Center Theatre Group Blog

We here at PLAY would like to introduce you all to Sarah Guerrero… emerging Theatre Artist and former PLAY intern extraordinaire…

Q: When did you first become involved in the theatre?

Let me start at the very beginning (a very good place to start): I was born and raised in Manila, where I was homeschooled for seven years. Being stuck at home, with only your little brother for company, can get really old, really fast. Mercifully, we owned one functioning VHS tape: The Sound of Music (granted, it skipped every time, so the von Trapp children always marched down the stairs twice when summoned, never failing to confuse me). I suppose it was after hearing me trill “Da hiiiiills aaaaare aliiiiiiiive” one too many times that my parents decided I was too far gone to stop. So to indulge my musical interest, they took me to see a special Manila run of Miss Saigon, starring Lea Salonga (note to other parents: it’s probably NOT a great idea to take your ten-year-old to see said musical, for obvious reasons…opt for Beauty and the Beast, instead). They made me shut my eyes for half of it, and I could barely see the other half thanks to our cheap nosebleed seats, but I loved it anyway. I know everyone says it, but there was something magical about watching real, live people sing and dance and act their hearts out on that stage. It still remains, to this day, one of the most enthralling experiences of my life. When I moved to the United States three years later, I joined my high school’s drama program and have been stuck with theatre ever since.

Q: When did you first become involved with PLAY?

During my freshman year, my high school partnered with PLAY’s Speak to Me residency program to produce its spring show. I heard about it too late to join, but when I saw the final product as an audience member, I was intrigued—I’d never seen anything like it before. This was back when I thought musical theatre was the theatre, and that “regular” plays were rather boring (please don’t judge me! I was a naïve 13-year-old immigrant whose only prior theatregoing experience was Miss Saigon, for goodness’ sake). So when Michael Cohen, our drama director, encouraged me to apply for PLAY’s Young Artists Theatre Series program the next year, I jumped at the chance. I must admit that I did it mostly for the cheap theatre tickets at the time, but little did I know YATS would change my destiny (OK, maybe not, but close). I loved it so much that I did it three times over, and even came back to intern last summer. (It’s amazing these PLAY people haven’t tired of me yet after all that.)

Q: How has your experience interning for PLAY impacted/changed your life?

So since I’ve been doing a lot of confessing, let me share another secret. When I applied to work for PLAY, I didn’t really have an interest in the education side of theatre. I was more interested in getting a chill summer job, and PLAY seemed like a pretty chill place to be, so. But things never work out the way I expect. Working “behind the scenes” made me realize how selfish I had been in my approach to theatre. I had always been concerned about what I had to gain and what I had to learn, when really theatre is about sharing. That summer, I was able to share some of what I had learned with other students, and discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to do so. So much so, that this fall I’m going to be a teaching assistant for an acting intensive at my college, and I even have a fantastical dream of one day bringing a Ready, Set, PLAY-esque program to public schools in the Philippines somehow. I now love being part of the teaching process, because I still learn so much at the same time. That is something about myself I never would have discovered and never would have pursued if I hadn’t interned for PLAY.

Q: Do you think theatre is important for people of your generation? Why? Or why not?

So my initial answer to this question went sort of like this: “The actor/audience dynamic of theatre is an answer to the apathy of a YouTube generation…” but something didn’t feel right. So then I remembered I’m writing a blog, not a term paper, and I was being a bit grandiose because I really don’t have a concrete answer to this question. I think part of it is because by its very nature, theatre is a living and dynamic thing that can mean different things to different people. For me, it was initially about being able to belong to a tight-knit community of people. Now it’s more about being able to learn more about and express myself. I think theatre is so important for young people precisely because it is such an accessible, malleable, and yet empowering art form for young people to express themselves. There’s magic that happens in the theatre that doesn’t happen anywhere else.

We here at PLAY are proud to present to you our friend, colleague, and official Pachuco Story Teller Marcos Najera. Marcos is an Actor, Performer, and PLAY Teaching Artist who hails from Phoenix, Arizona. He has been a participant in our Dana Teaching Artist Institute, and worked on Ready, Set, PLAY, the Young Audiences Program, and our Annenberg Middle School Program. We are delighted to have him be the first PLAY Teaching Artist to contribute to our CTG Blog.

Q: Can you name one person from your past that is responsible for your involvement in the theatre?

A: Anna Deavere Smith.

Q: How did you become involved with PLAY?

