Chico State - Elizabeth Grace Davis

[Music] Welcome to the College Audition Pro's podcast, where we help you get ready, get set, get accepted. My name is Drew Boudreau, the founder of College Audition Pro's, and let's get going. [Music] All right, welcome everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today and watching this video. If you're interested in technical theater programs, my name is Whitney Keater. I'm the head of our tech program at College Audition Pro's. And today, I get to do something really exciting. I'm chatting with Elizabeth Davis from Chico State. Elizabeth, can you introduce yourself? Give us a quick bio. Hi y'all. My name is Lizzie or Elizabeth. I go by Sheeher. I am the assistant professor of costume design and the theater arts coordinator at Chico State. A little bit about me, I have a MFA and costume design from Indian University. And I also have a certificate of continuing education from Cornell and diversity, equity and inclusion. And I came to Chico State in about 2020 as their costume shop manager and costume designer. And when a faculty position opened up as a costume designer, I didn't even think twice about applying. It was such a no-brainer for me to stay and help continue the program that I'd been working on. So I just finished my first year as the theater arts coordinator. So I've now been in Chico for about six years and I absolutely love it. I mean, just to add to that, so a lot of people who are a part of Cap Know that Drew is my fiance, he and I go everywhere together. And I remember in Chico, probably a couple months ago, and I, I mean, listen, I think Drew Boudreau is the number one fan of Chico. Like I think if there was a foam finger, he would carry it around all the time. And so, you know, he and Maddie are very close. Maddie is one of the acting coaches. Is he the head of the department there? He's the head of the MFA. MFA. BFA. There it is. There it is. And so I got to go around and get introduced to everybody. And I just was like, oh my god, this is so fabulous. And the town is fabulous. And the area is fabulous. And I was like, I can't wait to have a conversation with these people and kind of share. I'm from Alabama, so I'm going to say share the gospel of Chico State and just help fabulous the program is. So like, again, Elizabeth, thanks for chatting with me today about this. Thank you for having me. Yeah. So, okay, let me ask you. I'm going to start you off with a question here. Tell me like how big is Y'all's ideal freshman class? For me, I would love our freshman class to sit around like 20 to 25 theater art students. I love a good mix of like acting and performance based students, theater, technical theater students. But I also love our theater education focus students. We have a really great theater, a college of education on campus. And so having future educators in the department is really, I love it. It's insanely important. Like being able to go somewhere and do the thing hands on in a safe place, but also learning how to educate is like, it's a dying breed. And so, I think we need more teachers. We need more people who really do teach this. So I just love hearing that. And again, I just think that Chico is a fabulous place to do it. Tell me about what kinds and how many performances happen in a typical school year. So the short answer is we do five main stage shows a year and about 20 to 25 student lead productions. So our five main stage shows, we do a plan and musical each semester. And then our third show slot, which happens typically around like December right before the holidays. That's not flip flops back and forth between a dance concert and a one acts festival that's directed by students. So five main stage shows there. And then we have three department clubs that produce their own four show show season each year. So on core is our musical theater ensemble group. They do four cabarets each year. Our theater arts club is more acting focused. And they do two 24 hour play festivals in a year, a Shakespeare and a student written work. So very ambitious there. And then our technical theater students each year do with another four shows. And they host a drag show, a Spanish language one act festival. They do a SNL skit style show and then they normally throw something else in there. And then we have all of our other groups on campus that our students are a part of that they bring to us to do shows. So like our gender sexuality and equity coalition on campus. They've done the vagina monologues for the past few years as an annual show. And we also do a drag show. Our musical theater seniors do another like four to six cabarets as a showcase. And then we have a competition style dance club on campus that does another three to four shows. So in short, our students are never bored. There is always something happening. I would say so. Okay, so I feel like we've like checked the box of like, okay, tell me about Jiko State. I want to throw this in there because this is something that I hear so often about Jiko is it being kind of a triple threat in the way that it teaches its students. Now, when we say triple threat, we're typically talking about empty and acting, but even in the technical world. Is there, would you say that there's like this idea at Chico where you guys are preparing them to be just a good human beings who are like aware of what's happening in the world. Can you talk about that? Absolutely. So I think one of the things that we really pride ourselves on is our, our departments cohesive collaborative