Who says you can’t write, act and direct?
Ana Pellar, theatre & performance senior, is working on completing capstones for not only her major, but one of her minors as well.
Pellar said she found a passion for directing during her senior year of high school.
“I went to a big high school with like 4,000 kids, and so there was a lot of funding and a lot of options to do things. My last semester of senior year, I had the option to intern for a theater company or direct a one-act play,” Pellar said. “I chose to direct a one-act play.”
Pellar said even though it wasn’t a big production, it was her favorite thing she did in high school.
“I was really happy with it, and I felt really fulfilled artistically. Something about that project just sparked something in me that made me want to pursue it,” she said.
Now, Pellar studies theatre & performance and has minors in film and directing. Pellar said the theatre & performance track has allowed her to pursue many interests.
“I have personally loved the flexibility of it because I really didn’t do anything film-wise in high school, but I took a class my freshman year, and I was debating if I wanted to be a minor,” she said. “Because of that flexibility, I continued to take film classes, and now I’m even taking the film capstone class.”
Pellar said she is making a short film for one of her capstones and creating a sketch comedy piece for another.
“My theater capstone is going to be an episode of SNL based on OCU, so we are going to be making fun of OCU, making fun of ourselves and there’s going to be a musical guest and host and sketches and digital shorts,” she said. “There’s going to be a live aspect with the shorts, and hopefully the music artist will be live as well.”
The SNL piece will be part of the larger festival of new works, which will be presented in mid-April.
Rick Reeves, interim head of the theatre & performance program, said Pellar is an excellent student.
“I have her in class now for the festival of new works,” Reeves said. “A lot of classes are self-driven, and she is very much a leader in the group. She’s the artistic director for the festival of new works this semester, and she was nominated for that by her classmates. She is fantastic.”
Reeves said Pellar’s drive to learn about other things is admirable.
“The BA is kind of designed for that, for people to get exposure to all kinds of things. People who want to be in theater can really blaze their own trails like Ana if they seek a broader range of knowledge. Let your passion drive you; write the story you want to tell,” he said. “I think Ana is going to be great at that.”
Pellar said after graduation, she will return to her hometown of Chicago and direct music for a children’s camp.
“I teach the music of two to four musicals, and we put them up in the span of eight weeks,” Pellar said. “I’ll start auditioning and maybe even go to grad school. We just don’t know.”
Pellar said students shouldn’t have to choose just one passion.
“I feel like early on, you have to start making choices about what you want to do with the rest of your life, and it’s not true. You can change at any point in your life,” she said. “I’ve always struggled with trying to decide if I’m an actor or a writer or a director, but there is no rule that says I cannot be all three and pursue all three.”
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