By Ellen N. Woods
W
ith just a hint of eerie lighting, Bill Largess, B.A. 1976, enters
stage left. As the light comes up a bit more, audience members
see that he is holding a white coffee cup with blood dripping down the
sides — foreshadowing a dark theme.
“As a boy, I was afraid of the dark.”
And so it begins. For the next 90 minutes he will deliver a monologue. Largess’s nameless character in St. Nicholas, the one-man play
written by contemporary Irish playwright Conor McPherson, becomes
obsessed with a young actress, follows her to London, and falls in with
a coven of vampires.
Portraying a cynical, alcoholic theatre critic (“Everybody was afraid of
me and I loved it.” ) in Dublin, the veteran actor must rely on his voice,
his expression, his eyes, and his timing to draw the audience into a story
that ranges from humor to horror.
It’s the first of two shows in one day for Largess. It’s not easy to fill
the house for a matinee on a sunny, 60-degree February Saturday in
Washington, D.C. There are 17 people in the 148-seat theatre. That
doesn’t deter Largess, the artistic director of the Washington Stage
Guild, a 30-year-old company founded by a group of CUA alumni.
To stick around that long takes grit, determination, and passion,
and sometimes giving everything you’ve got even when the theatre is
full of empty seats. Largess knows he can’t play off audience reaction
for this performance. “People are very self-conscious about laughing
out loud and making other obvious reactions when the seats around
them are empty,” says Largess. “So you adjust.”
The secret to Washington Stage Guild’s longevity and success may
well be its ability to adjust. The company has worked out of five
different spaces in its 30 years. Five years ago, they found a home in
the Undercroft Theatre of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist
Church at the intersection of 9th Street and Massachusetts Avenue, not
far from the District’s busy Gallery Place/Chinatown area.
They are also taking a fresh look at their marketing strategy, says
Laura Giannarelli, B.A. 1978, who directed St. Nicholas. “We have to
find new ways to fill our seats and sell season subscriptions and that
means email lists and all forms of social media. While we work to reach
younger audiences, we don’t want to lose our dedicated fan base of
C. Stanley Photography
FOR GENERATIONS, CUA ALUMNI HAVE BEEN MAKING
THEIR MARK ON THE LANDSCAPE OF AMERICAN THEATRE.
NOT JUST ON STAGE, BUT BEHIND THE SCENES
MANY ARE RUNNING THEIR OWN THEATRE COMPANIES.
STARTING WITH FATHER HARTKE’S “KIDS,”
AND CONTINUING WITH MILLENNIALS, ALUMS ARE BRINGING
THEIR OWN UNIQUE ARTISTIC VISIONS TO THE STAGE.
Bill Largess, B.A. 1976, in Washington Stage Guild’s production of St. Nicholas.
seniors, many of whom arrive clutching the newspapers where they
heard about our show.”
What they won’t do, she says, is compromise their mission just to fill
seats. The company’s tag line is “smart theatre for a smart town.”
“We are a classical ensemble. We love George Bernard Shaw and
Oscar Wilde and Brian Friel. And we are just as excited by contemporary
playwrights who are producing eloquent plays,” says Largess.
“So much of what we do is inspired by the Catholic U. drama faculty
of the 1970s; voice training, oral interpretation, love of language. We
received a solid grounding in theatre history. And they really instilled in
us a love for intelligent and challenging work,” says Largess.
They were a group of drama department alumni from the 1970s
working in Washington, D.C., area theatre when they got the idea to
form their own company. They found themselves together in 1983
for a production of Heartbreak House by Shaw at the Source Theatre,
directed by the late John MacDonald, M.F.A. 1975. “The theatre scene
in D.C. was starting to boom. We looked around at each other and
realized we had all the experience: directors, actors, stage managers,
technicians,” says Largess.
Back row: Students Dani Ebbin, Maddy Cuddihy, John Sygar, and Andrew Shoro of Centerstage Theatre. Middle row: Matt Ripa, M.F.A. 2008, of Doorway Arts Theatre;
Beth Amann, B.M. 2013, and Jimmy Mavrikes, B.M. 2013, of Monumental Theatre. Front row: L.J. Whalen, B.M. 2015, of L’Enfant Rebelle Theatre; and student
Emma Heck of Convergence Theatre.