nature. We sort of start off every freshman class by bringing them into our community agreements as a company. We have a lot of behaviors. We want them to model as artists as a collaborative energy. And also we have a social justice and theater class that specifically focuses on, you know, what is happening in the industry. And also, you know, how to create art that is advocating for you for your peers. How to tell those stories. How to learn how to negotiate contracts that maybe aren't ethical. And how to, you know, you can't really separate art from politics and from ethics. And so we spend a whole semester just sitting in a large group talking about these subjects. Mostly our freshman year. So that way we set them up for the rest of their time here at Chico State. Wow. I just think that that's so important. I mean, you know, technicians were artists as well. Like we are artists and we bring our artistry to everything that we're doing. And so a program that helps a student focus on the kind of human being that they want to be as they're existing in this space is just so important. I feel like that's something that like personally, you know, I've been in this industry for 20, 20 plus years. And I've done it all. I've gotten to work in every single area and it's hard to figure out who you are and how you exist in those spaces without having those conversations. So I just want to favorite things about Chico. It's so funny you use the phrase who you are as a person. So the students, they're very first semester in foundations of drama, get asked a question. You know, who are you an artist as an artist and how do you choose to create art. And they're very first day of classes as a freshman and they wrote out like a paper for me. And I'm thinking about it because I have all of them spread out in front of me for the graduating seniors. I have them rewrite that prompt in pretty much every class that they take with me. So I have graduating seniors that have a stack of four or five of these response papers over their time here. That they get back when they graduate and they can reflect on their journey here. So that reminds me of that. Yeah. I just love that. That makes me emotional because we're just always changing as human beings and you know theater becomes that thing that we base our whole lives around. So being a complete human being as you're going through that is just really important. It's so lovely. Okay, let me ask you another question. So technical theater students. How early can they start working on shows? What are their opportunities like when they start out at Chico? We love to get them in as early as possible. And that can look like employment in our shops that can look like participation in our. We have a US ITT chapter. A club chapter that you know meets every other Friday. So they can start attending those meetings and then we start going to the national US ITT conference. So we would love for them to be involved as early and as often as we can. We also have a practicum requirement, which is students working on our shows backstage. And they do one each semester. their constant. building that resume, that portfolio, and we're preparing them for, you know, our bi-annual portfolio review process that we have here. One of the things I really have stressed as I've stepped into this role as the Theatre B.A. Coordinator is professional development and access to those opportunities. I want them to have a full portfolio package ready to go when they're leaving. I want them to feel confident walking into a summer stock interview. So that starts from day one. Amazing. I mean the goal is to work, right? The goal is to leave the program boots on the ground and you're ready to go. So absolutely. That's just so exciting. Can you give me an overview of what areas of tech a student can study, work on, work in at Chico? Absolutely. So we have our paint shop, our prop shop lighting shop and set like our scene shop. And all of those higher student employees and students can main stage set design, lighting design, prop design, paint charge. We also have stage management. All of our students, all of our stage managers are students. We have a costume shop that also hire students. We have two main stage costume designers next year, which is super exciting. We love to provide those opportunities as much as we can. I think that it would be a rare season not to have at least one-mage stage student designer in each area. So we really try to provide those one we can and the students feel like they're ready for it. Do you find that your tech theater students? And I'm asking this question, knowing part of the answer is that this journey is different for everybody. But do you find that your technical students kind of do they need to focus on one area of tech or does Chico kind of allow them to bounce around and figure out where they really exist and thrive in? We love for them to experience different areas. I think at least for myself when I was an undergrad, I learned so much from spending time in the scene shop. Part of the things that I now love is costume crafts. And I got into that because I learned how to weld. I learned how to, you know, and I want our students to be well-rounded technicians. It's important for them to understand the other areas so you know what's included in their jobs and how you communicate with them. And if that means, you know, spending a semester out of your comfort zone, learning how to build scenic pieces, if you're a costume person, I fully support that. I think that