Audition, audition, audition.
After graduating from Pepperdine, Theatre Alumna (‘17), Caitlin O’Grady moved to Atlanta and was acting and modeling despite the starving artist stigma.
“You’re told so often when you’re young, and especially in college, and right after college, this isn’t a career you should pursue,” O’Grady said. “It’s very fickle. It’s unstable. But once you’re an actor, once you’re an artist, you always want that to feed your soul and you can’t let that go.’’
Facing the Stigma of Theatre
For generations upon generations, society has stigmatized theatre majors and other people pursuing a career in the arts. Well-meaning acquaintances ask a variety of questions including: is that career path truly practical for a successful career?
Brad Griffin, divisional dean of Fine Arts and theatre professor, said he has experienced this stigma himself when people say his job must be “fun.’’
“I will usually say to people, I do find it enjoyable, but it is also a lot of work, just like any other course,” Griffin said.
Griffin said he has to address this stigma when speaking to parents who are concerned for their children’s future in the arts.
“It’s easy for me to point to people who have graduated from our program and have gone on to law school, or they’ve gone on to graduate programs, either in theatre or looking at the business of theatre,” Griffin said.
Theatre Professor Cathy Thomas-Grant said she acknowledges this stigma and believes there is a misconception of what theatre students do within the program.
“I don’t think people really understand what we’re doing,” Thomas-Grant said. “You walk into that scene shop, they build five sets a year.”
Thomas-Grant said the work of theatre majors is nothing short of miraculous.
“It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of heart,” Thomas-Grant said.
Many alumni said they experienced this stigma in their early years and at Pepperdine.
Theatre alumnus (‘22) Sam Brock said when he was growing up he experienced the stigma in his childhood and through his family members who questioned how he would make a living with this career path.
“I think that there’s just a lack of understanding,” Brock said. “I think that people in the arts get it. They understand why you’re doing what you’re doing and the sacrifices you’re making.’’
Brock is currently in a musical called, “Nicky and the Angels” at the Whitefire Theatre, is a substitute teacher in the L.A. area and recently came out with a new EP called, “The Auburn House.” He also creates self-tapes for auditions.
The musical poster for “Nicky and the Angels” Theatre Alumni (‘22) Sam Brock is a part of. Photo courtesy of Brock.
Theatre alumnus (‘20) Nate Bartoshuk said he faced the stigma in his time at Pepperdine.
“[Classmates and professor] They had this running joke, that wasn’t really a joke to me, where they basically would make jokes about me being dumb, because I was a theatre major,” Bartoshuk said.
Theatre Alumnus (‘20) Nate Bartoshuk performing in Medea in Smothers Theatre in 2018. Photo Courtesy of Bartshuk’s Instagram.
Bartoshuk now works on look books and pitch decks for television shows and films as his remote job. He also continues to audition for television shows, making self tapes when the opportunities come from his agent. Bartoshuk said he has worked in television and acting since graduating.
He was in the show, “Phrogging” on Lifetime TV, Days of Our Lives on NBC and has written a short film called, “Gays Straight Makeover” that another alumna, Tara Jenkins, directed.
The short film premiered in May at the Emerging Filmmakers’ Showcase at the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival.
Challenges Post-College
Pepperdine theatre alumni said they had great experiences with their theatre major but some faced individual challenges when graduating.
Caitlin O’Grady 2023 Theatrical Reel from Caitlin O'Grady on Vimeo.
After a year of being in Atlanta after graduating, O’Grady had a manager in Los Angeles who was sending her auditions.
In 2018, she was also submitting some photos she took to an agency in Atlanta called “CLICK.” They asked her to come in and they signed her. She felt so lucky to get the opportunity.
“I submitted [modeling photos] them to every agency in Atlanta, I could find online and CLICK got back to me,” O’Grady said.
O’Grady said she felt like her potential was real now that a legitimate agency was noticing her and she was doing bigger things.
“The fact that they were confident in my abilities and liked me really made me feel good,” O’Grady said. “It made me feel like it was a real possibility to get some money from modeling.”
A year or two later, O’Grady signed with their “sister agency” called, “J. Pervis,” to begin acting and modeling through them.
With J. Pervis, she was able to do a variety of modeling work like lifestyle, fit modeling and bridal modeling and also worked with Fanatics, a sports apparel company. O’Grady said she also booked several commercials.
