FIRST EVER USM THEATRE ALUMNI GATHERING!
On Friday, April 19th, we had the first ever USM THEATRE ALUMNI gathering, for the opening of the show ORLANDO.
About 40 people attended, including USM President Theo Kalikow, Provost Michael Stevenson, CAHS Assistant Dean, David Carey, USM Advancement officer Sue Palmer, USM Theatre Department chair Charles Kading, several Theatre faculty members and many Theatre Alumni from 1978 to 2012!
Organized by Lecturer and Outreach Liaison Emmanuelle Chaulet, along with a team of dedicated students, this event featured costume displays thanks to Costume Faculty Joan Mather and student Joe Sibley, sound track of former shows by students John Horton and James Futter, delicious food by chef and student Shannon Esslinger, and lots of networking and catching up. This trip to Memory Lane was, we hope, the first seed to an upcoming Theatre Alumni Group to start a bridge between the USM program and the whole wide world.
It was funded by the Theatre Departement the CAHS Dean's office and several local businesses, rallied to this cause by the enthusiast dedication of student Pamela Smith.
Special Thank You to:
Keith Boyle, (Banquet Hall); 207 Taxi, CSM & Mrs. Earl B. Allen, 11th signal BDE, (Vose-Smith Florists, and Alpine Linen Service.
To be part of the Alumni group, please contact the Theatre Box Office in the Fall and make sure you are on the ALUMNI LIST. (207) 780-5151
To take a leadership role, contact Emmanuelle Chaulet asap:chaulet@usm.maine.edu
This is the first ever USM THEATRE ALUMNI newsletter, and we hope that
we will be able to continue a tradition of sharing our alumni profiles and
collecting your fascinating information.
This first issue will share the news from three of our alumni from New
York to L.A.:
Sean Demers’ 05, Kurt Ela’ 00, and Noah Spiegel’93, sampling the
careers in playwriting/directing, acting, tech
nical theatre/arts management.
nical theatre/arts management.
actor, director, playwright
B. A. in Theatre (Summa Cum Laude) 2005
What are your major career highlights since you
left USM?
My highlights revolve primarily around my writing.
I produced my play You Love Myself last year in New York City
and while I did not garner much agency or critical attention, I found that the
experience only hardened my resolve as a playwright. Last Fall my play The
Suicide of Mark Twain garnered a number of awards at the Harvest
Theater Festival in Queens and I am poised to take the play another step. I
joined the Accidental Repertory Theater started by Lee Strasberg's son John and
worked with them for a couple of shows, but in the end I felt that my focus was
leading me toward writing and I left the group. I'm sure that my principal career highlights are
still to come.
What is your next step now?
I am applying for graduate school programs in
Playwriting. It took me some time to narrow my focus, but in the end it
is important that you are confident with your next step.
Is there anything you learned at USM that you
are thankful for?
The value of the drama program at USM is it's
emphasis on learning every part of the craft ... it's certainly not a
conservatory or specialized program, but there is a value to knowing how to
read a light plot no matter what line you go into. When I was working in
a regional theater at one point and my black pants were glowing red in the
darkened stage, I was able to ask the designer what the red spike was on the
blue gel and sound like some kind of theater savant.
Anything you wish you had done at USM and
didn't?
More writing! I took one class, but it was my
Intro to Literary Studies class that
really kicked my pen into gear. I would have preferred more Playwriting,
but at the time my track was performing. Plus, I feel that I stepped
outside of the program and into the Portland acting community a bit too early.
As a performer, it also would have been nice to have an introduction to local
or even NY agents through a school audition.
A tip for current students?
Particularly at USM, you need to take advantage of
everything offered. You only get out of the classes what you put into them,
so feel free to be collegiate ... research ... experiment. The other
suggestion I have is to intern professionally either through the school or
outside of it. Most major theaters have programs. I worked at Maine
State for two seasons and I can tell you there is no replacement for hands on
experience with working professionals. You don't need to wait for a
degree to be successful now. By your final year in Maine you should have
an agent ... you should have a good headshot and resume ... you should be
auditioning outside the program ... if for no other reason, for the experience.
Anything else you want to say?
Because I have lived in NYC for almost six years now, I
can speak directly to that choice. If you move to the city you have to
want to live here and be around a lot of people with similar goals. You
also have to get used to auditioning and failing, you will fail more than you
succeed, but when you succeed it only increases your resolve and experience.
Be prepared to continue your education. Find reputable classes or a
group that further your aims. Your primary goal should be to procure an
agent and be seen by casting directors multiple times, often it is through this
repetition that you will be successful.
-Sean Demers
FROM LOS ANGELES: KURT ELA
actor
actor
B. A. in theatre, 2000
What have been your major career highlights
since you left USM?
I would have to list a few. Making it
through the period when most actors leave LA, (about 3-4 years in).
Getting my first Studio Feature role. Getting my first Series
Regular Network TV role. I name these two primarily because there is no
logic out here. Someone can walk off the plane and work and someone can
be out here for 20 years and never work.
What is your next step now?
For
the longest time it was about getting "work," which I still strive to
get. But now it is all about "what do I want to say?" The
best artists have a mission, or a point of view, and I feel that can be easy to
do when in college and not really worrying about how you are going to pay rent.
But it can be easily lost out here. So for the last year I have
been working with a coach on just that. You would love her stuff, her
name is Diana Castle. There are other next steps, having a show that I am
a series regular on get picked up by a Network, but that is completely out of
my hands. I am sure you understand. Also I am working to speak my
point of view via online content, improv, and stand up. But at the base,
I am a story teller, not a writer.
Is there anything you learned at USM that you
are thankful for?
