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Daily Trojan Magazine
The battle between industry and artistry
SDA alumni provide insights on their postgraduate years.
By MIRANDA HUANG
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(Teo Gonzales / Daily Trojan)
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“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
It’s a question that seemed harmless in childhood, poised to encourage wide-eyed curiosity for the range of job possibilities out there.
Most of us dreamed big — astronaut, firefighter or ninja — the list is endless. For me, the answer varied between actress, movie star, singer and dancer. Yet from middle school onward, it was instilled in me that a performing arts career was unlikely to ever occur for one reason or another — societal and parental pressures, for starters.
There is a running joke that computer science students and humanities students both end up in the same position after college: jobless. While the market for computer science students is known for being extremely competitive, for many humanities students, this is much more obscure; there is sometimes no predetermined path to secure a job, as there might be for pre-law or pre-health students.
Although they do not fall under the umbrella of humanities majors, those in the School of Dramatic Arts are situated in a similar position: They must face the volatility of their respective job market. With the recent actor strikes, the COVID-19 pandemic and other unanticipated challenges, the path to success has been anything but smooth sailing for most.
However, these majors also boast the vaunted Trojan Network and the highly regarded reputation of SDA. Big alumni names such as Forest Whitaker or Patrick J. Adams prove the school’s high-status reputation. But does that land them employment?
“You never want to say to your parents, ‘I don’t know what I’m gonna do after college.’ The big fear, I would say, is just that [my major] is useless. I think every theater major thinks that at least once,” said Jakeia Banks, a sophomore majoring in theatre. “I love it and I’m passionate about it, but in the society that we live in, it’s not valued at all.”
The question of whether or not SDA’s prestige plays a role in one’s postgraduate success is an intriguing one: How much of one’s accomplishments in theater is due to merit, and how much is due to connections?
“I know so many great people who are so talented, who are getting so far in their careers, because they have a balance of both. I don’t think you can have one without the other,” Banks said. “You can be an incredible actor, but no one’s going to know that if you stay inside all day and don’t go out.”
Many alumni share this sentiment, including Devin Craig, an actor who plays Isaiah in “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and graduated from USC with a Master of Fine Arts in acting last year.
“It’s mostly connections, but the merit helps you get into rooms. There are a lot of people who have made very successful careers just off networking, and a lot of what I’ve gotten since I graduated has been through networking, but my merit is what I bring to the table,” Craig said.
Ben Hirschhorn, a freelance writer and 2020 Bachelor of Fine Arts acting graduate, agreed with this sentiment but also highlighted the corporate underpinnings of the stage industry.
“There’s so much that goes into it, as opposed to just merits, and as opposed to just talent. It’s so much more of a business than you think when you’re in college, where you think whoever was the best for the part is going to get it … So I think connections are really important in this industry,” Hirschhorn said.
It is not uncommon for students to hear about the Trojan Network, referring to the strong ties between USC alumni and current students. When it comes to acting, this mentorship and guidance can be essential to success.
“Everyone always talks about the USC network and how interconnected USC alumni are out in the real world, and I will say that is absolutely true. I have now gone into auditions multiple times, and they’ve seen professors on my resume and they’ve said, ‘Oh yes, I love [adjunct lecturer] Edgar Landa, I know him,’ and that gives me some credibility out in the world,” said Audrey Forman, actor and artistic director of Eight Ball Theatre who graduated in 2023 with a BFA in acting.
Tasha Ames, an actress and music supervisor who graduated in 2001 with a BFA in acting, finds herself in a similar situation, where her connections have helped her establish her career.
“Half of the things I’ve been in on television are because I know somebody. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t also right for the part, but how I got the audition is because someone said, ‘Please call in my friend,’” Ames said.
The mere mention of USC, regardless of one’s affiliation with a specific school within the University, is sometimes enough to get the ball rolling.
“People like people who have stuff in common with them … If you meet another USC alum, that can be a really great way to make a connection and start a conversation,” said Stephanie Swirsky, a playwright with an MFA in dramatic writing from 2011.
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(Teo Gonzales / Daily Trojan)
Clearly, community is key in the theater industry — and in many more ways than just job hunting. The term encompasses many meanings, whether that be a long-lasting connection beyond the University, a joint space for like-minded folk to convene with fresh ideas or a looser system of support between peers.
As part of the same BFA class, alumni Forman and Michael MacLeod extended their sense of community into their work lives, founding Eight Ball Theatre together and with six others from their USC cohort.
“We wanted to preserve the bond that we had created over the past four years,” Forman said.
The form of collaborative theater originated as an idea during their senior year and has since evolved into a collective of artists who share a common devotion to stage artistry. Now, the theatre works to produce plays, including their recent production of “Memory Lane is a Desert Road.”
“We all hoped it would be a place for us to feed our souls as artists, as we work our part-time jobs and we audition, but what it’s turned into is a community of not just us, but other artists who want the same thing, who are as deeply devoted to the craft as we are,” Forman said.
Hirschhorn also found work by collaborating with a friend from his USC cohort. With the help of his friend Matt Mitchell, Hirschhorn produced a short film titled “Ghosted,” which is now showcased at festivals worldwide.
“Making friends is something that becomes more of a chore that you have to put work into. You have to sign up for classes, you have to go to trivia at a bar … When you’re at USC, when you’re at a university, it’s kind of right at your fingertips, which is such a gift that you don’t think of when you’re there,” Hirschhorn said.
But beyond providing alumni connections and human resources for its current students, how else does SDA help boost aspiring stage artists?