22 The Catholic University of America Magazine
Spring 2016 23
The company launched its first season with MacDonald at the helm
as artistic director and his wife, Ann Norton, B.A. 1975, as executive
director. The large group of founding alumni also included Giannerelli
and Largess, who was dramaturg. After MacDonald’s death in 2008,
Largess became artistic director.
The company’s first production in November 1986 was Uncle Vanya
by Anton Chekhov. By the end of that first season, The Washington Post
declared, “Like the goddess Athena, the Washington Stage Guild sprang
forth fully armed this year.”
T
he house is usually full during Wednesday matinees at Everyman
Theatre in Baltimore. That’s because Vincent Lancisi, M.F.A.
1988, founding artistic director, offers a matinee program to Baltimore
City high school students. In addition to show tickets, he provides
bus transportation, study guides, and talk-back opportunities with the
actors. He also offers pay-what-you-can previews.
For Lancisi, who founded Everyman Theatre in 1990, it’s about
living up to the name of his company — keeping theatre affordable
and accessible to everyone.
On a cold, rainy December afternoon, high school students fill
nearly a third of the new 253-seat state-of-the-art theatre on Fayette
Vincent Lancisi, M.F.A. 1988, founding artistic director; Kyle Prue, B.F.A. 1989,
director of production; and Laura Weiss, B.M. 2006, special assistant to the artistic
director, of Everyman Theatre.
24 The Catholic University of America Magazine
Street. They are transported to the farmlands of Ireland through
music, sound effects, and stunning scenery and acting in Outside
Mullingar, a bittersweet comedy about complicated family dynamics
and finding unexpected love. The play, directed by Donald Hicken,
M.F.A. 1969, is by playwright John Patrick Shanley, the author of Doubt
and Moonstruck.
The Riley and the Muldoon families are at odds over their neighboring farmland. Anthony Riley lives with his elderly father, Tony, and
Rosemary Muldoon lives with her mother, Aoife, (played by drama
alumna Helen Hedman, B.A. 1973). The audience laughs along with
all four characters. The high school students laugh the loudest at the
quick-paced one-liners.
“She won’t smoke in front of me, and she’s always smoking so I never
see her.”
By the end of the play, audience members don’t know whether to
laugh or cry when the awkward adult children find themselves alone
in the Muldoon kitchen over a Guinness and stumble through the
realization they have feelings for each other.
Halfway through his master’s program in directing, Lancisi decided
he wanted to start his own theatre company. “I met so many talented
actors at Catholic, and they shared this incredible work ethic and
a desire to be able to work for a living,” he says. “It wasn’t about the
fame or the glory. They wanted to pursue their chosen profession,
and not have to wait tables. So I thought the best way I could serve
them was to found a company that keeps actors at its center; that
has a resident company of actors who perform together on a regular
basis.”
Today, Everyman Theatre is one of the few resident theatre companies
in the United States. Three years ago, the company moved into a newly
renovated space that has, in addition to its theatre, classroom and
rehearsal space and a welcoming lobby complete with Vinny’s Bar.
The 1910 building, a Baltimore landmark, has a storied history as a
vaudeville house and later a burlesque theatre. Lancisi and his crew
kept the neoclassical façade, but gutted the inside. The E that stands
on the apex of the building was discovered during restoration. It stood
for Empire Theatre, and as fate would have it, now for Everyman
Theatre, which has 5,000 season subscription holders, 50,000 patrons
a year, 28 employees, and $18.5 million raised during the capital
campaign that funded the renovation.
Lancisi is a long way from the day he drove a U-Haul to Baltimore,
where he saw a market for a small professional theatre, after getting his
master’s in directing. He worked out of his small apartment. It was two
years before he raised enough money to fund his first production. He
called his friend and former CUA roommate, Kyle Prue, B.F.A. 1989,
who was in Los Angeles looking for film work, to come play a priest on
trial for the murder of a nun in the Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt. “I
was horribly miscast, but when Vinny calls you don’t say ‘no,’” says
Prue, “which incidentally is one of the reasons for Everyman’s success.”
