Going All In...

School hasn’t even begun yet, but the brand new Ground and Field Theatre Festival (GFTF) is already under way! In most programs actors are often just taught how to audition or worse… act. And if you’ve been involved in the arts ever in your life, you’ve certainly wondered “Will this make me money?” or thought “I totally don’t know what I am doing”, or even contemplated where to pitch your homeless tent (you might get discovered on an LA sidewalk). But this is Davis we’re talking about. Whoever came up with this idea of a new works festival must’ve thought “What better way to prepare green, burgeoning artists for college afterlife than by giving them the chance to learn and engage in building a play or a musical from its roots?” ​

In our playground the games are fun, the laughter is loud, the sweat is real and the warm-ups are just the start! At the GFTF intensive, we have the opportunity to produce and develop fourteen plays and musicals that are in-progress alongside their authors. In just our second week we are gaining so much knowledge about what it means to be a well-rounded performer and theater enthusiast because our directors have helped us feel like we are part of a conservatory.

Whether some of us only saw ourselves as actors or have had additional interests, we aren’t just learning how to put a show together (duh, that’s easy), we are learning how to create theatre alongside the many ebbing and flowing processes that happen before a work can be produced. Many popular Broadway plays and musicals have gone through this exact process, and how many people can say they’ve developed a Broadway hit before it ever saw a stagelight? (Um, we hope it’s us.) That’s literally like life’s only goal. Then we’ll go live on that LA sidewalk.

If our learning experience thus far is any indication to how successful this new works festival will be, we’re excited for what future graduating classes will learn and accomplish as our Ground and Field Theatre Festival continues to develop. 

Brandon during morning practice.

Angelita and Rose practicing Viewpoints.

Angelita Sanchez

Saludos, soy Angelita Sanchez, a third-year double Theatre and Dance and Chicano Studies Major who hopes to storytell professionally one day. 

Brandon Thomas

I'm Brandon, a senior Theatre and Dance major at UC Davis who plans on acting and writing in my college afterlife.