She booked a commercial for the hair company, Cantu, which she got on her own.
Caitlin O’Grady 2023 Commercial Reel from Caitlin O'Grady on Vimeo.
She also was in two Investigation Discovery TV shows called, “Homicide Hunter” and “Dead Silent.”
Though she was juggling many separate jobs, O’Grady said she would typically get a good paycheck at least once a month. When she needed more stable income for week to week, she worked as a server, bartender and more.
Bartoshuk said he has faced challenges trying to get a job outside of the arts due to his degree.
“I don’t think the hiring managers will look past the title of your degree to see the skills that you have in hiring,” Bartoshuk said.
Brock said he lost one of his jobs at a restaurant because he was auditioning for roles at the same time.
“Right out of college, it was just a lot of a lot of work and a lot of trying stuff out until stuff started to click,” Brock said.
Brock’s first acting job out of college was at a theatre in Topanga called, “The Theatricum Botanicum.”
“It was like this six-month contract where you were doing theatre for adults,” Brock said. “But then during the day, you were teaching classes, and you were performing shows for kids.”
Brock said working at “The Theatricum Botanicum” made him realize that he loved working with kids. He also started creating music and writing scripts.
Theatre alumna (‘16) Lexie Tankersley said she obtained a job quickly after college due to her internship with Nickelodeon as a first-year student.
“I was working under producers and I was seeing how my feeder knowledge and like the stage management experience was kind of naturally lending itself to this TV producing experience too,” Tanksersley said.
Tankersley worked at Nickelodeon right out of college and then went on to work at Joseph Gordan-Levitt’s company, HitRecord, working as an assistant, producer and more. One of her biggest achievements has been winning an Emmy for HitRecords’ series called, “Create Together.”
Lexie Tankersley posing with her Emmy. Photo courtesy by Tankersley
She is now working as a vice president for FCB, an ad agency in Chicago.
“I’m a professional matchmaker between celebrities and brands within our building to figure out a collaboration that could work between the two,” Tankersley said.
Tankersley said she also produced shows that were premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and South by Southwest.
Theatre alumna (‘23) Penny Devlin said she was able to be in shows right out of college like the “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” in San Francisco and “Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas” in Anaheim. Devlin is now on a national tour called, “Ada Twist, Scientist & Friends.’’
Penny Devlin standing in front of a poster for her current national tour. Photo courtesy from Devlin
Benefits of a Theatre Major
Non-theatre majors usually believe that theatre majors have fun and are not taken seriously for the work they do, but alumni have said how beneficial an education in theatre has become for them in their careers.
Tankersley said she finds her theatre major valuable in her career because she now knows how to make herself marketable and unique.
“You graduate with these extremely practical skills that I have used in my life way more than I’ve used statistics and way more than I’ve used anything that I learned in biology,” Tankersley said.
Devlin said she learned how to remain authentic and win the audition room because of faculty and her time in the Scotland Theatre Program with Thomas-Grant.
“I think that to this day, it is what has gotten me every job and what got me booked on this national tour,” Devlin said.
Bartoshuk said he believes a theatre major is worth it but he would have done things differently.
“If I were doing it all again, I would at least tell myself that if you want to be an actor, you don’t have to major in acting,” Bartoshuk said.
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O’Grady said she learned from her theatre major at Pepperdine how to speak and present herself in any interview or job setting.
“I’ve used a lot of my theatre skills more so outside of college than my international studies degree,” O’Grady said.
After two years of modeling and acting, O’Grady said an anxiety and unsettled feeling began to build as she awaited the paychecks for these gigs. The pile of bills was getting higher.
Her 25th birthday was approaching and O’Grady was about to be kicked off her parents health insurance, and was struggling with her job search.
“It was like I have a year to get health insurance,” O’Grady said. “Something needs to change, I have been applying to all these jobs in Atlanta and I am not getting anything.”
O’Grady then decided to move back to her hometown of Arlington, Virginia, in 2019 to look for more jobs and that is when she was able to get an entry-level job as a sales development representative with a company called, “Capitol Canary.” O’Grady was soon promoted to a human resources specialist with that company.
She also joined an improv troupe called “Thermal Runaway” and was cast in a production of “Spamalot” the musical until the COVID-19 pandemic shot it down. Then, she continued to do improv on Zoom.