On
the one hand, I believe that finding that one person (Wil Kilroy) who was
willing to talk to me straight and give opinions on where I should go after my schooling,
was vital. For a while I was angry at my Undergrad education, only
because there were people out here that had no education, no formal training
who were working. I would get laughed at for having a degree. It
meant nothing. Having met a few people at USM, and knowing just how
challenging it can be to make a "career" out of this, helped my
expectations tremendously.
Anything you wish you had done at USM and
didn't?
I
wish I had really thought by my sophomore year, what I wanted to do. I didn't.
I just kind of got swept by the, "hey I will just go to school again
next year." which doesn't translate to the real world at all.
A tip for current students?
When
I came back to speak a couple of years ago, I told the students “if you were
thinking of doing what I do, just go.” But if you were going to stay,
take business classes. The marketing/running your own biz/math stuff of
this industry is what we creative people lack. So maybe instead of
taking 4 Theatre history classes, (not that there isn't value) throw in some
sort of marketing/biz class.
Anything else you want to say?
I
know it's way easier said than done,
but I didn't feel that there was a good track set up for me as to what I am
going to do when I get out of USM. In my time, there were no alumni coming
back to talk that were out there doing what I thought I wanted to do. So I
would be more than happy to talk to any student interested in coming to L.A.
and working out here in Film and TV. And I would be more than happy to help
in any way I can. Right now, I am a working actor. No side gig,
just working. And USM is very, very lucky to have people like you and Wil
who reach out to the alums. That, in my opinion, is invaluable.
So
good to catch up, and I would love to keep in touch.
All
the best,
-Kurt
Ela
FROM
NASHVILLE: NOAH SPIEGEL
performing art manager and administrator
performing art manager and administrator
B.A. Technical Theatre, Magna Cum Laude, 1993
What have been your major career highlights since you left USM?
So many
highlights that the easiest was to print a biography:
Noah E. Spiegel is a performing arts manager and
administrator with nearly twenty years’ experience in stage, company and
production management as well as stage direction and design. A native of
Brooklyn, NY he grew up in Portland, Maine and moved to Nashville in 2012. Mr.
Spiegel has enjoyed a high profile stage management career including theatre,
ballet, symphony and opera productions at some of the nation’s leading
performing arts institutions. In addition, he has worked on world
premieres of commissioned operas and plays. For eight seasons, he served as the
Director of Production for Tulsa Opera, where he produced three full scale
productions per season, two regional educational tours, an apprentice
production in a non-traditional venue and a cabaret series as well as multiple
youth opera performances each season. In 2009, Spiegel was recognized by Tulsa Business Journal
as one of “40 Under 40” Professionals to Watch in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2010, he
was named “The Visionary” by Tulsa People. In 2012, Spiegel joined the team at
Nashville Opera as the Chief Operating Officer, overseeing administrative
operations, fund development, financial matters, marketing and public
relations. Spiegel holds a bachelor’s degree in technical theatre from
University of Southern Maine Portland-Gorham and a master’s in fine arts in
stage management from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
What is your next step now?
My appointment at Nashville Opera Association is for several years, so I
intend to become familiar with this community and begin reaching out as a
volunteer and advocate for the power of arts to drive the economy, as well as
working for diversity, inclusion and equal access for marginalized
communities.
Is there anything you learned at USM that you are thankful for?
My teachers at USM were pretty fantastic, and if the current students
don't realize it, I will be the first to tout their skills and caliber. Sue
Picinich, Chuck Kading, Wil Kilroy, Dr. Walter Stump, Minor Rootes all had
major impact on my ability to succeed in this industry. I credit especially
Sue, Chuck and Wil who consistently brought students from USM Theatre into
professional environments as interns or entry level professionals to help
bridge the gap between educational theatre and professional theatre. Sue
Picinich told me once that if you can't work until 11 PM in rehearsal and then
get to your 9 AM call the next day, you're in the wrong business. I hear that
in my head every morning after a late night, and remember that advice.
Anything you wish you had done at USM and didn't?
No. USM provided a strong cross-curricular theatre and liberal arts
experience. My final year and a half was spent working as an intern at Mad
Horse Theatre Company, then becoming their full time professional Production
Stage Manager for three seasons before graduate school--which was incredibly
potent when I was seeking financial assistance and scholarships for graduate
programs.
A tip for current students?
If you have an opportunity to learn more than just your specialty area,
take it. I'm still in touch with quite a few of my classmates, many of whom
still work in the performing arts. However, we are all working in fields that
are not what we studied--which is to the credit of USM's robust curriculum,
which instilled in us the ability to learn across many platforms and
communicate with a diverse spectrum of professionals. More skills and a wide
spectrum of knowledge are key to being able to be self-directed, employed and
somewhat in control of your fate as an artist.
Anything else you want to say?
Be an advocate for the arts in your community and at the State and
Federal level. Don't assume that the arts can withstand the whims of the
economy so it is up to you--not someone else--to make the case for it.
Creative economies remained strong during times of economic recession—creativity is a stable
economic asset. Although there was a slight decline during the depth of
the recession, the creative economies fared better and have recovered faster.
Invest in Arts Education: Creating students that are art lovers ensures that
those students become professionals that contribute to our creative economy as
adults. A student involved in the arts is FOUR times more likely to be
recognized for academic achievement. Involvement in the arts reduces drop-out
rates to 4%--five times lower than students who are not involved in the arts,
so we need to encourage legislators and decision makers to retain funding for
arts in the classroom to benefit our workforce and cities in the future.
Advocate for your future!
NOAH E. SPIEGEL
CHIEF
OPERATING OFFICER
NASHVILLE OPERA ASSOCIATION
Noah
Liff Opera Center
