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“Theater always has been my creative release. I was very involved in theater when I was in high school, and I wanted to continue once I got to Rice.” —Cielo Contreras
My Fair Lady was far from the only college
Dr amat is Per so n ae
show getting off the ground that August, and King was far from the only one trying out. Almost every residential college puts on one show each year, sometimes more, and behind these productions lie stories that are unscripted and improvised. From securing the rights to the script to building the set, every aspect of a production is attacked in less than eight weeks by students who already are busy simply being students. These productions are put on with small budgets and performed in converted college commons to an audience of friends seen daily and people never met. Some colleges produce musicals, others plays. Some of the scripts are student written, others are famous. Students at Baker College have pulled together a Shakespeare work every spring—with one exception—since 1970. BakerShake, as it is known, has become one of Baker’s proudest traditions, permeating its culture to such an extent that the Bard’s portrait now stands permanent watch over the college commons. No matter how big or small a show is, making it a reality is an incredibly intense experience, and the first time around, no one really knows what kind of commitment—in both time and emotion—they are making. There are rehearsals almost every weeknight for half a semester, and for many people, scratching out enough time between class, study, and sleep can sometimes become the most challenging part of a production. By the end, no matter how they got involved or what they were expecting, everyone is doing more than they bargained for.
Actors spend the first rehearsals reading through the script and getting to know the characters, soon afterward breaking into groups to work on characterization and scenes. Finding the core of a character can be one of an actor’s most difficult tasks. “The hardest thing was the full range of emotions,” says Victor Udoewa, a mechanical engineering graduate student who played the lead in BakerShake’s 2004 Othello. “Othello goes through the greatest range of emotions, from such highs to such lows. I didn’t know if I could do it, so that’s why I decided I should. It was a challenge.” Some people play a single bit role and move on. Other people, like Cielo Contreras, search out dramatic opportunities immediately after arriving at Rice, throw themselves in, and never emerge. “Theater always has been my creative release,” she says. “I was very involved in theater when I was in high school, and I wanted to continue once I got to Rice.” From acting to directing, Contreras has taken on a multitude of theater tasks, serving, for example, as both producer and stage manager for Jones College’s spring 2004 musical, Assassins. Fulfilling more than one set of responsibilities is common—directors produce and act, while actors run from the orchestra pit to the stage and back. And although college theater is overwhelmingly an undergraduate game, others in the Rice community can and do join in—graduate students, professors, resident associates, and alumni alike. In My Fair Lady, physics and astronomy professor Paul Stevenson played the part of Colonel Pickering. “He was great to work with,” recalls King,
who played opposite him. “Everyone seemed really comfortable working with him.” Other professors, such as Bill Wilson and Jim Young, both in electrical and computer engineering, do valuable technical work behind the scenes. Unlike other productions, BakerShake almost always calls in an outside director to take the reins, usually an alumnus. But sometimes a professional arrives to teach his craft, such as Alan David, a Royal Shakespeare Company director who traveled from England to Rice to direct 1989’s As You Like It. He was forced to return to England before the show closed because of contract obligations, but Joseph ‘Chepe’ Lockett ’93 remembers a thankful cast calling him across the Atlantic: “He was glowing, we were glowing, and the phone bill was immense.” Lockett, now a Montessori teacher, has been involved in every BakerShake since 1988, including directing 2003’s King Lear. He’s one of the many alums who, as an undergrad, got a first taste with a small acting or technical role and stayed involved either at Baker or other amateur theaters after graduation. Despite the abundant love these people share for the craft, most do not consider taking it on professionally, instead concentrating on completing their degrees. But there are those who decide otherwise. Kevin Brown, alumni director of 2004’s Othello, received his BS in electrical engineering in 2003. Arriving at Rice, he thought, much like his parents, that “art in general was something wonderful that you did on the side.” He can tell you exactly where he was when he realized otherwise: “I was walking through the arch in George R. Brown on the way to Hamman Hall, and it struck me. I actually want to be an actor.” He continued working on his degree, but he admits that it wasn’t his top priority—theater was, consuming more and
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