When they began rehearsing in early September, they didn’t realize
there was no heat in the basement of St. John’s Church, their first
performance venue. By opening night in early November it was cold.
The church sponsored a homeless shelter and had newly cleaned
Stan Barouh
Wil Love, Tim Getman, and Helen Hedman, B.A. 1973, in Outside Mullingar at Everyman Theatre.
blankets. “We put them on every other metal folding chair. At first our
audience members thought it was quaint. But within 15 minutes, they
were huddled under shared blankets,” says Lancisi.
In those early days, Everyman had a rule that if they had three or
fewer patrons at a play, they would buy them a beer and ask them to
come back for a different show.
Prue never went back to L.A., joining the resident company and
later becoming director of production. In 1994, the company found a
permanent home in a small storefront space on Charles Street. Another
turning point was offering season subscriptions in 1996. But Prue and
Lancisi both credit the overwhelming critical and box office success of
Proof by David Auburn in 2004 as the moment they knew Everyman
had arrived.
Velasco discusses timing with them. Miletich begins with the
words of the poem describing America as a land of immigrants, a
welcoming place.
“From her beacon hand glows worldwide welcome.”
He will provide the backdrop to the scene, reading in a continuous
loop. Then, like a well-orchestrated harmony conducted by Velasco,
the others come in.
“I just remember my parents crying so many times and not being able
to leave and being so scared about the future of our country, of not having
a place to go.”
“Thank God I have a video of my brother being shot.”
“Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses …”
“T
heatre is the ultimate form of free speech,” says Elena Velasco,
B.A. 1989, M.F.A. 2015, artistic director of Convergence
Theatre, a new professional theatre company in the D.C. metro area.
Velasco and four actors — “artistic collaborators” as they are known
at Convergence — are rehearsing for Guerilla Theatre Works: At What
Cost? in one of Synetic Theatre’s small studios in Arlington, Va.
There is no script. This is devised theatre. All members of the
collective bring their ideas to rehearsals. Together they are crafting a
story of what it means to be a refugee.
Sitting on the floor with their laptops in front of them, the actors
discuss the scene. Alex Miletich reads The New Colossus by Emma
Lazarus, the famous poem engraved on a plaque inside the Statue of
Liberty. Olivia Haller has the part of a Syrian refugee; Stephanie
Tomiko, B.A. 2015, plays a Bosnian refugee; and Asif Majid portrays
a Mexican immigrant. The latter three are improvising based on reallife stories of refugees and immigrants.
Elena Velasco, B.A. 1989, M.F.A. 2015, artistic director of Convergence Theatre,
creates a scene for Guerilla Theatre Works with Asif Majid and Stephanie Tomiko,
B.A. 2015.
Spring 2016 25
Students Andrew Shoro, Dani Ebbin, John Sygar, and Maddy Cuddihy of
Centerstage Theatre.
Students Take Center Stage
At the helm of CUA’s student-run theatre company, students are
finding they like doing things on their own.
This spring, they are producing Urinetown by Jacky Rizzuti
through Centerstage, and if past productions are any indication,
it will be sold out. “It’s a full-time job,” says Dani Ebbin, a junior
musical theatre student who is the artistic director of Centerstage.
“I wake up thinking about what we have to do that day. Do we
have the rights to the show? Is the theatre booked? Does the
director have what he needs? What costume pieces do we need? To
work with my peers to bring all of this together is so rewarding.
Every time we close a show, we feel so proud that we were part of
something bigger than ourselves,” says Ebbin.
“I never really saw myself behind the table,” says musical
theatre major John Sygar, who has made a name for himself on
campus as a performer in such musicals as Godspell and Into
the Woods.
“But when I heard The Laramie Project would be the fall production, I wanted to give it a try,” says Sygar. “The message of the
play about basic human rights and dignity was so important to
me. So I applied to be director.”
And he found he “loved being part of the collective, helping
the actors find their voice, and working out problems. I
experienced a different kind of pride when the show opened and
I saw how it touched people.”