“There wasn’t a lot of talk about if it doesn’t work [or] if you don’t get work right away,” Ames said.
Since her time at USC, Ames noted the school has made advances in developing a broader support network for postgraduate success. Recent alumni attest to this ongoing effort.
“Maybe I didn’t recognize it in those four years, but USC did a great job of forcing us to never just be waiting … and saying, ‘If you want something, go out and do it,’” Hirschhorn said.
Along with SDA and School of Cinematic Arts mixers, where student actors can mingle and build their network with students in directing and film production, SDA’s Mainstage Season performances can provide opportunities for principal cast members to interact with casting agents and talent managers.
According to Ames, Ahmed Best, an adjunct lecturer and faculty member at SDA, scouts for USC talent and encourages students to audition for specific plays at The Echo in Los Angeles.
Yet even with these provided lessons and networking opportunities, an entryway to success in acting is not always guaranteed.
“I thought I would sign with someone right away, I would have a couple of auditions, I would book something, and then that would snowball into something bigger, and I would just suddenly have a career in film [or] television. That, of course, didn’t happen for so many reasons. It’s no one’s fault, and it doesn’t even speak [to] my credibility as an artist,” Forman said.
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(Teo Gonzales / Daily Trojan)
Other alumni expressed how their current jobs are not what they had envisioned for themselves at USC. As a pharmaceutical copywriter, Swirsky took a stark pivot from her MFA’s focus in dramatic writing, demonstrating the unexpected routes of one’s postgraduate years.
“I had to figure out how I take the only thing I can do and make money with it, when everyone tells me that there’s no way to do that,” Swirsky said.
Alongside working her day job, Swirsky finds time to feed her creativity. She recently produced a play titled “Don’t Do This To Us!” which revolves around a Jewish woman who travels through time to 1999 to meet a young Jared Kushner.
“I had an inkling that it might be hard for me to make money doing this, which it is. The most I’ve ever made with playwriting within a year was about $2,000, which was enough to cover my rent for a month. But it helped me be able to just focus on developing my voice,” Swirsky said.
The harsh reality is that even with the multitude of resources available for SDA students, a stable career may still be tough to crack.
“It is just a fact of life that we have to make money. How do you find a thing that’s not going to be so soul-sucking that you can make enough money to also act?” Ames asked.
While Forman felt somewhat disillusioned about how her postgraduate years would unfold, Banks said that her time at SDA has given her “the confidence to fail.” During the fall of 2024, Banks took a semester off, in which she found time to reflect on her major.
“Last semester kind of made me [think], ‘This doesn’t give anything. You can’t make money from this.’ When I came back, I was [thinking] I might switch to business. I might switch to a degree that could [secure] me a job. But I didn’t, ultimately, because we need the arts,” Banks said.
In a market defined by steep competition and slim chances of fame, remaining hopeful can be difficult, to say the least.
“When I don’t book something, I let myself feel sad for a bit, but then I think about what would be most helpful in that time after being rejected, and the answer is always, go back to my community and go back to my work. How can I better myself?” Forman asked.
According to Forman’s co-director, MacLeod, finding meaning in this line of work is all about framing one’s mindset.
“The most important thing … that I’ve come to understand is that I need to define my definition of success,” said MacLeod, a freelance actor, producer and writer with a BFA in acting for the stage, screen and new media from 2023.
For MacLeod, acting is less about the profit than it is about the impact behind the vision he takes part in. It is about finding meaning in work and leaning into passion, not necessarily about monetary gain.
“You can’t control whether you get awarded something, you can’t necessarily control whether someone casts you in something … All you can control is, ‘Am I telling a story that needs to be told, and am I doing it in a way that I think is appropriate and effective and lends a voice to a community that doesn’t have one?’” MacLeod said.
As Craig sees it, acting should be treated like an unpaid internship.
“You do acting because you love it, and you do it with the plan that eventually this will become something that you’re able to sustain yourself with. But right now, very early in our careers, we should understand the fact that we have to pay our dues, and your dues may take [a while],” Craig said.
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(Teo Gonzales / Daily Trojan)
Another key theme from alumni emerged: Stick with it.
“Try your best to understand that this takes time, and that you can do as much as you want, but you cannot fast-forward and nor would you want to. Even the biggest failures you have are really important, and they teach you something,” MacLeod said.
As Forman explained, one must also have the self-confidence to guide oneself through work.
“You have to go into [an audition] thinking that you’re the right person for the job, that you want to get that job, because otherwise, why would a casting director … want to hire you if you don’t believe fully that you are the right person for this role?” Forman said.
Looking back on their time at the University, many alumni reflect on what they would do differently if they were to re-enroll in their degrees. Forman, Hirschhorn, MacLeod and Ames all agreed on one thing: take more classes, and take advantage of the time in college.
“I would try to learn more about things that I know nothing about — film writing, film directing, maybe even taking classes in Annenberg [School for Communication and Journalism],” Hirschhorn said.
In terms of the additional work one may have to take on, Swirsky offers her insight for aspiring stage artists.
“Think of your day job as one piece of a puzzle that will help you fulfill your view, not something that necessarily is taking time away [from you],” Swirsky said.
In a society marked by increased uncertainty, it becomes pertinent to ask reflective questions about one’s aspirations and plans to achieve one’s goals. Maybe success means winning an Oscar, or maybe it means finding small work where you can. If you are passionate about your line of work, should it matter?
“Working as an actor versus making money as an actor versus making money that you can live on as an actor are three different pods. I think in L.A., especially now, if you are acting at all, you are succeeding,” Ames said.
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