A: Nilaja Sun. But first, a quick rewind. For the past several years, I’ve worked as an actor and teaching artist in Arizona. I got cast in a national tour and set out across the country. During our show’s stop in Chicago, I excitedly slipped away to watch ‘No Child’ at the Lookingglass Theatre Company (I love solo performance). Just over a year ago, I moved to LA to act and saw that Nilaja’s show was coming to the Kirk Douglas Theater. Of course, I ran back to see it. A few minutes before curtain, I struck up a conversation with a woman named Kimiko who happened to be recruiting teaching artists for CTG’s Dana Fellowship program. It didn’t take long for her to convince me to apply. After completing this very smart and cogent program, I received my first assignments to teach ‘Spring Awakening’ & ‘Pippin.’ Not to mention an after-school kindergarten stage adaptation of ‘’Tacky the Penguin’ at Leo Politi Elementary School!

Q: Why do you think that the work we do here at PLAY is important?

A: El Pachuco. In 1978, when Edward James Olmos stepped on the stage of the Mark Taper Forum to tell a historic Latino story to sold-out houses filled with Chicanos, I had no idea. I was just a chubby, pre-gay, brown second-grader growing up in the Phoenix desert. What did I know about theater? Not much, except that I fell in love with it a few years before in kindergarten. That was when I made my stage debut as a yellow chicken in an Arizona Opera production.  I proudly shook my yellow tail feathers on stage whilst quacking along to fat ladies belting high C’s. It was grand to be odd and yellow in a spotlight and I enjoyed reliving my big moment vicariously through Rachel Dratch in Minsky’s recently.  Nonetheless, I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to be brown on stage and use real words. I never really saw or heard Latino people sharing a story from a proscenium.  Fast forward to my senior year in high school. Flipping through the channels one night, I stopped on PBS where a black woman of the theater was recreating a stage play in which she performed everyone, but looked really like no one except herself: Anna Deavere Smith. That instantly demystified theatre for me. And I realized perhaps I could also belong to the American theatre and participate on stage. She did that for me once. With PLAY, I can offer the same gift.

Q:  How have you seen this work impact a student or group of students that you have worked with?

A: The School of Night. “There he is! There he is!” is all I heard coming from the other side of the Taper’s lobby. A gaggle of teen-age girls was heading right for me. Programs and pens clutched in hand, they were giggling and chirping. “We knew we’d see you here! I told them you’d be here!” said one. “She’s confused and wants to ask you questions,” said another while pointing to her friend. “It’s about taboo right? Like in ‘Spring Awakening’ but different right? But still taboo stuff, que no?” asked another. “I love the actress who plays the queen, we were looking her up in the program,” added one. “Can you help us figure out what will happen next mister, but don’t tell us because we think we know, we just want to know what you think too,” said the last.

Q: What is your fondest memory as a Theatre Student, Artist and/or Arts Educator?

A: Luis Alfaro and Diane Rodriguez. Twelve years ago, I walked into the Annex for the first time. I remembered thinking that there was just wwwaaayyyy too much fluorescent lighting. But I digress. In 1997 Anna Deavere Smith hired me to work on a Taper workshop of her project called “House Arrest” (It turned out that the woman who blew me away on PBS that night back in high school was a professor at the college where I was matriculating. It was hard as hell to get into her classes, but eventually I did). Meanwhile, back at the Annex, I think we were working in the Gordon Davidson rehearsal room. Was it called that then? I don’t know. During a break, Anna said, “Come with me. There are two people I want you to meet.” We walked to what I think is now the education department/PLAY office corridor. Inside one office were Luis and Diane who were part of something very hip, devastatingly important, and futuristic-sounding called the Latino Initiative? Latino Theatre Plan? Brown People on Stage Program? Pachucho Story Hour? I honestly can’t remember. Sorry if I’m screwing the name up!  But oddly enough, this is a big, solid memory for me.  Luis and Diane said hello and gave me their cards, wished me luck and invited me back anytime. I said I would gladly take them up on their offer. I doubt neither Anna, Luis or Diane remembers that moment, but I’ve never forgotten. How could I? My barrier-breaking artistic mentor introducing me to brown art pioneers who were actually participating in full at a highly regarded American theatre and in a hall where I’d eventually be invited back again to help other students discover theater. Fond indeed.

Q: If you could see that person from your past again, today, what would you say to them?

A: Zachary Scott. “Hook ‘em Horns!” is what I’d say. Anna sent me an email the other day telling me to learn the cheer because that is what people in Austin want to hear. Later this spring, I’ll go to the Zach Scott Theatre to work as a member of Anna’s creative team for an upcoming production of her elegant new work examining human grace called ‘Let Me Down Easy.”

At left: Marcos Najera as a high school sophomore.

