Most parents dread the day that their child announces his or her intentions of becoming a professional actor, instead wishing that he or she would pick a future in a more sensible or stable career.
Yet some UCLA students have found a way to satisfy their parents’ expectations or their own professional goals while still finding the time to pursue theater as a side hobby by taking workshops or participating in school performance groups.
Courtney Cheney, a third-year communication studies student, attended a prestigious performing arts high school and always intended on continuing her musical theater training through college.
Just prior to entering UCLA, she realized that she wanted to expand her course of study and decided to leave the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television for the general UCLA College.
“I’ve been doing musical theater my whole life,” Cheney said. “I just felt like if I decided I wanted to do musical theater as a career, I wouldn’t really need a degree to do it.”
But Cheney didn’t abandon theater altogether.
She discovered UCLA’s musical theater workshop program after talking with a friend and seeing a Daily Bruin advertisement for it in fall 2003.
“When I found out about the theater workshop, that supported my decision to major in something else, but still do musical theater at UCLA,” Cheney said. “It was just a great experience, and a lot of fun to get class credit for doing something I love to do.”
The musical theater workshop is offered for class credit to all majors every quarter at UCLA and often culminates in a production. Cheney played the role of Anybodys in their winter 2004 production of “West Side Story.”
“It’s a good opportunity because at a lot of big colleges, if you’re not a theater major, you don’t have a chance to perform at all,” Cheney said. “It’s really sweet that we have the musical theater workshops set up so that we still have an opportunity to perform.”
Not everyone is cut out for musical theater, and many dread going through a nerve-racking audition process.
UCLA’s Shakespeare Reading and Performance Group allows any interested students to participate in their innovative performances of Shakespeare’s works. Each year, UCLA Shakespeare also produces a full-length Shakespeare play.
“The programs are designed to promote students’ interest in Shakespeare, and present an open forum for showcasing his works,” said fourth-year theater student Samara Weiss.
UCLA’s theater opportunities are not limited to acting alone. The theater group Lapu, the Coyote that Cares allows students to contribute to its productions through writing, acting or producing. They produce an original show every quarter with free admission.
“We have four or five short scenes every quarter that are rehearsed, fully costumed, directed,” said second-year undeclared student Leiti Hsu.
“Then we have our improv games, which we place between some of the scenes to break it up, so that it becomes sort of like a variety show.”
Hsu became involved with Lapu in fall 2004 with very minimal theater experience, but with a desire to branch out and try something new.
She always loved expressing herself in front of an audience, and found the opportunity to expand her versatility in the craft with Lapu.
“You end up learning a lot of different skills, and become specialized depending on what you enjoy the most,” Hsu said.
“At first I was surprised that they chose me, because I’m not as artsy or as much of a theater person as some of the other members. But I am really outgoing. I love performing and I’m really expressive. I kept with it, and by the end, I was able to apply my strengths to the theater group in a producing capacity. I have really found what I’m best at with the theater group.”
Although Lapu has received substantial support from Asian American groups on campus, it does not limit its membership to Asian American students. In fact, next year the group plans on diversifying its cast to a greater extent.
“With a more diverse cast, we can learn from each other,” Hsu said. “I think that to have a purely Asian American cast would be very narrow-minded.”
Regardless of which organization they join, theater lovers relish the opportunity to occasionally perform in the midst of their academic studies.
“We put so much effort into our shows, from the writing to the production,” Hsu said. “It makes it really worth it for our audience members to see the show. It’s very encouraging. That’s what keeps me in this group.”