The Play’s the Thing
July 21, 2011 | Posted in Student ProfilesJessica Drake ’11 hasn’t written the next act of her life yet, but she’s finding an audience for her work. The Northern California student earned an O’Neill National Critics Institute Fellowship during the American College Theatre Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., April 19-23. She attends the annual National Critics Institute in July at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Conn., where she’ll work with leading professional news-paper and magazine critics.
“This is an incredible opportunity to learn from more theater professionals and meet other up-and-coming writers, actors, directors and critics,” she says. “The process has been and will continue to be a valuable challenge and affirmation of my Westmont education and experience.”
Drake fell in love with the theater at Westmont. She’d intended to study English, but that changed her sophomore year when she attended England Semester. 
“I saw and studied some of the best theater being produced in the U.K.,” Drake says. “From Shakespeare to Chekhov to Beckett to Tim Crouch, I learned that the theater was capable of expressing and exploring much more than I ever knew, and I was hooked.”
Drake set out to create an alternative major in dramatic literature, combining her interests in English and theater. “The major balances the academic study of drama and the production of theater,” Drake says. “My double major in English was unintentional — I just couldn’t keep away.”
Fresh from England Semester, Drake decided to take to the stage instead of sit in the seats. She auditioned for “Mueveme, Muevete,” a bilingual play written by Diana Small ’09. “She was a new face to the theater department, but I was impressed by her energy, intellect and confidence,” Small says. “Since then, I have seen Jessie’s work as an actress, director, producer and drama-turge and have never been disappointed.”
Drake landed a supporting role in “Mueveme, Muevete,” served as assistant producer for the Fringe Festival and played the part of Roxy in Tyler Leivo’s ’09 senior project, “Love Me Dead.”
After three semesters of acting courses, Drake appeared in several Westmont produc-tions, including Mrs. Smith/Mr. Martin/Fire Captain in “The Bald Soprano,” Mouth in “Not I (PlayBeckett),” Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth: Unsexed,” and Natasha in “The Proposal (33 Swoons).”
Drake is a founding member of Ratatat Theatre Group, which includes Westmont alumni Casey Caldwell ’08, Nolan Hamlin ’09, Marie Ponce ’10 and Anna Lieberman ’11. “Body/Bach-Min/Max,” their first show, played at Center Stage Theatre last summer. The group revised it, renamed it “Roses” and performed at Fishbon in March.
Besides acting, Drake explores the fields of playwriting, directing, dramaturgy and producing. She wrote and directed her first play, “24 Circles,” for the 2010 Fringe Festival. Her one-act play, “The Place Before,” was selected for the Center Stage Theatre’s Aspiring Female Playwrights Workshop in 2010, where it received a staged reading. She co-produced Westmont Fringe 2010 and produced Fringe 2011 this year.
As a dramaturge, she worked with Lit Moon Theatre Company on its production of “The Wonderful Adventures of Nils” and Westmont’s production of “Servant of Two Masters,” where she directed the pre-show carnival. “I really enjoyed creating a new way for the audience to enter the world of commedia dell’arte,” she says. “I recruited talented circus-types from Westmont — acrobats, jugglers, stilt-walkers, unicyclists, and musicians — to put on a carnival that captured the spirit of Italian commedia. It was an incredibly fun project for me to direct and dramaturge, and I think the audience and cast enjoyed it too.”
Her work as a theater critic began her freshman year in a literature course and continued through her studies abroad. “Spoiled with a play a day in England, I was hungry for more theater when I got back to Santa Barbara, but I was too broke to pay for the meal,” she says. “One way to get free tickets is to review the shows. So I applied to work with the Santa Barbara Independent, where I got a job as a freelance reviewer.”
This experience writing theater reviews led to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival last February in Los Angeles for the Region VIII Critics Institute, where she won first place. The next stop was the national competition in Washington, D.C.
“We wrote and edited our reviews and met with professional critics from media such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, NPR and American Theatre Magazine,” she says. “It was an incredibly challenging week, and I learned a lot about the profession and improved as a writer.
“Whatever path unfolds for me, I know that I belong in the theatre and that my education at Westmont has prepared me for what comes next.”
