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Outstanding Theatre Student of the Years


 

Outstanding Theatre Student of the Year 20 08: Paula Daabach!

Paula Daabach was born and raised in the middle of Scandinavia, in the middle of Sweden, in the middle of the county of Härjedalen, in the middle of Hede village on a small farm in the middle of nowhere. Even more desolate than Fairbanks… (About 500 people in my village, I would guess…and a couple of cows).

She came to UAF because of a skiing scholarship, and decided to be a theatre major and liked it so much that she chose it over skiing.

She developed the burning interest for Costume Design after High School. When her brother got married in 2002 she started to design dresses for the wedding and found what she wanted to do in life. Today she owns three sewing machines which all are in Sweden, which she misses just as much as her family, rifle, cat, car and bow.

She basically never set my foot on a theatre stage before coming to UAF, where she quickly found that there were many things to learn about sound and lighting in addition to costumes and makeup. She loved sound design from the very beginning… “It is easy to listen to a sound and imagine what it will sound like on stage but hard to pick colors for a light plot and know what it will look like on stage.
I love all the aspects of the design because there are so many small details and thoughts behind all those details that meet in a magical world on stage. In costume, lighting and makeup design I love how colors, details, shadows and shapes can create different feelings and completely change things from one thing to something completely different.  I find sound design really interesting because the timing of the sound is very critical, and in films a certain sound effect or music can change the mood immensely. Just watch a scary movie without sound and it isn’t that scary any more. I would love to take a set design class too, just to have some knowledge in all the design aspects of theatre, and I have really enjoyed the scenic painting I’ve been doing so far…”

While at UAF she’s been involved in Oleanna, Three Days of Rain, co-costume and makeup-designed Power Lunch and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (2007) with Fiona Zachel.
Was the hairdresser, makeup helper and one of the sound engineers for Picnic (2007), designed and built the costumes for No Exit and the butoh performance Huis Clos (2007), was co-stage manager with Fiona Zachel for The Two Gentlemen of Verona and helped building some of the costumes.  Designed the costumes for Foreplay and Split (2008), wrote Waiting for Gondolas which was included in the Famous for Fifteen minutes playwright festival and created the costumes for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Outside of UAF, she’s worked on the Nutcracker (2006 and 2007), Alice in the Wonderland-the ballet (2007), served on the running crew for Moscow Circus (2008) and ushered for The Blue Man Group in New York (2008). 

She also wrote and directed “Mr. Feather Boa”; a stop-animation short which won the Fairbanks Film Festival in summer, 2008 which was produced by the “Let’s Make A Movie” class.

  • I asked Paula, who’s maintained an “A” average throughout her college career (while on the ski team, involved in theatre productions, etc) if she had any advice for fellow students – and this was the list of tips she follows and shared:
  • First of all BE ON TIME !! in everything; doesn’t matter if it is to turn in homework, come to meetings or rehearsals. We depend on others in the theatre and to waste other people’s time will only create irritations.
  • Second, save all your projects and homework. They will come in handy later on, since most subjects are so closely connected.
  • Don’t be afraid to try. To do mistakes in a school environment is safe, and you will learn from your mistakes.
  • Try different aspects of theatre, if you are a performer, take design and directing classes, if you are a director or a designer take performance classes.
  • Be on running crew as much as you can, there you’ll learn a lot.
  • Get involved in the Student Drama Association (SDA) and in as many productions around town as you can.
  • Keep and update your portfolio
  • Learn how to say no… (I’m still working on this part myself…)
  • Be creative and don’t let problems stop you, solve them or make a way to work around them if you can.
  • See a lot of other shows (It’s funny and you’ll always learn something new)
Paula has been the recipient of numerous scholarships at UAF, and plans to graduate early – in December, 2008!

 

Outstanding Theatre Student of the Year 2007: Anna Gagne-Hawes!

