Scene stealers: Theater students rock festival

By California State University, Bakersfield

February 27^th, 2024

By the time California State University, Bakersfield's Theatre for Young Audiences troupe presented the last of dozens of performances of the heartwarming play “Carmela Full of Wishes” in December, they had reached scores of children on a triumphant tour of local schools and were ready to take what they thought were their final bows. But apparently local schoolchildren were not the only audiences enchanted by the performance.

A representative of the pre-eminent theater festival for college students also caught “Carmela Full of Wishes” and invited the students to perform a scene from the play at the regional Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, a rare and prestigious opportunity in the highly competitive collegiate theater world.

“We were over the moon,” said Dr. Amy Ressler, director of Theatre for Young Audiences, which has taken the magic of the performing arts to elementary schoolchildren for over 30 years. “The audience at the festival absolutely loved it.”

But the impressive showing by CSUB’s Theatre Department at the festival earlier this month did not end there. Faculty member Mendy McMasters and student Brizna Fregoso — a performer in “Carmela Full of Wishes" — received awards for co-directing a one-act play at the festival, held this year at Glendale Community College in Southern California.

“Directing is new to me and I’m like, ‘Should I?’” said Fregoso, 22, who will graduate from CSUB with a theater degree in May. “I’m so glad I did. At CSUB, our theater professors challenge us to show us what we can do. And that’s what theatre is all about: believing in each other and yourself.”

Ressler and McMasters took eight students to the festival, which featured workshops, performances and opportunities for students in all aspects of theater, from writing and performing, to directing and stage management. This year, the students’ registration fees were paid with support provided by Dr. Alicia Rodriquez, acting dean of the School of Arts and Humanities.

McMasters and Fregoso worked with UCLA student playwright Anna Watts on her one-act “The Feminine Urge to Disappear,” which follows two women — played by Makena Bennett and Victoria Chung — who encounter their boss at a coffee shop after filing a sexual harassment claim against him.

McMasters was asked to direct the 30-minute production, but she knew her teaching schedule would not allow her to stay for the entire run of the festival, so she asked Fregoso to step in as assistant director. In all, the team had just six hours of rehearsal time spread over three days.

“Brizna is so open and kind and ready to help,” said McMasters, who has been at CSUB for more than 20 years. “So many students think of themselves as, ‘I’m an actor,’ or ‘I’m a playwright.’ But Brizna loves theater and just want to be a part of it. She’s been exploring that and hasn’t landed in one place. So I thought that it would benefit her to see what an assistant director does and step up. And she did!”

‘Probably my favorite show’

In the “Carmela Full of Wishes” scene, which opened the festival, Fregoso performed two roles (Mami and Grandma). Joining her were her CSUB castmates Gissela Zelaya (Carmela) and Nathan Barron (Miguel) as well as stage manager Jocelyn Torres. Ressler directed, shortening a 50-minute play to a 10-minute scene without losing the heart of the story that follows 7-year-old Carmela and her brother, Miguel, as they explore their neighborhood while missing their father, who has been deported.

Ressler said the “Carmela” performance was the emotional highlight of the four scenes selected to open the festival.

“We were the last to perform, which is great because some of the other pieces were dark, with heavy, heavy ideas and the very last thing is this light, happy, delightful childlike piece,” she said. “It’s not always easy for adults to play children, but the actors in this scene just knocked it out of the park. Gisella has this sense of naivete that shines. It’s probably my favorite show I’ve taken on the road because it’s so relevant to the children of the Central Valley.”

McMasters echoed her colleague.

“How wonderful for these young people in local schools to see characters who are like them, talk like them, understand their problems to be performed in front of them,” she said. “It can be pretty magical to make that connection to the arts and their humanity,” she said.

But the children are not the only ones who benefit from Theatre for Young Audiences. The program is a semester-long odyssey for CSUB theater students, who build the sets, prepare the costumes and other pre-production work during the first weeks of the course before the tour of local elementary schools begins. They do nearly 30 performances per semester, many back-to-back, reaching about 300 children per show.

“It’s wonderful for our majors to get a chance to be part of a long-running production,” McMasters said. “Usually, the performances are one to two weeks. But with Theatre for Young Audiences, you get a chance to be in a show day after day, when you’re not feeling well, when you’re tired, when you don’t want to. But you get the time to grow a character, to create a character and sustain it over time.”

Fregoso ruefully recalled rising to go on the road with the “Carmela” tour as early as 5 a.m.

“I told Amy that I’m not a morning person, so I’m very sorry if I get angry or something,” Fregoso said with a laugh. “But it’s the children that give us the drive and energy to go to more schools and bring more joy to children. That’s what I love about CSUB theater. You can tour as an actor, you can do a musical, be a playwright or stage manage, which is what I like to do, behind the scenes. I feel like a little ghost in the theater.”

Fregoso saw her first productions in the center of the universe for theater: Broadway. The daughter of an active-duty military member, she was given the chance to see productions like “Wicked,” “Beetlejuice” and “Aladdin,” thanks to support from the USO.

She began her journey at CSUB remotely from New York during the pandemic, arriving in Bakersfield for in-person classes her sophomore year. She hopes to pursue a graduate degree in theater management at Cal State Long Beach and own her own theater company one day. The connections, workshops and awards from the festival should help get her to the next step, McMasters said.

“Brizna made connections with this amazing playwright for the show we won the award for,” McMasters said. “To allow students to go to the festival and share their art with a larger community is important for their learning, their self-esteem, and their resume as they continue to build their careers in the theater.”

McMasters and Ressler see firsthand the impact their classes have on the development of their students, and not just theater majors.

“Every student should take a theater class,” McMasters said. “They need to understand how they come across to others. I know you’ve sat in a meeting and thought, wow, this person has no idea how they’re coming across. In theater, we study human nature, and we study it from the inside out. We ask, ‘Why does this person act the way they do? Why do they make that choice? Oh, they see the world differently than I do.’ We can all learn from that."

Next up: ‘The River Bride’

Next up for CSUB theater is a production of “The River Bride” by Marisela Treviño Orta, directed by CSUB theater chair Mandy Rees.

Based on Brazilian folklore, “The River Bride” is a tale of true love, regret and two sisters who struggle to be true to their hearts. Three days before a wedding, a handsome and mysterious man is fished from the Amazon River sending everyone's plans into upheaval in this riveting fable about the complexities of love.

The play will be formed at 7:30 p.m. March 7, 8 and 9, and at 2 p.m. March 10 at the Dore Theatre at CSUB.

Tickets are $12 general admission, $10 for seniors (60+) as well as CSUB faculty and staff, and $7 for students. Advance tickets are available through Eventbrite starting two weeks prior to the event. The box office opens one hour before showtime.