Rachel Hirshorn
CCBC alumna,
Theatre, 2001
“ I think community college should be required! ”
Today’s Rachel Hirshorn has come a long way from the Michigan girl who “barely graduated” after a rough time in high school. The then-18 year old moved to Maryland with all her earthly possessions crammed into a U-Haul and enrolled at CCBC Essex, hoping to bring up her grades so she could apply to a four-year college.
Hirshorn and CCBC proved a perfect fit. Her first acting class – and lots of support from CCBC as well as her Baltimore-area family – set her on an upward track that continues today.
“I think community college should be required!” she says.
Focusing on a career in acting and directing, Hirshorn earned her associate degree at CCBC in 2001 and Bachelor in Fine Arts degree (summa cum laude) from UMBC in 2004. She subsequently went on to earn her Master of Fine Arts in Acting and Directing at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
The vivacious and multi-talented Rachel Hirshorn returned to Baltimore to direct the CCBC Essex student production of Melanie Marnich’s These Shining Lives, performed in late 2011 in conjunction with CCBC’s Year of the Performing Arts and the Community Book Connection’s reading of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
With numerous acting, directing, film and voice-over credits to her name, Hirshorn is exploring work in teaching, coaching and live theatre.
