houchin intervened in a moment that would change Byrne’s life trajectory. Sensing his potential, Houchin urged Byrne to forget Wall Street and consider acting school. 

When Byrne stepped into his office, Houchin had three manila folders laid out—applications to the nation’s most competitive graduate acting programs, each of which admitted about 10 students. 

He told Byrne that if none of them worked out, he’d never bring it up again—but he had already filled out every form on Byrne’s behalf.

Touched by his mentor’s gesture, Byrne auditioned and was admitted to the theatre school at DePaul University in Chicago. Soon after, he moved to Los Angeles and put his years of training into practice.

“I would say BC guided my life, and DePaul pays for my life,” said Byrne. 

Even though his journey into acting was far from traditional, Byrne still credits it all to BC.

“It’s a special place,” Byrne said. “All I can say to you [current BC students] is chew on life. Chew on everything BC has to offer and, as you go through life, say yes, take a chance and do everything … you might have some hidden talents you didn’t even know of, because I certainly didn’t.”

(Photo Courtesy of Bryce Pinkham)

Bryce Pinkham, BC ’05, a Tony-nominated actor and singer, has pondered the question of BC’s influence on his own creative development. He specifically noted the benefits of being a big fish in a small pond in terms of BC’s theatre program—a program which he described as having great teachers and great resources, despite not having great renown.

“There was so much opportunity, I was nonstop doing shows, and people’s projects, and different class scenes,” said Pinkham. “I came out with a wealth of practical performance hours … that I wouldn’t have necessarily got had I gone to a musical theatre school where everyone’s professionally minded—[where] there’s only so many parts and everyone wants one.”

And, unlike Esposito, Donnellon, and Byrne, Pinkham knew his place was on stage long before attending college. While many actors look to attend specialized colleges, Pinkham never considered BC’s well-rounded nature to be a disadvantage—in fact, it’s what attracted him to the school.

“I wanted to go to a place where I could do lots of things at a high level, and start to figure out my way from there,” said Pinkham. “I didn’t just want to go to a musical theatre conservatory … I wanted to go to football games.”

College allowed Pinkham to try things out, leading him to leave BC feeling confident and open. He had performed a variety of theatrical styles and even written his own thesis.

(Photo Courtesy of Cameron Esposito)

Growing up in close proximity to Boston’s distinguished universities with parents who were public school teachers, Poehler was glad to have had impressive educational experiences before college. Looking toward higher education, she wanted to remain a part of esteemed academia.

“When deciding where to go, I wanted somewhere academically rigorous but still open to creativity and play,” said Poehler. “I was lucky that BC was that place!”

For Poehler, her creativity had an apt place in BC’s improv scene. Though she wasn’t quite set on an acting career, joining Fleabag pushed her hobbyist skills to a level capable of professional comedy.

“Finding improvisation and being part of an ensemble changed my whole life,” said Poehler. “I watched My Mother’s Fleabag perform in my freshman orientation, and it definitely oriented me towards the next four years of creativity. I learned how to write, collaborate, and be part of a thing bigger than myself.”

Besides the improv scene, Poehler remembers an arts scene bustling with young creatives. Though Robsham Theater was yet to be expanded and spaces for arts events were scarce, that didn’t stop artists from building a community.

“The art scene was scrappy and impressive,” said Poehler. “There were sketch and improv groups, writers and directors, painters and filmmakers.”

While at BC, Poehler was able to fully realize the opportunities that BC provides to artistic talents—even though the arts might not be the University’s priority. Behind the culture of finance and business, there lies an arts scene with enough vigor to direct enthusiastic members toward successful artistic careers.

And, because of the tight-knit nature of the on-campus arts scene, there is an incredible amount of affection present, and a deep love for the University—the place where creative dreams were realized. 

So, while BC may have an advertising problem when it comes to its arts scene, the school isn’t at a loss in terms of creativity. Could the institution do better? Of course. As a Jesuit university, BC inevitably axes a large demographic from its potential population—many are simply turned off by the idea of a religiously-affiliated college.

“Outreach, specifically around diversity in viewpoint, racial and ethnic identity, and gender expression, always improves the arts,” said Esposito.

And, aside from the dissuasive stigma surrounding a Jesuit education, there are also, at times, tangible restrictions placed on creative expression by the institution.

Donellon worked around this by joining The New England Classic. Similarly, Esposito had to skirt the institution to take part in an unsanctioned, secret performance of The Vagina Monologues in a basement. 

“I feel like the university chooses between supporting artistic expression and supporting restrictive Catholic values, [ones] that aren’t even necessarily reflected elsewhere,” said Esposito. “I think that impacts the university’s ability to attract strong talent in [the artistic] area.”

The arts scene at BC has managed to persevere despite the numerous factors that dampen it, namely the very real restrictions enforced by the University’s values.

While there aren’t many alumni in professional artistic careers, BC has provided aspiring artists the opportunity to explore themselves completely—as students, human beings, and creatives—all while creating a space for the artistic expression of those seeking more conventional professions.

The University might not be doing a lot for the arts, but at BC, the arts scene is more than the sum of institutional policies and programs—it exists in the dark basement of Robsham, unsanctioned off-campus meet-ups, and wherever else, so long as creatives are willing to carve out space for themselves.

“Don’t be intimidated away from self-determination,” said Pinkham.