Wake Forest Magazine, September 2004 - Past Issues - Wake ...

Nick Kinder (’01) came to Wake
Forest as a pre-med student, ended up
majoring in theatre and is now in nursing
school. In his first semester, Kinder
was cast in Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love.
“After meeting the theatre people and
finishing a terrific run, I knew there was
no chance I would be able to concentrate
on organic chemistry. I was hooked,”
Kinder said from his home in New
York City, where he is a student at the
Columbia University School of Nursing.
“The typical college experience is about
Kinder said. “As an actor, I’ve learned
how to identify with people who have
had vastly different life experiences
from my own in order to portray them
as living and breathing entities on
stage. That empathy and compassion
comes across in the care I provide.”
Friedenberg said that typically about
one-third of theatre students enter different
careers, like Kinder, and use theatre
as their avocation. Another one-third
go on to graduate school in theatre, and
the last one-third try their hand at acting
keep a paper copy of the schedule with
you at all times,” Haden said. “We also
have a phone line we call in every day
generally before we go to sleep that
gives us information about costume
fittings, about rehearsals, what’s going
on with performances. You can always
call if you get lost.”
Haden credits the Wake Forest theatre
program with giving him experience
in all aspects of production, not
just acting. “Figuring out how things
work from all angles has made me a lot
The theatre and dance programs build on each other’s talents and strengths.
finding oneself, and I wholeheartedly
attribute that path of self-enlightenment
to my pursuit of theatre studies at Wake.
As a theatre major, I discovered that I
am ‘self’ and ‘self as part of a whole.’”
Kinder worked a desk job while
auditioning and taking dance classes
in hopes of a theatre career in New
York. But one day the idea of nursing
took hold. “My theatre training has
done more to enhance my nursing
education than I ever could have imagined.
One of the most important concepts
of health care is cultural competency—providing
care that takes into
account the individual’s beliefs, past
experiences, and health perceptions,”
careers. Kyle Haden (’99), who majored
in politics with a minor in theatre, has
done both of the last two options. After
graduating with a master of fine arts in
theatre from Columbia University, he
landed a job in the acting company of
the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in
Ashland, Oregon. The company performs
eleven plays in a span of eight
months, so Haden might be in as many
as three plays at one time. He serves as
an understudy for three others and
performs in seven shows a week.
“They have copious amounts of
schedules that are color-coded about
when you have rehearsal versus when
you have a show. You basically have to
more well-rounded. It’s definitely helped
me appreciate the other areas so I don’t
feel as much like an ignorant actor,”
Haden said. “Out here in the professional
world, you do one thing. You’re
just acting; you’re not building the set.
Some people definitely cop attitudes,
but having an appreciation for the
other jobs helps keep me grounded.”
Some students leave Wake Forest
dreaming of professional work like
Haden’s. Others come in with professional
credits to their name already.
Lee Norris (’04) landed his first professional
job at the age of nine on the
NBC sitcom “The Torkelsons.” He also
appeared as a series regular on ABC’s
18 WAKE FOREST MAGAZINE