The Guest Artist Experience - Theatre

Guest artists are a constant presence in the Kinder HSPVA Theatre Department. They bring their expertise in a wide range of formats, from teaching one-time masterclasses to supplementing the classes provided by the full-time faculty and even guest directing certain productions. Students Colin Mee (Theatre ’22) and Nicholas Lam (Theatre ‘22) shared their experiences as underclassmen with three particular guests: Alley Theatre Resident Acting Company member Dylan Godwin, acting coach and prominent Houston actor Susan Koozin, and Head of Stage Management at the University of Houston Rachel Bush.

In the Theatre Department, underclassmen work to develop their foundational acting and technical theatre skills in order to prepare them for success as upperclassmen. In the meantime, even as underclassmen, they are still able to take part in the mainstage productions by “shadowing” different backstage positions, like being a part of the crews in the costume shop or scene shop. University of Houston professor Rachel Bush taught a class on stage management. Colin, a freshman at the time, said, “She was very insightful and actually inspired me to want to stage manage for a show, which I ended up doing later in the semester… I’m very grateful for that.” 

This last spring, guest acting coach Susan Koozin taught three acting classes for the students. Nicholas said she guided them on “an exploratory lesson” on “finding our characters in our body.” The students had to mimic their scene partner’s walk, from posture, pace, etc. Koozin also watched the students’ modern classic scenes. As freshmen, students are assigned a scene and scene partner to apply their technique and skills from the entire year. As sophomores, they take a yearlong scene study course, exploring contemporary and modern classic texts. With scene studies, the students are able to experiment and apply what they’ve learned.

For the underclassmen, a year of hard work culminates in the Lower Level Theatre Showcases in May. Sophomore Nicholas Lam worked on Valhalla, a play that follows the parallel stories of two characters, King Ludwig of Bavaria and the fictional James Avery, as they grew up and learned to deal with their emotions. Nicholas said of the experience, “It was a challenge in learning to deal with two separate time periods… from costumes to lighting to the mannerisms of people and acting.” Guest artist Dylan Godwin worked with the students, giving notes on characterization for the play’s time period. Freshman Colin Mee said, “Dylan Godwin was a fantastic guest director and definitely helped me with my directing skills that I will hopefully be able to use in the near future.”

Colin said that “although they know we are students, they are so used to working with adult professionals that they treat us as such.” These incredible guest artists allow the students to gain expertise in their art, inspiring them along the way.