The best thing about Centerstage? “It’s a safe place. You can
fall on your face, and your peers will always be there to pick you
up,” says Ebbin.
26 The Catholic University of America Magazine
As the scene wraps, they critique their work. “We should scatter our
endings,” says Majid.
“How was our timing?” asks Tomiko.
“Let’s find the arc of the conversations,” says Velaso. “Try it again,
standing this time and using the space, walking around Alex.”
“Yes, movement will help convey our emotion,” says Tomiko.
Guerilla Theatre Works is set for its first workshop performance in a few
weeks. In choosing the topic for the play, Velasco says, “We are all touched
by the refugee crisis — in Syria, in Central America. The heartbreaking
situation of unaccompanied minors. We are exploring the definition of
home. For most people in our audiences, that’s a very simple notion.
But for others in the world, it’s extraordinarily complicated.”
Velasco believes “theatre cultivates understanding and compassion.”
And she’s hoping this second production by Convergence will
encourage discourse.
The company’s first production, Bhavi the Avenger by M.F.A.
playwriting candidate Tearrance Chisholm, won positive reviews by
The Washington Post (“Inaugural offering from Convergence Theatre is
whimsical, resourceful.”) and was honored by DCMetro TheatreArts
with three awards (play, performance, and directing). Chisholm, who
has been recognized by the Kennedy Center American College Theater
Festival with awards for several plays, including the Rosa Parks award
for Bhavi, is resident playwright for the Convergence collective. Tomiko
is director of development and Philip da Costa, B.M. 2015, is director of
social media.
The mission of Convergence, says Velasco, is rooted in exploring
themes of social justice. She often cites the work of Brazilian theatre
artist Augusto Boal, who started a revolution with his groundbreaking
work now known as Theatre of the Oppressed. “His work changed
communities by raising attention to injustice and encouraging
dialogue and action,” says Velasco.
Velasco received her undergraduate degree in drama in 1989 and
went on to establish herself as a working director, choreographer,
playwright, and actor in the greater D.C. theatre community, all while
raising seven children. She returned to CUA some 20 years later when
she was accepted into the three-year M.F.A. in Directing Program.
“My experience the first time around was so positive. When I
returned, I was happy to find that the department still felt like
family, it was just as tightknit, an incredible collective of talented
and committed faculty and students. The faculty are so willing to
meet you on your journey. I wanted to live out my faith through my
commitment to social justice theatre, and they supported me wholeheartedly on that track.”
MISSION IS KEY
Theatre in the greater Washington, D.C., area is booming. There are
of course the big names such as Arena, Signature, Olney, Shakespeare,
Synetic, Woolly Mammoth, and Studio.
But what makes the region one of the best in the country is the
upwards of 90 professional theatre companies in the District, Northern
Virginia, and Maryland.
Convergence, Everyman, and Washington Stage Guild are in good
company.
It isn’t hard to find CUA alumni at the helm of professional theatre
companies. Longacre Lea has been specializing in “absurdism and magical
realism” since 1998 with Kathleen Akerley, M.F.A. 1998, as artistic
director and founder. The company offers one show per season every
summer at the Callan Theatre on CUA’s campus. “With so much good
theatre already in this market, we are committed to one really great show
every year,” says Akerley. The company’s 2006 production of Rosencrantz
and Gildenstern are Dead received a Helen Hayes nomination for best
ensemble.
Since 2008 dog & pony dc, founded by Wyckam Avery, M.F.A.
1996, has been presenting devised performances that incorporate new
ways for audiences to experience theatre. Their original production
Beertown was the first ensemble-devised show to receive a Helen Hayes
nomination for Outstanding New Play (2011), and was named one of
Washington Post Express’s top 10 shows (2012). It made its offBroadway debut in 2014, and the audience-participation play is now
set for a multicity national tour.
Parlor Room Theater opened in Prince George’s County, Md., in
2006. The company, founded by Frank DiSalvo Jr., B.A. 2009, M.F.A.
2012, and his brother, Thomas DiSalvo, B.A. 2012, is on a mission to
foster a love of theatre at affordable prices in a county with limited
options for live theatre. DiSalvo, like many who run companies,
also works professionally in D.C.-area theatres. He currently has two
Helen Hayes nominations for sound design at other theatres, one for
the Washington Stage Guild’s December 2015 production of It’s a
Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, which was so popular the show’s run
was extended.
