For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to perform onstage. I had dreams of being a musician or actor, but they were flights of fancy, not serious—until my sophomore year of high school. I then performed a scene with a classmate which we took to the California State Thespian Festival in Anaheim. The powerful scene was from one of my favorite musicals, Assassins. We had managed to perform it well enough in class, but I felt like I wasn’t truly connecting as my teacher said I should be. I hadn’t ever felt that full connection before, it had always been a character I was PLAYING. We practiced the scene in the months leading up to the festival audition, but I continued struggling with the connection.
The morning we were scheduled to perform for the judges, we rehearsed it one last time. Still no spark in me. While waiting, we were able to witness performances of the two scenes before us. One was the same as ours. Instead of freaking out, I became engaged in watching them, and started seeing the choices the actor playing my character was making. He didn’t seem to connect to the character either. This confused me, because, looking from the outside, I was able to see the disaster this character’s life had become and was surprised that the actor wasn’t crying.
When we finally started our scene for the judges, I suddenly understood everything about this character, and what had brought him to this moment. The spark ignited, and it no longer mattered what score we received for the scene because I knew that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That realization—that knowledge—continues to be worth so much more to me than any score.
-- Mark Merman (Ensemble)
This family was my maternal grandparents and one of the kids was my mom who was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After coming to California they had two more children and raised them all in a little town near Santa Barbara.
I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and learned a great deal from them. My grandma had a real knack for stretching a dollar out of a dime. She recycled everything! Definitely ahead of her time. No matter how many people would show up she would somehow feed them all.
My grandpa had the best sense of humor and was always ready to drop everything and go shopping in town. They both could grow a bountiful garden of tasty vegetables and fruits. I've never tasted any produce as good as theirs.
From my grandparents I learned, among other things, to treat others the way you would like to be treated, to work hard, help those less fortunate, don't let any disparaging words from other folks stop you from doing what you think is right, and if you do get knocked down then get back up. This is why I'm back in school after a long time away in the "real" world. I've done many things so far in life and am grateful to be able to go back to school.
I wanted to be a part of The Grapes of Wrath because of my own family history
-- Wendy Wiedmeier (Ensemble)
I recall when the National Steinbeck center opened in 1998. Looking at the various exhibits gave me a much deeper understanding about what he was saying in his works—especially about agriculture which Salinas is famous for. Seeing people work the fields growing up, gave me an understanding of what Depression era workers went through.
As a life-long rail fan, my love of trains also drew me to this production of The Grapes of Wrath.
One memorable experience was attending Railfair ‘99 in Sacramento with my father. Seeing the various steam and diesel engines taught me about how railways evolved for improved transportation of goods. I enjoyed seeing the steam engines used in the golden age of railroading with refrigerator cars that were once filled with Salinas produce that was delivered to markets throughout the country.
-- Garrett Warren (Ensemble)
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