that's so crucial. And I think that we want students to take this time in their lives to explore new things. I mean, it's about learning how to be a collaborator, right? Exactly. Yeah. How do you collaborate if you can't have a conversation with them about even just one simple part of their jobs? I mean, I know for me as a stage manager, I always joke around and say that like, I know a little bit about everything. I'm not the master at it. Y'all are the masters at it, but I can have a conversation with you about it. And it just makes me a better professional knowing how to collaborate in those areas. And we see this modeled even in our faculty and staff, you know, our production manager Carmen. She had like an afternoon free. So she just came to sew buttons in the costume shop and hang out with us. I've met Carmen. She is a joke or not. She is incredible. She was wearing the coolest pair of eyeglasses I have ever seen in my entire life when I met her. I was like, oh, I want to be like, you want to grow up? Mm-hmm. He's amazing. That's so fabulous. I love that. Okay. So let me ask you this. What does it look like for a student to double major minor? Are there study of broad opportunities with Chico? Talk to me about what that looks like. Majors and minors are we we love any sort of level of participation in the department. One of our most active students, I'm going to talk about one Lenin, who just staged the SpongeBob musical for us, has been USIT president is such an active participant in the department is a theater minor. And, you know, I have no idea how he juggles everything. Actually, I do he defended his undergrad thesis and then immediately went to tech like 20 minutes later. So we love for students to be involved at any level that they feel comfortable in or, you know, have capacity for. For study abroad, our university has a ton of relationships with international schools. But we often find that our students are gravitating towards Queen Mary in Scotland because of their relationship with the French festival. So I stayed a lot in both my undergrad and my grad programs. And I'm a firm believer that like our students should take this time in their lives to explore what the world has to offer. You know, not just in trying out different technical theater areas, but going to go see art in different places and learn from people that are beyond, you know, the faculty bubble here. So I love study abroad opportunities. And, you know, the theater be a path lends itself to a flexibility where you can go and take advantage of those opportunities. Yeah, that's I mean, especially French. There have been when I was in New York, there were so many opportunities that I got to take as a professional stage manager because of French. French coming to New York City, those shows making their way. And like, that is such a special club, a special area, a special group of people doing, like, on the ground journalism in theater. If that makes sense, like they are doing the hard work of like creating something that is brave and out there and trying things. And I just think that having the ability to be a part of that at that age is life changing. Absolutely. I couldn't have said it better myself. That's amazing. Okay, let me ask you this. So, I know what the town is like. I know what the pizza is like in Chico. I should say. Thank you to your Boudreau. Tell me a little bit about the area, the town, the community. Our campus is like the most gorgeous, picturesque campus possible. Our new costume shop manager, she just started in January and she said, you know, the first day that the sun was out, she thought that they were filming a video on campus. Because there were so many students like parked out on the lawn underneath gorgeous redwood trees. Students were playing frisbee. It is the most stunning campus I have ever seen. There's a creek that runs through the center of campus, where around the corner from like a 3600 acre municipal park. There's, it's just absolutely gorgeous. But campus also like butts right up next to the downtown Chico area, which makes getting involved in the downtown like art seem really accessible. So you have this like perfect mix in Chico of like the nature side, but also like the downtown area. And whenever students come to tour, we always like to stress, you know, there's Saturday morning farmers markets and there's like a Thursday night arts market. And there's tons of businesses within walking distance. There's like a plant shop and art galleries and coffee shops and restaurants and it's a perfect mix of like the nature and the downtown. Yeah. Okay. He talked to me into it. Drew and I are going to talk to their Maddie's been trying to get us in. I were this close. It just sounds like I know and I've seen it and it's just such a fabulous downtown area. There's something to do, but it doesn't feel dangerous. It feels like, you know, you can go out and have a good night and you're still going to get home and everything's going to be fine and the community seems to be taking care of each other and protecting that little town area right there. Yes. Yeah. It definitely has a small town energy and coming from a Midwest from a small town. Yeah. You know, I was surprised at how it home I felt with that, but at Chico's also large enough, it's like over 100,000 people that I did have not felt crowded, which has really been a surprising adjustment for me. Yeah. Yeah. In a very good way. Yeah. I heard that. It's large enough that you can get just about anything that you need, everything