“Staying true to our mission is what guides us,” says DiSalvo. “When
you bring live theatre to audience members for the first time and then
you see them returning with friends and family, that brings a lot of
satisfaction and reminds us that theatre is about serving communities.”
theatre major with Broadway aspirations, but soon realized his path was
theatre management rather than performance.
While a student he worked at a Catholic elementary school in
Rockville, Md., where he had the opportunity to work with students
who have special needs in an arts elective theatre program.
“One of the students had high-functioning autism, and the other
two had Down Syndrome. I cast them in a musical,” explains Whalen.
“In theatre, you need to be able to genuinely convey a story, and be
unbounded in that. These kids were able to embrace that concept and
run with it. One boy’s dad came up to me after the show with tears in
his eyes, and said, ‘I didn’t know my son could do that.’ I wondered
how many more kids were being denied that opportunity.”
Early in his college career, Whalen began considering how he could
create more performing arts opportunities for people with disabilities.
He says a turning point came when he took Theatre Topics: American
Drama taught by Rosalind Flynn, B.A. 1978, head of the Master of
Arts in Theatre Education Program. The course is one of several drama
department courses required for musical theatre students.
“The class was magical,” says Whalen. “In addition to reading and
learning about great American dramas, we learned life skills like ice
breakers for introducing yourself in professional settings and
marketing skills. Most important, we were encouraged to follow our
dreams by jumping in feet first even if that means making mistakes.”
The first thing Whalen did in launching his theatre company was
put together a board — a requirement for a nonprofit organization.
And he invited Flynn to join the board to share her expertise in theatre
education. He also invited Emmjolee Mendoza Waters, B.A. 2001,
M.S.W. 2009, CUA’s associate director of Campus Ministry and community service, to lend her expertise.
He enlisted friends from the musical theatre program to take on
production jobs. Meredith Eib, a junior musical theatre major, is helping
him with a cabaret production this spring. “At Catholic University, we
have this gem of a music school with the most talented faculty and
students, and then we have this amazing campus ministry program that
MUSICAL THEATRE STUDENTS
ENTER THE SCENE
Newcomer L.J. Whalen, B.M. 2015, is preparing to launch the inaugural
season of L’Enfant Rebelle Theatre company. He is laser focused on a
mission to create inclusive and accessible theatre experiences for artists,
audiences, and arts administrators.
“We welcome people who have physical, intellectual, and cognitive
disabilities to our company,” says Whalen. “We are not a theatre
company exclusively for people with disabilities. We welcome all
people and we seek to showcase the similarities among us, despite our
differing abilities.
“The goal is to create an inclusive environment where a person with
autism can feel comfortable auditioning for a show or a director who
uses a wheelchair can be confident that we will offer a setting free of
barriers,” says Whalen.
He came to the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music as a musical
L.J. Whalen, B.M. 2015, of L’Enfant Rebelle Theatre.
Spring 2016 27
Beyond the Beltway
allows you to use your skills in service to others. Working with L.J. is
such a natural extension of that,” says Eib.
Monumental Theatre Company is another new professional company
run by young musical theatre alumni. Jimmy Mavrikes, B.M. 2013, is
co-producing artistic director (along with Michael Windsor), and Beth
Amann, B.M. 2013, is managing director.
“We would go to the theatre and look around and wonder where are
the millennials,” says Amann. “So we knew we wanted to make it part
of our mission to reach out to our generation in a different way. We
are especially committed to fostering new work by emerging writers
and providing platforms for local artists.”
The group’s inaugural season garnered favorable reviews and high
attendance. They produced Girl Versus Corinth and Holidazed and held
a wildly successful gender bender cabaret called Sex Swap that featured
an array of talented young performers singing popular musical theatre
and pop songs meant for their opposite gender. This spring they
brought the cabaret back with Sex Swap 2.0, complete with musical
Mad libs contributed by the audience. Next up is a summer production
of Urinetown in Alexandria, Va.
