Background
I’ve only been doing theatre for three years. I didn’t originally come to ASU to study theatre; I couldn’t see myself living a life as an artist. The pull to ASU was the architecture program. I had completed two years of architecture school at BYU-Idaho and needed to transfer schools to an accredited architecture program.
ASU’s architecture program had a lot that appealed to me. The staff was helpful and seemed greatly interested in my future, even before they knew me. The school offered a direct to Masters program that made me feel like I could “catch-up” on the two years I took off of college and the years I would be set back by transferring schools. The location seemed perfect, too: a western city with lots of growth and an aesthetic that was not deeply rooted in history. A blank canvas, it seemed. I moved here knowing no one but I moved here with a plan.
Yet the plan did not go as I had decided. I succeeded in my architecture classes and was at the top of my class. It seemed sure that I would be one of the five percent that gets accepted into the program. Yet, something I had not before noticed was brought to my attention by a series of events when came to ASU.
I met a friend on the public bus who did theatre. He told me what there was here in the valley and what projects he was working on. He told me what shows I could go see and about the people that he worked with. He told me everything I asked, and I asked everything I could think of. I remember talking about these theatre things during our long hours working in the studio in the architecture building. I would think of more questions and then hope that “the boy in the scarf” would be on the bus again the next day to answer my questions. He never asked me any questions, I never thought about letting him, until one day he finally did ask me a question.
It was months into the semester when he stopped me from yet another question and asked, “Why aren’t you doing theatre?”
I had never thought about it. I never considered doing theatre. I was a good Mormon boy who had to have a good steady job to pay for my wife and family. I can’t be an artist. Why am I not doing theatre? Because I’m not allowed to! I went to class with this and many new thoughts in my head. Do I really have an obsession with theatre? Could I really live the life of an artist? Does that mean I have to tell people I’m gay? Oh wait, I’m not gay. I’m not gay. I’m not gay. Yes I am. But I’m not going to do something that would make me be gayer.
These thoughts came through my head quickly and just as quickly were pushed aside. I went to class where a large project was due. I turned it in and was proud of my work, but when my professor asked to talk to me afterward I grew nervous. After class he asked me if I had ever considered a career in architecture explaining that this and my other projects greatly resemble stage design.