Blondell Racks Up Another Indy Award
June 9, 2011 | Posted in Alumni, Arts at Westmont, Campus News, Faculty and Staff, Press Releases
"The Wonderful Adventures of Nils" (photo by Brad Elliott)
The Santa Barbara Independent honored John Blondell, Westmont theater arts professor, and James Connolly, Westmont adjunct instructor of music, with Independent Theatre Awards June 6 for their work in Lit Moon Theatre’s “The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.” Blondell directed the show, Connolly wrote the original music score. Marjatta Kuivasto also won an Indy for set design. The 19th annual Indy Theater Awards, which recognize excellent work done in the local region, were held at the Santa Barbara Club.
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Double Toil, Trouble in Fast-Paced Macbeth
Five female Westmont students perform a stripped-down, fast-paced version of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” Friday, Dec. 10, and Saturday, Dec. 11, both at 8 p.m. in Porter Theatre. The play is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first come, first-served basis.
Mitchell Thomas, associate professor of theatre arts, directs a contemporary version of the 400-year old play, which includes modern dress and a stage completely surrounded by the audience. Thomas’ version highlights the psychological and physiological journey rather than the gore of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play.
“One of the results of cutting down the text to under an hour is that the audience will have no time to rest,” Thomas says. “It should be quite a thrilling ride for anyone who wants a guaranteed front row seat to experience talented undergraduate actors exploring this great and unsettling text.”
As an acting teacher, Thomas says he could spend infinite time delving into this rich text. “With the exception of Hamlet, Macbeth may have the most recognizable speeches, scenes and characters in the canon,” Thomas says.
With an all-woman ensemble, each actress plays a weird sister, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth and other characters in the course of the hour-long, un-sexed performance.
“All human beings have the potential for both the sacred and the profane,” Thomas says. “Rotating the characters from actress to actress may have the effect of uncovering the universal quality in their actions. What makes this a tragedy is watching these characters make choice after choice that leads to their physical destruction and moral disintegration.”
For more information, please call Beth Whitcomb at (805) 565-7140.
Westmont Dancers to Explore ‘Sacred Spaces’
November 5, 2010
The Westmont Windancers 
The Windancers, Westmont’s student dance company, depict several biblical stories while exploring various spaces in and around Porter Theatre Friday, Nov. 19, and Saturday, Nov. 20, at 8 p.m. Tickets to “Sacred Spaces,” which are $5 for students/seniors; $10 general admission, can be purchased at the door or reserved through Beth Whitcomb at (805)565-7140.
Director and choreographer Erlyne Whiteman says “Sacred Spaces” reflects the creation and fall in Genesis, the Annunciation to Mary in the New Testament, the visit of the Magi and shepherds, and the illumination of the light of the world.
“I was inspired during a time of inner reflection regarding faith issues,” says Whiteman, associate professor of theatre arts. “The Windancers are experiencing their own faith-related issues. If we could explain all of these issues with words, we would not be dancers. Thus, we express our creativity, joy, pain, sorrow and light through movement and metaphor.”
Music for the concert is inspired by selections for the upcoming Westmont Christmas Festival and American music composer Philip Glass. Set design and costumes have been created with help by Bob Hamel and Miller James respectively.