Amann says she enjoys blending her theatre training with her business
management minor in managing the company. She and Mavrikes tested
the waters of theatre management as undergraduates in leadership
positions with CUA’s student-run Centerstage Theatre Company.
“That’s where we discovered the satisfaction that comes from bringing your creative vision to a production and helping other artists shine,”
says Mavrikes.
“By working with Centerstage, students find out that they either
love theatre management or that it’s not for them,” says Jay Brock,
clinical assistant professor and faculty advisor to Centerstage.
Brock and his business partner, the late Jan Stewart, had a theatre
company called Limelight. After Stewart passed away and Brock took
Beth Amann, B.M. 2013, and Jimmy Mavrikes, B.M. 2013, of Monumental
Theatre.
28 The Catholic University of America Magazine
a full-time faculty position at the music school, the theatre went dark.
He offered the infrastructure of his company, including the 501 (c)(3)
tax exempt status, to Mavrikes and Amann. They in turn reinvented
the company as Monumental.
“It’s been very rewarding for me to see what they’ve done with their
company,” says Brock. “I was in a unique position to do this, and as a
faculty member I take particular pride in seeing them flourish and
create an identity.”
CUA’S WIDE REACH
“I often tell the students, ‘This is your family, not just for four years
but for the rest of your life.’ Theatre is so much about networking. We
build a supportive environment in both the music school and the
drama department, and that serves them well in the professional
world. They will be working for each other and with each other,
especially if they stay in the D.C. theatre community,” says Brock.
“Working in theatre is a tough occupation but it is full of joy and
support. It’s so much about the people you meet along the way,” says
Matt Ripa, M.F.A. 2008. He is the administrative specialist in the
drama department and the producing artistic director of Doorway
Arts Theatre. The company premieres work by contemporary playwrights, presenting “new plays in new ways.”
“When I give student tours, I talk about the reach of CUA. I don’t
think I’ve ever been in a professional production in this area without
there being another alum in it in some capacity. And that’s an instant
connection even if you’ve never met before,” he says.
“We are all aware of the legacy of this department. Iconic figures
like Father Hartke and Bill Graham and so many more put this
department on the map nationally. We’ve changed with the times, but
we still honor that legacy. We are still greeted in the professional world
with respect, admiration, and open arms,” says Ripa.
“CUA students, alumni, and faculty are very loyal. They help each
other out,” says Joel Markowitz, publisher and editor of DCMetro
TheatreArts, a well-known website that has more than 100 writers
reviewing and writing about D.C.-area community, professional, and
university theatre.
“CUA has a solid reputation in the professional community. The
University has great teachers who are role models, and who are honest
about what it takes to make it in the profession.
“And the alumni are working. If you attend any show in this area,
read the bios and you are sure to find a number of alumni. It’s the same
with local theatre awards. They are filled with CUA alumni,” he says.
“The program is very different than when we attended. I was among
the last group that Father Hartke taught,” recalls Largess, referring to
Rev. Gilbert Hartke, the “show biz priest” and legendary founder of
Catholic University’s 78-year-old drama department.
“He called us ‘his kids.’ That’s a bond that a generation of us has,”
Giannerelli says.
Her ties to the department remain strong. She teaches for the drama
department’s High School Drama Institute. In 2009, the Washington
Stage Guild hosted a conference with the drama department in collab-
Alumni are leading theatre campanies well beyond
the D.C. area. Here are two of them.
CHICAGO
Matt Ripa, M.F.A. 2008, of Doorway Arts Theatre.
oration with the International Shaw Society. Performances by CUA
students and stage guild actors included a set of one-act plays.
“It was so much fun to work with students. There have been so many
changes over the years, but it’s always nice to see the work ethic, talent,
and commitment of the students remain the same,” says Giannerelli.
For sophomore drama major Emma Heck, the opportunity to work
with graduate students and alumni has been one of the reasons she
says, “I’m so happy I found CUA.” She was stage manager for Bhavi
the Avenger at Convergence and is one of the company’s artistic
collaborators.
