Kelsye Gould '10 learns value of issues-driven theater

French and theater-business major Kelsye Gould has learned about leadership and social justice during her nearly four years at St. Kate's. And she's taking those lessons out into the community.

When senior Kelsye Gould graduates this May, she’ll remember St. Catherine University for one of its trademark attributes: nurturing young women to become confident and successful leaders.

“I love how the professors have all been so helpful. They want you to succeed -- and they make you succeed,” she says with a laugh.

She also leaves with another hallmark of a St. Kate's education: the University’s emphasis on helping students learn to work for social justice in their communities and the broader world.

In fact, that tradition was one reason the French and theater-business double major chose St. Kate’s. Other draws: the flexibility that St. Kate’s offers, the chance to take courses at other private colleges and universities through the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC) and the opportunity for Gould to design her own major.

First-year and capstone courses open horizons
Nurturing her nascent social consciousness started right away with “The Reflective Woman,” a required core course that included a section on social justice movements. Students explore identity, learn how to search for truths and then utilize those concepts in considering their future.

“Social Justice: A Christian Perspective,” which she took to fulfill some of her theology requirements, introduced her to the work of Dorothy Day, whom Gould says “has become one of my favorite people.”

Finally, she visited northern India for three weeks through the class "The Global Search for Justice" -- required for graduation. The capstone course focuses students on taking their academic knowledge out into the world.

“It was extremely eye-opening,” Gould says. Because of the class’ particular focus, “Spiritual Voices of Dissent,” the group visited Dharamsala, the home-in-exile of the Dalai Lama.

When Gould returned, she wrote her final paper on the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts and the role that the performing arts play in culture in general, as well as the role that social justice issues can play in the performing arts in particular.

Expanding the stage
It was a natural progression, then, to her role as volunteer publication and communications manager for the production of West Side on the South Side. An original play presented by the West Side Theater Project, it sprang from the lives of St. Paul’s diverse West Side community and had its premier last fall at the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center in St. Paul.

Following passengers on the No. 68 bus as it makes its way down Robert Street (the neighborhood’s main artery), the production included both professionals and community members as actors, musicians and crew, including Pearle Marshall, who made her stage debut at age 73.

Gould's involvement in the project grew from a Macalester College “exchange class” on community-based theater, taught by Harry Waters Jr., who directed the production. The class helped cement her interest in theater as more than just a diversion for the affluent few who can afford theater tickets.

“It shows what else theater can be: a way to bring people together and involve the community,” she says.

Gould has had fruitful internships at other Twin Cities theaters. But this one was different: “I’m did the work this time. I’m it, and if I didn't get it done, no one else was going to.

Part of Gould's responsibilities included rehearsal photos like this.

As often happens, the job involved more work than she originally anticipated; but she has gotten out of it even more than she put in.

“It’s been really rewarding,” Gould says.

Indeed, process is as important as product in this kind of participant-driven theater.

“The whole experience was really fun: going to rehearsals, watching the professional actors along with the people who have never set foot on stage before. It was really exciting to see it develop," she says, "and to know I was a part of it.”

Judy Arginteanu is a freelance writer living in Minneapolis. She has been an editor and arts reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Star Tribune.

Learn more:
The School of Humanities, Arts and Sciences is featured in the October 2009 edition of St. Catherine University magazine, SCAN.

By Judy Arginteanu
March 5, 2010

Contact Julie Michener, (651) 690-6521

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