Student’s world is a stage

October 5, 2009 by Krista Gilbertson 

For Lisa Ferris, performing is the essence of life

The stage, the spotlight, the audience, the art of it all – this is home to many actors and those who have devoted their lives to the art of theatre. All the hard work, sweat, tears, determination and patience lead to the night of the play, where actors can showcase their talents.

Lisa Ferris, a graduate student in the theatre program in the college of fine arts, has come a long way since she saw her first play, “West Side Story,” at the age of nine. She said she just sat there in amazement thinking, “This is what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Ferris started dancing at the age of 6 and her love of theatre began in high school, when she was cast in many plays. When searching for colleges after high school, Ferris wanted to find a place that had a good vocal program, because she wanted to be an opera singer.

Ferris ended up at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and stayed there for four years. While in undergraduate school, she studied abroad for six months and studied classical theatre in London.

After graduation, Ferris moved to New York to pursue acting and waited tables while auditioning for every part she could.
Her persistence eventually paid off when she received a phone call from her former roommate who was on tour at the time. The roommate had been offered a job in the greenshow at the Utah Shakespearean Festival but had to turn it down. Because she couldn’t take it, she sent Ferris’ name and information to the recruiters instead. “I owe her my first born child,” Ferris said, laughing.

Soon thereafter, Ferris got a phone call and was offered the job in Utah. Ferris said she had 10 days to leave New York and moved out to Utah for four months.

When she got there, besides being in the greenshow, she also got the understudy part of Olivia, the main character in Twelfth Night.

When the lead actress for Olivia had to leave to attend to a family emergency, Ferris took on the stage. “I basically learned the show in a weekend,” Ferris said. I went on Monday and then I got to play the role for two weeks and it was really exciting.”

After that big break, there was no turning back. Ferris has spent the past three summers working in the plays at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and she met and worked with Phil Hubbard, a UNLV theatre professor, during one summer while starring in the Comedy of Errors.

After working with her in Utah, Hubbard offered Ferris a slot in the UNLV graduate program after one of the students dropped out. Normally, students have to audition to be in the program and then be selected, but Hubbard saw talent in Ferris and offered her a place on the spot.

Ferris decided to take the offer – and that’s how she ended up a Rebel. “When an opportunity sort of throws itself in your lap, I think there’s a reason that that happened,” Ferris said. “Since I’ve been here, it has really solidified what I want to do with my life.”

Hubbard said that he is currently performing in another play with Ferris and three other graduate students.
“It’s kind of like being in the orchestra with your violin teacher,” said Hubbard.

He said it’s great for professors to perform with students because students learn from their teachers in the classroom and then get to be seen as equals as they perform alongside. He said the program at UNLV is a professional, actor training program, meaning it prepares the students to move to other cities after graduation and be ready for the professional world.

“Once they are done here, they typically move to New York, Los Angeles or Chicago and begin to have a career. That’s what their goal is in life,” Hubbard said.

Ferris plans to move to Los Angeles after she receives her master’s in fine arts in May.

“I’d love to be able to settle myself there but have the freedom to do regional theatre on the West coast,” she said.
Ferris will take with her what she has learned at UNLV. “I think I’ve grown as an actor here in a way that would not have happened as quickly if I had just gone back out into the field,” she said.

Hubbard said Ferris has the talent and personality to go far in the business and to play many different types of roles.
“I have nothing but high hopes for [Ferris] and the entire group of students,” he said.

Ferris said that her life in theatre and the performing arts has been a long road and there have been a lot of sacrifices on the way to where she is now, but she has also gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience. She said that every time she goes on stage to perform, she tries to remember that there is at least one person in the audience who is seeing the play for the first time and might be thinking, “That’s what I want to do,” just like what she was thinking when she saw her first play.

“To have the opportunity to be on the other side of that and bring art to people makes every other part of it worth it,” she said. Ferris plans on this passion of being a lifelong career.

She said, “I plan on doing this until I can’t move anymore.”