By Kristen Lowrey
Assistant A&E Editor
“If I could I would just stay here forever and just do shows because it’s just so secure,” senior acting and directing major Jeff Lee said. “(Being at Pepperdine is) just so ideal.”
Photo courtesy Jeff Lee |
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SCENE STEALER: Senior Jeff Lee strives to be well-rounded at Pepperdine to learn about all aspects of the theater, something he says is important as a director. |
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Lee will soon leave the security of Pepperdine in April when he graduates into the outside world of theater.
After serving as the editor in chief of his high school newspaper in his hometown of Victorville, Calif., Lee realized his love for acting outweighed his journalistic interests.
“It was the only thing I could see myself really enjoying as a career,” Lee said.
Since his arrival at Pepperdine, Lee has involved himself in almost every aspect of theater. His impressive resume extends outside of acting and directing to include technical aspects of theater, including lighting and set design.
“My whole philosophy since I’ve been here is to be really well-rounded,” Lee said. “You have to know about all aspects of (theater) to be a director.”
Lee’s acting experience at Pepperdine boasts a variety of characters, including his favorite role, Dr. Chasuble, in 1999’s “The Importance of Being Ernest.”
“I like playing character parts, you get to be totally different people,” Lee said. “I kinda played the young boyfriend type in high school.”
Lee completed his thesis for the directing portion of his major at the end of last semester. For his third and final required directing project, Lee chose to direct a play called “Emma’s Child” about a couple who were unsuccessful in producing children. The couple eventually agrees to adopt a child from another couple, however, the child is born with birth defects. Lee said the play revolves around whether or not to keep a child who probably would not have a future.
“I found the play because one of my friends did a monologue from it,” Lee said. “It was the first play ever commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare festival. I found it in a book by women playwrights.”
“Emma’s Child,” written by Kristine Thatcher, ran in Lindhurst Theatre last semester and featured senior Elizabeth Walters and junior Joe Obermueller in the lead roles. Lee said both were amazing in the parts.
“My whole goal was to create believable characters,” Lee said.
This semester Lee is focusing on his acting. He’s preparing to audition for “The Matchmaker,” and is working on his Senior Showcase. The Showcase allows acting majors to demonstrate their acting abilities in various forms including monologues and selected scenes. Seniors will perform the projects for professionals such as actors John Raitt and Douglas Sills.
Upon graduating, Lee plans to enroll in the Jet Program, where he while help teach English at Japanese elementary and junior high schools.
“The Japanese government has set up the program to help their kids,” Lee said.
Most people who enter the program work for a year, experiencing the culture and improving the language exchange. Although the Jet Program does not allow its participants to hold other jobs while working with the children, Lee hopes to observe Asian theater during his stay.
Lee later hopes to eventually earn his master’s degree in directing.
Lee’s long-term goal is to follow the lead of his favorite director, Julie Taymor, whose style of directing has been termed “fusion theater.” Taymor is famous for directing “The Lion King” on Broadway.
“She does a lot of the things I’d like to be doing,” Lee said. “Her film version of ‘Titus,’ is the best Shakespeare film adaptation of any of his plays I’ve seen.”
“Fusion theater” looks at differences and similarities in Eastern and Western theater. It combines different forms, influences, acting styles and design elements.
“(Taymor takes) fairly well known plays and looks for new ways to interpret them not from one specific time period,” Lee said. “It reveals new truths that are not revealed in the piece.
“I think it’s so neat when a director can create something entirely new in the play and remain true to the playwright’s original intention,” he continued.
January 31, 2002