that you need is right there at your fingertips, but it's small enough that you know the people around you, which is just the best feeling in the world. Yeah. Okay. Let me ask you this. What kind of professional opportunities are technical students looking at? So there is a professional theater company in town that was founded by I think two or three of our faculty and an alumni and they do an annual season. A bunch of our faculty, including myself, are on the board of directors, So a lot of our students will audition or work for this company. Legacy stage, I love them. They also host a annual French Festival over Labor Day Weekend, which is, again, they take over the town. It's a huge art scene. It's modeled after the French Festival in Scotland, which is really nice. It gives some students experience with that. So for professional theater companies, I always try to push towards Legacy stage a little bit. Again, I'm a little biased on that. Understandably. But we also have three department trips that I really love to highlight. Our first one is our annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival trip, which we take about 20 to 25 students up to Oregon for a weekend, to take workshops with the OSF crew, to go see art, to go learn about the industry from alumni who are working up there. And then the US ITT National Conference. We've taken 15 students the last couple of years, and we really pride ourselves on spending all year preparing those students. It's not just, you know, a one week trip. We take the whole year meeting every single week to prepare resumes, portfolios, business cards, doing mock interviews, making sure that they feel comfortable, and they're ready to walk into those professional spaces, at peak performance for where their peers are at. And then our musical theater BFA seniors go to New York to showcase in front of casting agencies, talent agencies, industry leaders. I think one of the things that our department really prides itself on is our commitment to equity and inclusion. You know, in this industry, we find that professional development opportunities are often based on the financial capacity of students and their families. This has very much historically been a pay for play industry, where theater jobs are going to folks that can afford to, you know, take summer.contracts that may not pay. And so, yeah. So we've really had this mentality and tried to ingrain it into our students that, you know, we all go on these opportunities or none of us goes. So students are really encouraged to sign up for professional development trips that they feel like will further their education, their professional growth. And then from there, we offset funding with grants and scholarships and fundraising. You know, in the several years that we've done these trips, we've not lost a single student due to financial means. We have always made sure that finances are never a barrier for professional opportunities. And I think that's something that really makes our program special. I would agree with you. I'll throw in my own personal experience with that. You know, I grew up in the deep south, deep south Alabama. Very, you know, we weren't wealthy people at all. And I chose to go into theater. So what a choice. And I remember graduating from college and I was like, oh, I can't afford to be an intern. And that was 20 years ago when this equity inclusion conversation was not a part of it. We were not talking about that. And so I had to formulate how do I get jobs without being an intern. And so having that set of skills, having that baked in as you're thinking about where you want to work out what areas you want to work in, you know, what's the, how much money do you want to be at play when you're working on a show budgetarily, right? So what does that mean for you in getting into those spaces? And financially, how does that affect you? I mean, that's something that we talk about at CAP all the time with our students. We're big on no debt. We don't want you to graduate with a ton of debt. Now, debt is part, and it's a part of it. It's a part of life. Not all debt is bad debt. But if we can keep your costs down so that you can actually work when you leave school where, you know, you're working for three months and then you're off for a month, and you don't have to take those jobs to pay the bills. That's such an important part of this conversation. And so I'm just so thankful that Chico bakes that into their program. Yeah, I completely agree on all of that. Yeah. You should not have to go into debt in order to launch your career. No, especially not in theater. Okay, let me, I'm going to ask you a couple of logistics questions that it's funny when I started working in the college sphere. I was like, oh, I get why people ask that, but I had never thought of it. I'm going to ask you, what's the closest airport? How do people get in and out of town? So the closest airport, I would say, we have like a really small one up and redding, which is about an hour away. There is Sacramento, which is about an hour and 15, depending on how fast you drive. And then we have, you know, San Francisco, which is about three hours away, and I'm talking about three hours, three and a half, same thing with Ashland, Oregon. I, again, I'm from the Midwest. I think everything's a close drive of its under five hours. So it's also just like a straight shot down 99. So it's not like a hard drive. I kind of go on autopilot when I'm doing it. I'm always like to say, it's far enough away that like your parents