In June 2021, she moved to working with the current company she works for called, “Procon Consulting” in Los Angeles as a human resources specialist.
She started sending in self-tapes for auditions instead of going in person. And she still performed when she could.
O’Grady said she had to get over the mentality that if she got a desk job, it meant she wasn’t serious about her craft. After getting into human resources, she realized doing both a 9-5 and acting was doable.
Measuring Success
When defining post-graduation success for a theatre major, theatre professors at Pepperdine said there are a variety of avenues theatre majors could take but it depends on the student.
Thomas-Grant said it is difficult to define success with the various jobs students get into after graduating.
“It’s going to be different for each person,” Thomas-Grant said. “It is a plethora of jobs/careers that their particular path has led them to.”
Griffin said the theatre major provides many skills that students can learn to thrive in their careers.
“You can go in any different direction with theatre and you could take those skills and put them to work,” Griffin said.
Griffin said students going into the field are doing analytical work and critical thinking in various ways such as reading scripts and choosing how to present a character.
Griffin and Thomas-Grant pointed to successful people in this craft who have gone on to success in performing and other career paths.
Griffin said Theatre alumna (‘16), Taisa Jungbauer, has come back to Pepperdine to do a masterclass for students and is currently on Broadway for the show “Moulin Rouge.”
He said another alumna (‘21), Natalia Escobedo, was the only undergraduate directly admitted into an MFA program at Columbia University in New York.
Thomas-Grant said there has been a variety of alumni in many different fields out of Pepperdine.
Thomas-Grant said Theatre alumni (‘17), Alexandria Garrett, is a current high school theatre teacher.
She said (‘01) alumni Matthew Quinn is still currently doing theatre and is on a national tour of “Hadestown.”
She said there is a variety of alumni doing drag, improv, teaching, have their own agencies and more.
Advice to Students Pursuing the Arts
Though there are various opinions on how practical a theatre major is, Pepperdine alumni have not let that stigma stop them from following their artistic passions and encouraging people pursuing the arts to keep going.
Tankersley said upcoming students pursuing the arts should never be discouraged in today’s world.
“The more that you can kind of just lean into your own personal skills and your creativity, there
will be a role for that in the future because the future is undefined at the moment,” Tankersley said.
Devlin said students should always continue to do theatre in various forms.
“You have to keep on training, you have to, that is my number one biggest,” Devlin said. “Don’t ever stop taking voice lessons, acting lessons, dancing lessons, whatever, you can just keep doing it.”
Brock said as one gets older, one begins to realize that people’s opinions do not matter and one should pursue what they love.
“If that’s your mindset, like if you’re 100%, like there’s nothing else for me, then you just kind of go for it,” Brock said.
Bartoshuk said people pursuing the arts need to be willing to make the best out of their theatre arts degree.
“Pursue the thing that you got into it for, keep auditioning if you’re an actor, keep designing, if you’re a sound designer, or stage managing or what have you,” Bartoshuk said.
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O’Grady moved back to Los Angeles in 2022, and when the SAG-AFTRA strike happened she took a break from modeling and acting.
In 2023, she was able to land a role in the show, “PICNIC” at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble because of a visiting professor who knew her at Pepperdine.
She said that COVID-19 made her question whether she could perform on stage again after so long. However, it came natural to her to perform again in front of an audience.
“It was like riding a bike,” O’Grady said.
After the show, O’Grady was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer, which changed her life and commitment to her creative side.
She was forced to pause everything in her life, including working at Procon Consulting, acting and modeling.
“That really just like shifted my priority,” O’Grady said. “I got diagnosed and so, I took a back seat.”
O’Grady was planning her upcoming wedding — in April 2024 — when she got diagnosed with cancer.
She decided to prioritize her health and then slowly started seeking a creative outlet, something not as intense as auditioning and modeling. She turned to taking classes for sketch comedy.
“I was so sad and bored, obviously, about the situation,” O’Grady said. “But like, it was also that I stopped investing in the art, and I realized I needed to do it in any capacity in order to make myself happy.”
O’Grady said though she is going through a rough time through cancer, she never forgets the yearning of wanting to act and model.
“I’m excited to get back into it when I’m on the other side of this,” O’Grady said.
Viviana Diaz produced this story in in Jour 490, Advanced Storytelling, during the Spring 2024 semester under the supervision of Dr. Christina Littlefield.
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