...Anna Gagne-Hawes in Oleanna.. Anna Gagne-Hawes is the UAF Theatre Departments’ outstanding student of the year. This undergraduate junior, who is a double-major (Theatre and History) came to UAF after being born and raised in Douglas, Alaska after finding she didn’t quite fit in at UAS – and after taking a year to study in France. The Theatre Department (and most others’ I suspect) typically bestows this honor to a graduating student; but Anna’s tremendous level of involvement & high GPA gave her a unanimous victory for the award.
..... You may recognize her from every grouping of Winter Shorts (student-directed one acts) produced over the last two years, was the female lead (Carol) in Oleanna, and will be performing tonight as Rosemary Sidney in Picnic.
..... She began her activist and theatrical career in High School where she wrote for the school paper, was part of the Drama Debate and Forensics team, co-founded the Gay/Straight Alliance and was part of the National Honor Society. While taking a Drama class, her teacher encouraged her; which is when she fell in love with the art and work of the theatre. Anna felt acting in high school was the first time she could see art as a tangible form. “You worked on your skill, you rehearsed it and then you performed and it was always alive and changing, and even through performances this energy was still growing and after the show closed you could reflect on it. You were never really done with the experience. It changed my perspective on learning…” and teaching. Gagne-Hawes teaches a class on base every Saturday to about 6 kids – and she’s been a counselor at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp three years running.
..... Gagne-Hawes also credits The Vagina Monologues as changing her life. After reading the play at 17 and discussing it with friends, she was “made aware for the first time that this was not just words on the page, this was active change being created by telling stories and by opening a dialog.” After producing the play at UAS in 2005, she co-produced a production here this year, where she (and over 20 volunteers) raised over $2000 for the Interior Center for Non-Violent Living. Gagne-Hawes feels “...theatre is a tool to open peoples minds, to put stories out there that maybe not everyone is ready to hear and to relish the everyday. Art is why I get up everyday, but the ability of that art to create positive change, and to craft your own art with that pro-active change is mind, is why I actually leave my house.”
..... When asked how she came to be a Theatre / History double-major; she replies, “I think of it this way. History is the story of all our lives, and theatre is how we tell that story”. When asked how she manages it all; lots-and-lots of coffee.

Outstanding Theatre Student of the Year 2005: Robert "Chip" Brookes III!
Chip Brookes
Photomontage by Kade Mendelowitz
Chip Brookes in: Miss Julie, Water Stealers, Winter Shorts, Oedipus Rex, Twelfth Night, Three Sisters, Lysistrata and Don Juan

.....Robert C. "Chip" Brookes III, Outstanding Theatre Student of the Year 2004-5. Chip was born in Jacksonville, Florida on February 18, 1982, to Robert C. Brookes II and Betty A. Brookes, both of Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was an officer in the U.S. Air Force and Chip moved regularly, growing up in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Alaska, Great Britain, and California. He graduated from high school in Texas in 1999 and returned to Alaska that fall to attend UAF as a theatre major.
.....While a student at UAF, Chip has been involved with 15 theatrical productions, as an actor, director, sound designer and sound crewperson. He has been recognized by his classmates three times with acting awards at annual end-of-school-year banquets. He has also worked professionally with Fairbanks Drama Association, the Palace Saloon & Theatre, and twice with Perseverance Theatre in Juneau. Chip has worked in University and community theatre in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, while on a nine-month exchange program.
.....In September 2005 Chip will begin an MFA acting training program through the University of San Diego and the Old Globe Theatre. He graduates from UAF cum laude, earning a B.A. in Theatre, this May.

Outstanding Theatre Student of the Year 2004: Margaret Bonnell!
Margaret Bonnell

..... Born in Anchorage, Margaret grew up in Fairbanks and graduated from Lathrop High School. She began taking theatre classes at UAF before she left Lathrop, and has been an aspiring entertainer all of her life. An honors student (and Alaskan Scholar), Margaret has been very active in and outside of the University. She took one semester off while touring on the national "Up With People" musical troupe, and another semester as an intern at Perseverance Theatre in Juneau. She has also served as Master Electrician and Assistant Lighting Designer for numerous North Star Ballet productions, including The Nutcracker.
..... Performance credits include Singin' in the Rain, Lysistrata, Palace Theatre Late-Night Cabaret, Aaron and the Magic Bubble and more. Design credits include Panic in the Time of An Insecure God, Cop Out, Captive Audience, Scenes from Mother Courage and The Bear. She's also the female lead in "Water Stealers".
..... After graduating this May, Margaret plans on living in a warmer environment where she can audition with the hopes of performing on a cruise ship to exotic lands! A "quadruple threat" (she sings, dances, acts and designs) we're confident Margaret has only started her exciting career of entertaining others!

© October 7, 2008
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