‘EARTH STOOD STILL’ DIRECTOR TO LEAD TALK
November 2, 2010
Scott Derrickson, writer and director of “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” and director of “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” speaks about his life and work following a free film screening of “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” at Westmont’s Porter Theatre Friday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. The Reel Talk event, co-sponsored by the Westmont Theater Arts Department, the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts and the campus pastor’s office, is free and open to the public. Derrickson will also speak in chapel about working as a Christian horror director Nov. 5 at 10:30 a.m. in Murchison Gym. Mitchell Thomas, associate professor of theatre arts, will moderate the Reel Talk discussion with Derrickson after the screening about the development, production, and vision of “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.” “This forum will provide a more informal and intimate setting to hear from Scott,” Thomas says. “It will be wonderful for anyone interested in screenwriting, directing, the entertainment industry or the intersection of popular culture and Christianity.” “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” (2005) chronicles the haunting trial of a priest accused of negligence resulting in the death of a young girl believed to be possessed. The film, inspired by true events, stars Laura Linney as the lawyer who takes on the task of defending the priest (Tom Wilkinson) who performed the controversial exorcism. “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” starring Keanu Reeves, opened in North America December 2008 and amassed a gross revenue of more than $230 million. Derrickson’s current projects include directing an adaptation of Dan Simmons’ “Hyperion” and “The Fall of Hyperion” for Warner Brothers. He is also slated to direct Spyglass Entertainment’s “Hercules: The Thracian Wars,” Lakeshore Entertainment’s supernatural suspense thriller “The Living” and Spooky Pictures’ remake of the Danish thriller “The Substitute.” Derrickson, a Biola University graduate, earned his master’s degree in film production at the University of Southern California. For more information, please contact Beth Whitcomb at (805) 565-7040. For directions to campus and Porter Theatre, please visit www.westmont.edu.
Servant of Two Masters’ Dishes Out Laughs
October 13, 2010 
Reyn Halford and Heather Ostberg star in "The Servant of Two Masters." Reyn Halford and Heather Ostberg star in "The Servant of Two Masters." The Westmont Theater Arts Department, armed with swords and masks, begins the fall season performing “The Servant of Two Masters,” Carlo Goldoni’s commedia dell’arte masterpiece Oct. 22-23, 28 and 30 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 30 at 2 p.m in Porter Theatre. Tickets, $5 for students and $10 for adults, can be purchased at (805) 565-7140. A street festival begins a half hour before the show on the patio outside the theater. Mitchell Thomas, associate professor of theatre arts, directs Goldoni’s play, which has been adapted by Constance Congdon. “This play has it all: sword fighting, masks, mistaken identities, romance, onstage live musicians, song, dance, passion, and disaster all rolled into a delightful farce,” Thomas says. “We are in search of the belly laugh, and we hope that our audiences will have a really, really good time with us.” “The Servant” is a dramatic departure from last year’s exploration into absurdist theater, for which Thomas earned an Indy Award as director of “The Bald Soprano.” “After a fantastic but dark season last year, I wanted to start this year off with a performance that would unleash joy and laughter, and work from a place of pleasure and abandon,” Thomas says. “I’ve also been working with students in acting classes on clown and physical comedy and wanted to give them a vehicle to develop as comic performers.” The cast includes seniors Heather Ostberg and Nolan Hamlin, juniors Reyn Halford and Felisha Vasquez, sophomores Sam Martin and Jackie Dressler, and first-year students Ben Offringa, Paige Tautz, Chris Wagstaffe, Mak Manson and Micah Sapienza. It’s the premiere production of Robert Hamel, Westmont’s new full-time professor in theatrical design and technology. Hamel has developed the pre-show carnival with dramaturge Jessie Drake ’11, allowing the audience to experience the improvisational street performance atmosphere in the commedia tradition of Italy during the mid16th century.
Theatre Professors Honored at 2010 Indy Awards
May 24, 2010
‘Our Town’ Features Westmont Faculty, Alumni
February 24, 2010
Several prominent Westmont faculty and alumni are featured in Santa Barbara Theatre’s production of “Our Town” Feb. 25-26 and March 5-6 at 8 p.m. and March 6-7 at 2 p.m. at the Lobero Theatre, 33. E. Canon Perdido St. Tickets range in price from $20-$95.50 and can be purchased by calling (805) 963-0761 or visiting lobero.com.
The performance of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, features Westmont theatre arts professor John Blondell, who directs the play, and Mitchell (McLean) Thomas, who plays George Gibbs. Ensemble members include Anna Lieberman ’11, Casey Caldwell ’08 and Kate Paulsen ’05. Elaine Galang ’11 is the assistant stage manager. Blondell, known for his avant-garde directing, says in this case he hasn’t played fast and loose with the text. “I’m trying to really play the play,” he says. “At the time of its writing ‘Our Town’ was a radical kind of drama. It has become identified as a traditional American drama, but there are so many theatrical aspects to it — a wonderful sense of shifting space and time, which I love to play with. It also has themes of what are we doing here and thinking of eternity, and when you put it together with a great cast, it’s a rich opportunity for me.”