would have to call before they come. But like, we like that. We like that. Yeah, but close enough that like someone can get to you if there's an emergency. Like it's in that really nice sweet spot. Yeah, that's fabulous. Talk to me about tuition, room and board, what kind of merit talent, A, do you guys offer your students coming in? So I love to send all of the students that have applied to the theater program, information on scholarships. And we get a list of who they are. When scholarships open up in like January, I send them all of the information about the university's Wildcat scholarships, which, you know, you send in one application and they pair you with like a list of 500 applications. So the scholarship office on campus works really, really hard for students, which I really appreciate. And then the department also has a set of scholarships that you can submit a portfolio for and apply for that way. And those are talent based merit based scholarships. And you know, we have the standard grants through the university as well that students can apply for. Chico State really prads itself on making a college experience affordable for students. As a university as a whole. Our freshmen tend to live in dorms for the first year. And then most students move into apartments or houses together after that. So I, does that kind of answer your question? It does. Do you have an idea kind of ballpark what tuition room and board is before merit before financial aid? You know, I don't actually have that number on me. But I can look it up and I can give you that number soon. I'll follow up. Thank you. I just feel like even with whatever that tuition room and board cost is that like the school does a really phenomenal job of making this deeply affordable for people. That's great. Okay, this is my last question for you. I've had you for 30 minutes and it has just been so delightful finally getting to like actually talk to you about this program. I think I said this early on, but I met Elizabeth on a trip there and Elizabeth and I were like, we need to chat. We need to talk. We need to know our conversation about this program. So I'm glad that it finally happened. Absolutely. I'm actually going to ask you two questions. Tell me as if if I were a stage manager coming into the program, what would my degree be? What would I be graduating with? You would be graduating with a be a theater degree. And we would sort of gear your classes towards a stage management of focus. That way you can pick and choose the courses that most align with what your career trajectory would be. That's incredible. Okay. Last question for real for real. What do you love about the university and your program? I think we strive to build an inclusive community of artists working together for our season. And we try to keep that community at the heart of everything that we do. Our students are encouraged to advocate for their education and their experiences. We want to hear their voices as a part of our season. and each class has a student rep. that sits in and votes on season selection committee, on the handbook committee, they help shape things like our attendance policy and our diversity equity inclusion policy for our department and things like that. And I'm very biased, but I feel like I have the best co-workers and the best students in the world. And I'm sure you hear that from every program. But we're such a strong team, and we care so much about our students. We are all educators because we're passionate about teaching the next generation of theater artists. We're all here because we want to be here, and we want to see them succeed. And we are willing to go above and beyond to give the students the education that they not only need, but they also want. So many of our-- the trips that I just mentioned or the classes that I brought up have been shaped by students advocating for wanting something that we have then formulated the OSF trip. We've added part of the course to social justice on contract negotiation. Students are paying for the education that they are getting. Therefore, they should have a say in that process. And the question is-- They should have a say in the community that we're building. And as I'm sitting here writing graduation cards for all of our students, I'm so enamored with the growth that these students have had over the last four years in the community that they've built. When we have things like our end of the year banquet ceremony, I just sit there and I cry for two hours straight, staring at them because they've all grown so much as humans and as artists. And I think that we are-- I love the community that we've built. Yeah. Yeah. I have been there and seen that and walked into conversations and watched that I agree with you. I think that there's something really special at Chico. And I'm excited for more people to learn about this program and what you all offer. I just think that you're putting out incredible artists into this community. And it's really important that we have those people. Thank you so much. That's so warm to hear. Well, I'll just-- I just, again, thank you so much for chatting with me and for telling me more about your program. I'm always looking for more information on programs and getting to talk with you one-on-one like this is just a really great way to do it. So again, I thank you. Thank you. Thank you for giving me some of your time today to chat about all this. Of course, always any time. Fabulous. All right. Thank you. I'm going to stop our recording. I appreciate you.