The atmosphere is electric on an afternoon in late October in the Durango Building of UT San Antonio’s Downtown Campus as students in the university’s new dramatic arts major pace nervously, waiting for auditions to start.
It’s their chance to audition for the program’s spring show, a horror-comedy musical known as “Little Shop of Horrors,” when they will have a historic role in rolling out the new Bachelor of Dramatic Arts program in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts, created to provide educational opportunity and quality public performances.
The program is off to a good start, said the university’s executive director of events, conferences and camps, Debra Justice. A dedicated team of faculty and local professionals is offering new courses, workshops, field trips and community partnerships to launch a program they see as long overdue.
“I really want to see this program take off and succeed,” said Justice, a Yale University-trained stage manager and instructor of the course, Introduction to Stagecraft. “I’ve wanted it to happen since I got here, and I walk around with my fingers crossed 24/7 with hopes that it will.”
Justice is part of the team responsible for preparing UT San Antonio’s professional-caliber Buena Vista Theater, 501 W. César E. Chávez Blvd., for just such a possibility. She is partnering with Theater Manager and Live Production Instructor Jerod Jerry.
“I built and designed this theater for this program that did not exist when I arrived,” Jerry said.
Today, the university’s first class of dramatic arts majors regularly utilize the 300-seat performance venue that hosts a full slate of concerts, conferences, dance performances and events like the 40-year-old Gridiron variety show produced by San Antonio’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Students attend full days of classes in the Buena Vista Theater building, starting with a morning of playwriting through an afternoon acting course. During the spring semester, advanced courses in acting will be offered along with courses oriented toward cast, crew, marketing and production for “Little Shop.”
Positioning the major on UT San Antonio’s Downtown Campus contributes to building a close-knit community that the program’s students say they value.
Dramatic arts major Grecia Ortiz said that she holds making and continuing to grow friendships with people in the program as important as being a part of the first theater production at the university.
Ortiz’s classmate Precious Okolie agrees. “I’m most looking forward to meeting new people,” she said. “An integral part of the arts is the lived experience — that includes getting a glimpse of others’ experiences.”
Acting I Associate Professor Kimberly Fonzo, a medieval drama scholar and organizer of UT San Antonio’s longstanding Actors from the London Stage residency, said she sees such glimpses as key to students’ education.
Fonzo said she aims to develop in students the ability to appreciate great acting in other students while also building an understanding of their own movement, voice and intention.
The student-centered approach is widespread among UT San Antonio faculty and volunteer mentors, including veteran stage and screen actor Victor Trevino.
Trevino recently led an audition preparation workshop for students and continued that work during auditions and callbacks as newly named Assistant Director of “Little Shop.” He brings insight from his decades of experience in movies, such as “American Me” and “Machete,” television shows like “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” and “The X-Files,” and plays like the recent sellout Los Angeles productions of “The Last Angry Brown Hat.”
Trevino plans to work alongside the play’s director, Assistant Professor of Practice Bradley Freeman Jr., whose experience makes him particularly suited for a play featuring a variety of bloodthirsty plant puppets. Freeman is a puppeteer on the children’s television series, “Sesame Street,” and the new Seth Rogen-produced revival of “The Muppet Show,” on which Freeman recently performed with celebrity guest Sabrina Carpenter.
Freeman, who also teaches children’s media in UT San Antonio’s film and media studies program, brought together students from both programs to produce a short comedy film that launches a fundraising campaign for dramatic arts.
Film students and alumni shot, crewed and edited the film, and dramatic arts students performed alongside Freeman and his excitable puppet, “Eugene,” which claims to live under the seats of the Buena Vista Theater.
Program assistant and student Luke Stout shares Eugene’s passion for the program.
“I chose UT San Antonio because I was excited to help lay the foundation for a theater program that can be a cornerstone of the theater community in San Antonio,” Stout said.
Connect with the program by emailing [email protected], and follow UT San Antonio dramatic arts on Instagram.
The program’s performance of “Little Shop of Horrors” will run from April 9-26.