Thomas says that producing “Our Town” with professionals from our town has been very community building. “It’s been a fantastic experience delving into this funny, haunting and beautiful play,” he says. “Liviu Ciulei says that a classic is a classic because it is modern, and I think audiences will be deeply impacted by the production.”
Independent Names Blondell
A Local Hero
November 30th, 2009
John Blondell
The Santa Barbara Independent has named John Blondell, Westmont theater arts professor and artistic director of Lit Moon Theatre Company, a 2009 Local Hero. The weekly publication describes Blondell as a theatrical visionary. “In addition to producing innovative shows both in Santa Barbara and at theater festivals around the world, Lit Moon has become the sponsor of a series of Shakespeare and world theater festivals that bring to Santa Barbara outstanding examples of physical theater from places as far afield as Belgium, Prague, Finland and Macedonia,” the Independent says.
Blondell, who has been teaching at Westmont since 1991, has brought an international perspective to theater, and Lit Moon has enriched theatrical offerings with cutting-edge, avant-garde performances. His World Shakespeare Festival in Santa Barbara is the first of its kind in the nation and one of only seven in the world.
His directing work has been seen in Bulgaria, Scotland, Canada, Poland, Czech Republic, Montenegro, and Macedonia. Blondell earned a doctorate in dramatic art from UC Santa Barbara. He has received six Independent Theatre Awards, a 1994 Robby Award and the 2003 Faculty Research Award from Westmont.
For more information about the Independent’s Local Heroes 2009, please visit: http://www.independent.com/news/2009/nov/25/independents-local-heroes/
Mondern Dance at Westmont Takes on the Myth of Pandora
November 19, 2010
Beauty Bomb,” a creative combination of dance and theater, explores the ancient Greek mythology about Pandora, the first woman, Nov. 19-21 at 8 p.m. in Westmont’s Porter Theatre. General admission is $10, $5 for students and seniors. For tickets or more information, please call (805) 565-7040.
Lila Rose Kaplan, Westmont theater arts instructor, directs the play that was written by Westmont alumna Diana Small ‘09. “The play examines issues of curiosity, fashion and what it means to be a woman today,” Kaplan says.
Jenny April Kaplan is guest choreographer for “Beauty Bomb,” which features first-year students Felisha Vasquez and Kelsey Knox; sophomores Kelsey Kasten, Misha Matsumoto and Emily Auman; juniors Hannah Rae Moore, Rachel Nesseth, Megan Juliot and Jasmine Guerrero; and seniors Marie Ponce and Laurie Niesen.
Lila Rose Kaplan, who teaches playwriting and mentors undergraduate playwrights at Westmont, earned a master of fine arts degree at the University of California, San Diego, where she studied with Naomi Iizuka.
'She'll Go On'
October 20, 2009
Laurie Niesen Senior Theatre Student to give Dramaturgy onThe Bald Soprano
Westmont senior Laurie Niesen uncovers playwright Eugéne Ionesco’s attack on linguistic meaning during a lecture, “I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On: Theatrical Modernism and Mitchell Thomas’ Staging of Ionesco’s the Bald Soprano,” Friday, Oct. 23, at 3:30 p.m. in Porter Theatre. Niesen has been working as dramaturge and production research assistant for The Bald Soprano, which is being performed Oct. 22-24, 29-31 in Porter Theatre. Thomas, who directs the play, will speak at the lecture, as well as John Blondell, Westmont theatre arts professor.
Niesen says she hopes to demystify the play by exploring its relevance to contemporary time. “My ultimate goal is to open up conversations about the play that consider why humans, and in particular Christians and Americans, struggle with Ionesco’s iconoclastic view of linguistic meaning,” she says.
THOMAS AIMS FOR LAUGHS IN BALD SOPRANO
October 22, 2009 
A rotating cast of eight actors perform Eugéne Ionesco’s brilliantly funny farce “The Bald Soprano” Oct. 22-24, 29-31 in Westmont’s Porter Theatre at 8 p.m. General admission is $10, $5 for student and seniors.
