Read Spunk Program - California Shakespeare Theater

hear their own voices, and about bringing out
students’ capacities to hear and understand
the voices of the wider world they live in.
Says Wright, “it’s important to fi nd a balance
between serving myself and serving others. As
an artist, I get to pursue my passion, and as
a teacher, I get to inspire others to fi nd their
own passion. I get to have it all.”
If the path to becoming a teaching artist
seems a bit, well, muddy, that’s because
it is—there are no credential systems or
professional programs; no training path with
agreed-upon standards and qualifi cations; and
very few offi cial organizations for support and
further training. As the value of arts education
continues to diminish in the eyes of politicians
and the public, and teachers become ever
more marginalized in terms of pay and
respect, this kind of career is self-created,
and the people who choose it are so strongly
motivated that they will work freelance, with
no guarantee of work from month to month,
without health insurance, with low pay, with
hours of preparation in addition to actual
classroom time, and with little support from
the fi eld. At Cal Shakes, we are proud to help
these important educators at many points
along their paths. Vince Rodriguez is one of
our youngest teaching artists—he participated
in our 2010 Professional Immersion Program
as an education intern, spent two summers
leading groups in our Summer Shakespeare
Conservatories, and has been a lead teacher
in various Cal Shakes residencies for the past
nine months. “Nowhere in my college theater
training was it said that I would have to do
fi ve or six different kinds of jobs to make ends
meet,” Rodriguez admits, “but I’d love it all to
be teaching gigs.”
All arts practice requires a deep exploration
of self, and the willingness to risk that
exploration. “The fact that you show up to
work knowing that people are watching you,
emulating your habits,” says Rodriguez,
“is a huge motivating factor to be the best
person that you can possibly be. Most of
the kids that we serve won’t go onstage
as a career, but learn to carry themselves
with pride, to take everything with their
name and reputation on the line seriously.”
That may seem a bit heavy, but every time
students and teaching artist alike explode in
CONTINUED ON PAGE 20.
“It’s important to fi nd a
balance between serving
myself and serving others.
As an artist, I get to pursue
my passion, and as a teacher,
I get to inspire others to fi nd
their own passion.”
ELENA WRIGHT IN THE
VERONA PROJECT; PHOTO
BY KEVIN BERNE.
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