Corey Perkins, an English creative writing and theatre double major, aspires to leave a mark on the world as he pursues acting and writing.

“I’ve always had a flair for the dramatic,” said Perkins. “Theatre is a place where you get to adopt a new persona. It’s a place where you can be anyone or anything, where you can live out your greatest fantasies or worst nightmares. Every story you become a part of causes you to strip down to your most vulnerable self, and rebuild a character from those pieces. The thought of bringing stories to life through these characters drew me in. I haven’t looked back since.”

Due to the fact that Perkins is a Topeka native, he was naturally drawn to Washburn when it came time for college.

“[Washburn has] such a tight-knit theatre community,” Perkins explained, in reference to his Washburn experience thus far. “A great majority of my former cast-mates became current friends. It’s also nice to know that the professors know you by name, and they can help you individually to become a better performer than you thought you could be.”

Perkins has been cast in three of Washburn’s productions: “Our Country’s Good,” “Language Archive” and “Into the Woods.” He says his favorite to perform in was “Into the Woods,” a musical collaboration between Washburn and The Ad Astra Theatre Ensemble that ran during the Fall 2015 season. After originally seeing the play in high school, he added it to what he affectionately nicknamed his “show bucket list,” a metaphorical list of shows he hopes to one day appear in. Perkins is proud to have been a part of the production as The Steward and to cross one show off his list.

Attending Washburn has also allowed Perkins to try being a theatre tech for multiple shows. He has appeared in nine shows outside of Washburn, the most recent being “Psycho Beach Party,” which was put on by Ad Astra this past August.

Among Perkins’s numerous inspirations for his acting are Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey.

“David Tennant also holds a special spot in my heart and is a major reason as to why I started to seriously pursue acting,” said Perkins.

When Perkins isn’t in school or the theatre, he hones his writing skills by working on his original book, which is still currently untitled. It follows the story of a girl who learns that she is to bond with a Goddess. After bonding with the Goddess, she is told to track down the other people who have bonded with Gods or Goddess, to defeat an evil force that is hunting them.

He is also currently working on producing a web series with other Washburn students including Michael Anschutz, Darria Dennison, Grace Foiles, Alex Laughlin and Jamie Schartz. The series follows the life of a college girl trying to navigate her way through college, while simultaneously being thrust into the world of ancient mythologies.

Perkins hopes to graduate with both of his degrees by the end of 2018, and afterwards plans on continuing to write his own work and audition for as many theatre productions as possible.