‘A found family’ through CSUB theatre

50th anniversary student spotlight: Taylor Clark

By California State University, Bakersfield

September 8^th, 2020

“I went to Stockdale High School and I always wanted to do theater,” Taylor Clark said. She remembers watching the live theater performances, but being ‘too shy’ to do it herself.

When she started California State University, Bakersfield, that narrative changed.

While Clark started as an English major, she quickly fell in love with acting after taking acting 101 with Professor Zoey Saba and decided to double-major in theatre, as well.

She entered when she was “really young – kind of lost,” didn’t know what she was going to and didn’t know many people on campus.

Clark spent a lot of time in class and after class talking with Professor Saba, who encouraged her to give acting a try and audition – if she didn’t like it, she’d never have to do it again.

“She was the one who planted the seed and gave me the push I was looking for,” said Clark.

She auditioned and landed every part she auditioned for, including Algernon in “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which she had fun with as a gender bending role, Alma Winemiller from Tennessee Williams’ “Eccentricities of a Nightingale, “The Dining Room” and most recently, “The Who’s Tommy?,” which was the only musical Clark was part of.

“Every single moment of it pushed me towards just totally falling in love with theater and wanting to do it.”

After four to six weeks of rehearsals for the various shows, with the same group of actors, they became a close-knit community. When the productions ended, the stage family would go out to celebrate and eat together.

Now, Clark considers her theatre classmates and CSUB as a ‘found family.’

“I think it’s a really great way to learn how to work as a group, as a team, that you can take anywhere – even an office setting, that’s still applicable,” she said.

Although Clark graduated in May, when she looks back on her time at CSUB, she’s happy she attended.

“I got to save money, I got to spend the rest of the time with my parents that I otherwise would have moved away from and hardly ever saw them. Now, I’m moving across the country, so it’s going to be a lot harder, obviously, to see my family.”

When Clark thinks of CSUB, the word that comes to mind is: family. She notes that it’s “kind of cheesy,” but she really is always going to look back on her years at CSUB very fondly and with a lot of love.

“It was kind of a no-brainer just to go to CSUB,” Clark said.

While there were times she wished she had gone to a bigger university like her friends, she’s glad she chose CSUB. Because of the small-nature, she was able to cultivate closer relationships with her professors and spend more time taking advantage of the office hours and asking questions she needed to.

“I think that was my favorite part,” she said.

Her best friend went to a larger university and didn’t have the same college experience.

“I don’t see any reason not to go to CSUB. It’s affordable, and if you live here, why not? There are so many resources available to you at CSUB that a lot of people don’t take advantage of. You can get a lot of great one-on-one opportunities with your professors, and I think that the ‘small’ aspect of it is really one of CSUB’s greatest assets that you can really use to your advantage,” she added.

As Bakersfield-native, Clark says goodbye to CSUB and hello to new opportunities, as she moves to Illinois to pursue her master’s degree in acting. After, she would like to pursue acting professionally, then ultimately would like to teach acting at the college level. She will also be part of an assistantship, where she will be aiding in teaching.

For her, it’s a full-circle moment.

“I feel like I got so much real-world experience from the theater department that is really going to help me moving forward.”

With CSUB’s 50th Anniversary just around the corner, Clark said, “I’m really happy to be part of it.”

“To have even been there for five years is just really cool. It’s something I’m going to look back on fondly and something that I’m going to take with me for the rest of my life,” said Clark.