TheatreAddict.com - Bakersfield Drama Blog

This is part 4 in a multi-part series of discussions on the state of live theatre in Bakersfield by local thespian and educator Rob Long. It is our shared purpose that this series should inspire dialogue and improvement in the areas discussed and be contructive in nature. You can contact Mr. Long on myspace by clicking the link in his name above. If you would like to publicly contribute to this discussion, feel free to email your thoughts to me at aaron@theatreaddict.com

My senior year of high school I had to enroll in college when I turned 18 in February, so I did my last semester of high school concurrently with my first semester of college. I was living on my own... matter of fact I had to drop my role in the Mousetrap at West in order to get a job. So, since I knew my schedule was going to be pretty tight until I finished High School, I loaded up on Theatre courses at Bakersfield Comunity College in the Spring Semester of '88-'89.

Bakersfield Community College: Then and Now

When I was there, the chair of the theatre department was one Hank Webb. Hank's always been a fascinating character... Vietnam vet... missing part of a thumb... flamboyant, caring... he referred to his students as "My Treasures." He had a gift for education, for the caring rapport that truly develops students into what they want to become. I made some bad decisions in his program- I once wouldn't cut my hair to play a Marine in an update of The Rivals, not because I didn't want to do the part, but because my then girlfriend didn't want me to. Yes, the same girl who convinced me not to go to UCLA. Yeah, I know. Hank knew it was a shitty decision too. But he did what he had to do, and Matt Lindsay replaced me in the role.

Yep, Matt and I were at BC at the same time.

So that's Hank... but under him in the department was a younger professor by the name of Randy Messick. Randy would take the Chair when Hank retired, a couple years after I transferred from BC to CSUB. When I got there, Randy bore a resemblance to David Letterman, and he liked to play on that in class. His class had a lot of improv in it, a facet that I would explore when I auditionned for ComedySportz in March of 1989. He was and is charismatic and likable, such that I auditionned for him for An Enemy of the People. Matt was cast as the protagonist, I as the antagonist, his brother. The cast was entirely made up of students. It was a great environment to learn, explore and grow in. Randy's a great director, great actor, and a fun guy to be around.

Several other people went through BC, as either members of the full time faculty or as adjunct. That's where I met Porter Jamison, Jamie. I took makeup from him, and still have pictures from the class. He directed me in Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, which is where I got my respect for Shepard and for Jamie's direction. Ray Finnell used to be the Technical Theatre teacher out there... now I believe he runs the facility for CSUB, the Dore... Mari Dewitt, costumer extraordinaire... those were the people I knew while I was there... now, Randy is the only element from that time that remains at BC, and as a result, I'm somewhat out of touch with the program.

I know that a mainstay of the BC theatre season is the Kern Shakespeare Festival. It was revived, I believe, shortly before I came to BC. I did only three plays while I was there... two I've already mentionned, the third was Hamlet, part of the KSF, wherein I played Laertes. (sidebar: Opehlia in that production was Mendy Garcia, who now teaches theatre at CSUB... she was both my sister and my girlfriend in plays that year... more on the other when we get to Jamie and BCT...)... KSF has, built into it, the opportunity for the theatre faculty to hire artists from outside the BC community to collaborate, mentor the BC students as it were. When we did Hamlet, Hugh Dignon, the guy who played Hamlet, was a hire from outside the city, as was the woman who played Gertrude, and Tom Hall, who once called Bakersfield home, but was hired from his farm in Ojai to play Claudius. In later years, Peter Cjennas would be hired from the Ashland Shakespeare Festival in Oregon to play Jacques in As You Like It, and also Coriolanus in the play of the same name. Actually, that was the same year _I_ was hired to play Coriolanus' antagonist, Tullus Aufidius...that show was actually a lot of fun... with the exception of the fellow actor being intoxicated and firing the M-16 at me... that wasn't Peter, of course... and the weapon wasn't live. But I still felt the blast of air discharge from the barrel.

In recent years, the guest artist has consistently been Bob Kempf, who also teaches adjunct at both BC and CSUB now, in addition to being Artistic Director of the Empty Space. Auditions for KSF seem to be open to the public, as I recently received the audition notice for this year's slate of plays...

Filling out the roster at BC is the other full time faculty member, Kim Chin. I know very little about her. I've met her a few times, but I haven't been able to get up there to see her work. I hear it's good.

With Ray's departure, so too did the full time tech position depart. I believe they've hired people to fill the job, but never anything on a permanent contract. I don't know if he's still doing the job, but Robert Hourigan has been handling tech duties at BC for several years.

Remember, I'm somewhat out of touch with the program... I'm a tertiary observer, but I did also teach at BC for two years, so I got some word on how they were doing through the grapevine.

State budget cuts have ravaged the program at BC, as they've ravaged many educational programs that the campus sees as nonessential. Schwarzenegger reneged on an $86 BILLION dollar promise to the educational system a couple years ago... then he went after teachers... makes it kinda hard to keep theatre programs afloat without an aggressive business and growth strategy. There's very little money. Positions and classes have been slashed, and it seems to the outside observer that the returns on the theatre program at BC are dwindling.

Last year (Spring of '05), it was rumored that Randy was leaving... actually, the rumor was that he was joining the priesthood... the rumor was serious enough that his job was posted for applicants. Trust me on that one - I know several people who wanted to apply, myself included, and I did speak to the person that flies the job postings regarding the job. Randy reconsidered, however, and stayed with the program. I've since left BC for awhile, and completed my second probationary year at Highland, so now that job isn't as interesting to me anymore...

As a high school theatre teacher, I'm saddened that I have never received any kind of official communication from BC - not announcing a show, not recruiting my kids, nothing. I don't mean to levy criticisms, but I see BC as the great lynchpin to actually generating a strong and healthy theatre community. The kids who don't leave town could be inducted into the BC program, instilled with the values of supporting the community, then being released into the community after their two years in the program... like many of us were back then... but which has atrophied in recent years... Factors have combined to be unkind to the health of BC's program... But it's a vast reservoir of talent and theatrical wealth just waiting to be put back into service...

Of course it's difficult to find the resources... the time, the drive, to properly articulate a full-scale induction program with 16 local high schools, as well as a transfer program with the CSU and UC systems. It's just waiting... for someone with the time... with the drive... with the energy... to actually put some momentum back into that system. It's an uphill battle, but it can be done.

(Next: Porter Jamison, Albert Ochoa, Pyramid and Stone Soup)

-Rob Long

http://www.myspace.com/lightningtempest

longsword@cox.net

July 15th, 2006

posted by TheatreAddict.com  # 3:31 PM