Football players are comfortable feeling uncomfortable. After all, football is a game of bodies colliding forcefully on a grassy field. But when José Guillen’24 took a chance on an acting class, he found that kind of discomfort different, but equally thrilling. The opportunity brought him and two football friends to join the spring play — and together, they made a positive impact on campus culture.
“[Director Amy Sarno] will throw questions at you that make you think outside the box,” José says. “She challenges you. She’s gotten me to do a lot of things, from acting like a horse on all fours to talking ‘Shakespearean.’ I like the idea of feeling uncomfortable until it’s comfortable.”
ACT I: SETTING THE SCENE
A number of football players have taken acting classes in recent years. José Guillen’24, a business economics major from La Pine, Oregon, enjoyed an intro to acting class so much that he signed up for a public speaking class with theatre professor Amy Sarno this spring, and convinced his friend Cyrus Roman’24 to take Sarno’s Acting 206 course with him. She quickly became one of José’s favorite professors.
“She’ll throw questions at you that make you think outside the box,” José says. “She challenges you. This is theatre; it’s what you do. You have to see it as an art form. She’s gotten me to do a lot of things, from acting like a horse on all fours to talking ‘Shakespearean.’ I like the idea of feeling uncomfortable until it’s comfortable.”
José and Cyrus thought about joining a college play after attending one together, but worried about their busy schedules. Sarno told them that rehearsals for the upcoming play, Rehearsal for Murder, were only Monday through Thursday, not interfering with weekend practices and games. The two then signed up for auditions together.
“She had done so much for me and brought things out of me that I didn’t know I had, and I did it for her,” says José. “I would still probably have enjoyed it without Cyrus, but going into something you’re not familiar with is just so much easier with a pal.”
Cyrus, a former football player and physics major from Smithville, Texas, had prior acting experience in high school, but none in college. “José is one of my best friends,” Roman says. “I knew he would fall in love with [acting], and look at where we are now.”
ACT II: A SPECIAL PRODUCTION
José and Cyrus didn’t tell their friends and teammates about Rehearsal for Murder until after they were fully immersed in rehearsals, apprehensive of how their football peers would react and whether they would be accepted by their seasoned castmates. The duo encouraged Jace Roddey’27, a teammate and friend from Rock Hill, South Carolina, to join them.
Sarno had never seen a group of players from the same sports team join a production together. She and Coach Ted Soenksen realized that this might be a special production.
“I knew that building a team would be important for this particular group because theatre kids and football players rarely run in the same circles,” Sarno says.
It didn’t take much effort, though. From the first week of rehearsals and team building activities, she recalls Cyrus breaking the group into spirited chants of “RFM!”
Soenksen and Sarno had already teamed up to schedule rehearsal during off hours for athletics, but they also arranged something even more meaningful. Soenksen purchased tickets for the entire team of 70 to attend the play and cheer on Cyrus, Jace, and José. But he didn’t expect that the majority of the team would come to the play — and in some cases more than once.
“[Coach Soenksen says] that’s what we should do as a team: support each other,” says José. He was shocked to see friends and beloved professors and mentors, including President Eric Boynton, at every show. “Whether we’re on or off the team, we’re still family. That’s what it was, but it really snowballed.”
ACT III: REHEARSAL FOR COMMUNITY
The snowball effect? The cast — both athletes and actors — interacted more outside of the production than any cast in recent memory, encouraging each other to break out of their regular social groups and make new friends.
“For me, Rehearsal for Murder became a rehearsal for community,” says Sarno. “I watched two campus groups who ordinarily see each other as strangers become friends and supporters. Maybe there’s something we can all learn there.”
José and Cyrus included the entire cast in the football team’s activities: dinner in Commons, late night trips to Taco Bell, morning workouts, and pickup basketball. They also used athletic terminology to unite the group, referring to rehearsals as practices and informal hangouts as captain practices.
“Those little references to sports helped us treat it [seriously], because on the field, you’re a family,” says Cyrus “We tried to make it like that with this cast and include everyone. I think we did a good job making them feel like they were safe and welcome and like one of us.”
The castmates continued to hang out after Rehearsal for Murder ended, even attending dance professor Gina T’ai’s Performing Gender class’s drag show as a group. They stayed up until the wee hours of the morning together after their last show to watch the sun rise.
Cyrus hopes that other campus groups follow their lead to expand their reach and create larger, more inclusive communities.
“I didn’t think the experience was going to be as great as it was, or that I would make so many friendships,” he says. “That was beautiful to see. We were really a family, and that was the best thing about the show: how close-knit we were, and still are to this day.”
July 22, 2024
