USD Magazine, Spring 1999

"When I first started working on

Richard Easton gave you and it pulls you through." Some graduates have taken their Shakespearean training at USD completely to heart. Joanne Zipay '93 founded New York City's Judith Shakespeare Company, a theater troupe dedicated to providing greater opportunities for women in classical the– ater. Zipay, who founded the company in 1995 and directs the performances, requires actors to carefully study and research every word of each Shakespearean production before bringing it to the stage. The result, she says, is better understanding of the works for actors and audiences. "When I first started working on Shakespeare's plays, I didn't realize there were so many resources at hand to decipher them," says Zipay, who in May will direct a gender-reversed version of Julius Caesar. "You can't just take a shot in the dark with these plays. The social and historical context of the scenes and the characters drives the plot. When you know what's at stake, you can truly bring the play to life." Zipay's sense of classical theater is a mantra of sorts for her fellow actors as they thread their way through the MFA pro– gram. They find out about themselves and the work they want to do. They learn about acting from the best teachers, and then sort it out on stage. When it's done right, both the actors and the audience are left in awe. "Acting is about being able to communicate universal truths and about aspiring to make a difference," says Konicek. "When you're an actor, you're influential. People come to hear what you have to say. You provide a forum for discussion of issues and, who knows, maybe even some answers."

Shakespeare's plays, I didn't realize there

were so many resources at hand to deci–

pher them."

ALL THE WORLD'S STAGES National acclaim is also on Seer's mind when he sends the grad– uates into the world of professional acting. Every fall, USD joins with other universities in producing showcase perfor– mances in New York and Los Angeles, where the recent alumni perform for theatre, film and television agents. Some will land work in classical theater, but the professors and actors who teach in the program aren't snobs. They know that the point is to be able to act anywhere, a sentiment echoed by the students. "Who doesn't want to win an Oscar or make a tremendous film that wins awards?" asks Muelder, who understudied Broadway actress Carol Mayo Jenkins on Albee's Women, the counterpart to Albee's Men. "We all want to make a living by acting, and classical training is like playing the piano. If you can play the piano, other instruments come easily. If you learn clas– sical acting, other kinds fall into place. And if you do enough commercial work, you can do all the stage work you want." If success is measured by work, then the 12-year-old U SD/Old Globe program boasts enough alumni in theater, film and television to make the older, more established programs just a little bit nervous. Scott Ferrara, a 1997 graduate who current– ly is playing Octavius in Minneapolis' renowned Guthrie T heater's production of Julius Caesar, says the mentoring he received at USD gives him an edge that helps him land major stage roles. "The training seeps in, so when you graduate you can fall back on this wealth of knowledge," says Ferrara, who performed in the Old Globe's production of Romeo and Juliet last summer. "You go back to the Rolodex of information that actors like

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