“Most of the actors are playing multiple roles and each performance will feature a different combination of actors playing a different combination of roles,” says Theater Arts Professor Mitchell Thomas, who directs the play. “Essentially, no two performances will be alike so audiences will be able to come again and again to re discover the play as the actors perform it fresh each time.”
Ionesco’s play, which was originally premiered in 1950, has undergone a new translation by American playwright Tina Howe.
“Ionesco described this play a tragedy of language as the characters lose their ability to communicate with one another and are literally reduced to sound and fury in the final scene,” Thomas says. “In the play, language is the only vehicle for character due to the absurdist and contradictory structure of the piece. I speak, therefore I am. When speech devolves or is lost, what is left? In an age of Twitter, sound bites, email, and Facebook, I think the question of how we communicate and whether we are really saying anything at all is incredibly relevant, and happens to also be funny in Ionesco’s play.”
Thomas recently appeared in the roles of Othello and Isabel in a fusion of Othello/Measure for Measure directed by Lilia Abedjieva of the Bulgarian National Theatre. His recent directing projects have focused on the generation of new plays, working directly with playwrights. His last production of “Muéveme, Muévete” was an original bilingual site-specific piece written by a playwriting student. But for the first fall performance Thomas wanted to direct a lighter play.
“I was looking to do something that would be a rollicking good time for audiences,” Thomas says. “This play is fantastically funny and has been hilarious to work on in rehearsals. What's brilliant about Ionesco, though, is his ability to make us laugh even as the play contains an undercurrent of fear and desperation in the lives of the characters.”
The cast features first-year actors Sam Martin, Spencer Fox, and Shawnee Witt; sophomore actress Brittany Chaco; junior actresses Jessie Drake, Jessica Papp and Hannah Rae Moore; and senior actress Marie Ponce.
“I have been heavily influenced by time theory in my concept of the play and the casting and performance concept reflects those ideas,” Thomas says. “I hope audiences laugh themselves to tears and enjoy the opportunity to witness one of the seminal works of a brilliant and rarely performed modern master playwright.”
Director Discusses Staging Show in Balkans
September 17th, 2008
John Blondell, Westmont theater arts professor, reveals how he developed and directed a world premiere play last summer in Macedonia at a free lecture, “Another Fool in the Balkans,” Friday, Sept. 18, in Westmont’s Porter Theatre at 3:30 p.m.
Blondell will discuss how he co-wrote “An American Tune” with Jeton Neziraj, artistic director of the National Theatre of Kosovo in Prishtina, and staged at the Bitola National Theatre in August. The play is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel, “The Great Gatsby.”
“When the rights to the novel proved too difficult to obtain,” Blondell says, “Jeton and I wrote a show inspired by the novel. The talk will discuss this labyrinthine past, how I came to write most of the show, and some of the cross-cultural and aesthetic challenges of its staging in Macedonia this past summer.”
Global Theatre Recognized for Local Performance
October 20, 2008
Lilia Abadjieva works with actors in rehearsal for "Measure for Measure/Othello."
The Lit Moon World Shakespeare Festival, led by artistic director and Westmont theater professor John Blondell, earned two Indy awards at the 2009 ceremony hosted by the Santa Barbara Independent. The annual theater awards recognize excellent work done in the local region.
Lilia Abadjieva received an award for her direction of the Lit Moon and Westmont co-production of “Measure for Measure/Othello,” which blended the two political plays into an expressive new work. Abadjieva, a distinguished Bulgarian director, was an artist-in-residence at Westmont in the fall of 2008. She worked with Westmont students, alumni and theater department chair Mitchell Thomas to develop the play.
Finnish actress Nina Sallinen won for her one-woman performance of “Poor, Poor Lear” in Westmont’s Porter Theater. She portrays an aging actress who chooses “King Lear” as her farewell performance.
A third play associated with the World Shakespeare Festival also took home honors. Irwin Appel of the University of California, Santa Barbara, theater department accepted an award for his direction of “The Winter’s Tale.”