“Our faculty are working professionals and so talented and
knowledgeable and on top of that, as undergrads we get to work with
the graduate students in acting, directing, and playwriting. They inspire
us to up our game. They are also working in the field and are amazing
connections for us. That’s how I got involved with Convergence Theatre,”
she says.
ALL ABOUT THE AUDIENCE
“In a difficult business, our CUA network is a blessing,” says Giannerelli.
“Theatre management is grinding and not for the faint of heart. But
it is worth it when I sit in the audience of our theatre and watch a play
we are producing on opening night, and I think, ‘Damn! This is good!’
and I know I’m part of it and that our resources are well spent. We
produce theatre for the audience, because in the end that’s what it’s
all about,” says Norton of the Washington Stage Guild. “And we get to
do it all — the ups and the downs — with this band of lifelong friends.”
“At CUA, we learned that this is a profession and you have to pursue
it because it brings you joy and purpose, not because you want to get
rich or famous,” says Prue of Everyman Theatre.
He says he was reminded of that one late night in his office during
the run of Outside Mullingar. “I was sitting at my desk finishing up
some work, and I found myself listening to the last few minutes of
the play when Rosemary and Anthony find each other, and realized I
had tears in my eyes. That’s what theatre is about. It’s a service to our
community, our society. We give them an escape, a laugh. Maybe we
inspired them or maybe we just got them thinking.”
Editor’s note: In researching this article we found out when it comes to
theatre, our alumni are so prolific we could not possibly include them all.
If you have a theatre company, write to us at [email protected] so
we can mention you in a future magazine.
Turn to Class Notes to read about a psychology alumna who runs a theatre
company and a drama alumna who just opened a bake shop.
“Familiar stories, unorthodox methods, perpetually curious.”
That’s the tagline of Sideshow Theatre Company. The Chicago
company hit the stage in 2008 with a new play by Walt McGough,
Dante Dies! (and then things get weird).
Now in its 10th season, Sideshow is still producing original
works. “All of our plays have an element of surprise or something
unexpected that we can hopefully transport or help transcend the
audience into another world. We want them to be immersed in
the experience,” says Megan Smith, B.A. 2006, executive director
and founder of the company. She is also an ensemble member.
She says she was drawn to the Chicago theatre scene because
“the theatre community here is very collaborative, friendly, which
I thought was a great quality,” she says, a quality similar to what
she found in Catholic University’s drama department. “You can
reach out to any drama alumni and they will talk to you and give
you advice.”
Other alumni working with Smith include Bruce Phillips, B.A.
2005, marketing manager, and Kathleen Akerley, M.A. 1998,
and Gina DiSalvo, B.A. 2005. Both are artistic associates.
About running a theatre company, Smith says, “I like the strategic
planning element of my role, thinking about how you build something out of nothing. It’s a lot of putting a puzzle together and a
lot of problem solving — which I find really exciting.”
NEW YORK
Before starting CAP 21, Frank Ventura, B.A. 1975, spent time as
a successful actor, director, and choreographer in New York City.
“Broadway was experiencing a slump in the ’80s, and that started
me thinking that I wanted to be part of a resurgence by facilitating new work by new artists.”
In 1993, Ventura and his wife, Eliza, founded the Collaborative
Arts Project 21 with a dream and credit card.
Today, they have their own theatre center in downtown
Manhattan, complete with 19 dance and vocal studios. CAP 21
includes a theatre company that develops new works with
composers, book writers, and lyricists; a writers’ residency; a
professional training conservatory; and a B.F.A. program in
conjunction with Molloy College.
Ventura says he got the theatre bug as a young boy when his
family took a day trip from their home in Baltimore to the Great
White Way. From the last row in the balcony, he watched Richard
Burton, Julie Andrews, and Robert Goulet in Camelot. “That was
it. I knew I had to be part of this.”
Ventura says, “Catholic University was a great place to
understand the profession, the craftsmanship, and the training and
skill needed to make a career in theatre. The faculty was amazing.
I took a course in the four stages of Renaissance style that I still use
today. It taught me how to create the world of the play.”
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