Ashley Rumburg works in Development (Devo) as the Corporate Giving Coordinator at Center Theatre Group where she dwells everyday in the sexy world of non-profit fundraising. 

“Why on God’s green earth would you want to work for a non-profit theatre company?!?”

I promise you - this is the first thing that comes out of people’s mouths when they discover what I do for a living.  It is unfathomable to most why I would want to sacrifice my time, my paycheck and my career (in their opinions) for the greater good, the betterment of society or some other equivalent trite expression.  But to me, the answer is simple. 

Back in November, I experienced firsthand how important my work at CTG was when I volunteered to help with a Target Young Audiences Program event surrounding The School of Night.  The entire premise of these performances is to bring students in from underserved schools in the surrounding community and treat them to a free daytime performance and cast Q & A session.  When I arrived my colleagues were ready and raring to go. They explained to me how fulfilling it was to witness the students’ reactions to theatre. I graciously smiled and nodded as I tried to down as much coffee as possible before they started arriving.  It was only when the yellow school busses started pulling up to the curb that I began to see how much a trip to the theatre really impacted these kids.  Their relentless giggling and incessant chatter completely reinforced the idea that we were doing something good - something meaningful. 

After the play, I stuck around to watch the Q & A session with the cast, only to be utterly astounded by the depth of their questions.  By viewing this one play, these students were able to reveal and dissect certain elements of truth that I never understood in my 4+ years at university.  This one performance really affected the way they viewed their own lives, and made me realize the great work that we do at CTG.

It’s imperative that we continue to raise funds so we can provide arts education and vital creative outlets for other Los Angeles natives.  If I can help bring even a little joy to their lives, fulfill their basic needs by nourishing their minds and enable them to have a little fun, then my need has been fulfilled.

Photo caption: Students attend The School of Night during the Target Young Audiences Program. Photo by Kathryn Indeik.

Leslie K. Johnson is CTG’s Director of Education and Outreach and heads up the Performing for Los Angeles Youth program (P.L.A.Y.)

I had my first real kiss at a cast party for Tom Sawyer. I was an awkward, nerdy 7th grader (think the African-American Olive Oyl with Coke-bottle glasses) attending Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston, Virginia. I had a huge crush on a boy named Sean Morgan. He was an early bloomer – already emerged from his lanky adolescent shell into a hunky, suave leading man. Plus he was taller than me. He was a fixture in our school plays, so if I wanted to be close to Sean, I was going to have to get into theatre. Now, given my limited experience (read: lack of acting talent), our Drama and Speech Teacher, Mrs. Judy Bowns, did not see fit to cast me in a speaking role, but since the production was a musical, there was plenty of room in the corps of dancers for gangly me. And over the course of weeks of after-school rehearsals, I got to be in close proximity to Sean’s loveliness, developing, what became, an epic crush.

Even with this distracting romantic subtext, our production was a technical masterpiece and run-away hit. After the show, Sean’s parents hosted the cast party at their home. He was working the room – moving from group to group sharing his congratulations, joshing with friends, seemingly untouchable. The party was fun, but our paths didn’t really cross until my dad came to get me. Ever the gentleman, Sean walked me to the door and just as I turned to say a final thank you, he was standing there – a little too close, still in Sawyer’s tattered coverall shorts and red/white checked gingham shirt. He put his hand on my shoulder, and said “Uh, great job dancing” and smack, planted a full mouth kiss on me. It…was…magical. 

Sadly, I would later come to learn that Sean had, in fact, been walking every female party-goer to the door and, therefore, getting a lip workout with each girl in the cast and crew. And so, as with most crushes, in the end, I was crushed. 

Nonetheless, through the experience of participating in the production of Tom Sawyer, I learned some things and showed some promise. Mrs. Bowns sought me out to work on other productions after that – South Pacific, Our Town, Guys and Dolls. The next year, Sean and his family moved away, but I continued to study theatre into high school. I “retired” from my stage career by 10th grade to focus on backstage activities. I really liked knowing how things worked, having access and knowledge of behind the scenes (a feeling that still holds true today). And so, as with so many things in life, what started as a way to meet a boy turned into something that peaked my curiosity, tapped my inner passion, challenged me, and connected me to a whole new group of people.

In the end it doesn’t really matter why or how you come to participate in theatre – a school field trip, the only available elective, your friend had a free ticket, or a crush on a seriously cute boy. What matters is that you have the access to experience its magic. Because once you have, theatre isn’t some passing crush on a philandering, manipulative, adolescent twit. Theatre, like true love, is about feeling your heart pounding, experiencing yourself growing, and discovering real passion. So take that, Sean!

Photo at left: Leslie K. Johnson, circa 7th grade.