Sara Rivera plays the violin, writes stories and poetry, performs in theater and sculpts when she gets the chance. Right now, she said she is focused on environmentally themed art that leaks into all disciplines of her artwork. In addition to her multi-talented art skills, she is also a tennis instructor during the summer.
Daily Lobo: So I understand that you just got back from China with a theater group. Could you tell me more about that?
Sara Rivera: That was a production of Dracula we did in the fall. I was cast in the acting and music ensemble, and then our director had connections to the Beijing Central Academy in China. He had taken shows there before, and they invited him to come back this year. So we were in Beijing for 10 days, and we had one performance. We were the only American school in this Asian theater school festival.
DL: That’s way cool! What’s it like to be taken to China because the performance you were in was so memorable? I mean, that’s got to be pretty interesting, right?
SR: Yeah, it’s incredible to be able to go to another place, not just to experience that culture but to perform. Then what you’re doing is making connections with the global arts community. That festival also featured schools from Japan and India, so you just got to make all these connections artistically. And you got to share your art and your skill with someone. It’s amazing to experience a new kind of audience.
DL: Yeah, how was the Chinese audience? Was there anything inherently different in their response? From what I remember of the Dracula production, it had some rather lewd elements that startled a lot of unsuspecting viewers. Was the response the same?
SR: We edited the show a lot. We had to cut a lot of stuff, because they have censored arts out there. We did also have to cut the show down so that it was an hour and half without an intermission. So we did a lot of cuts within the text and everything. The show out there felt completely different than we did it here. It felt a lot tighter and a lot better. They seemed to receive it really well. I think it’s partially because the way this play was written. It wasn’t a continuous story line. Audiences here were looking for that continuous story line and it was really difficult to follow, and people got easily confused. We kind of figured they wouldn’t understand it all. We had subtitles, but, I mean, they weren’t looking for the story. The show was very, very visual and lighting based and sound based. They really appreciated it a lot more. I think they were more invested in the visual elements.
DL: So you’re into music, and writing, and fine arts, too, right? How do you balance all the arts so that they receive an equal amount of attention, or do they all get an equal amount of attention?
SR: I mean, sometimes when you’re doing a show in theater, or when you’re invested in something musically, you’ll spend more time on one of these disciplines for a while. I’m totally fascinated by the way they connect and the crossover between all of them. I found a lot between studying theater and studying writing because a lot of what we do to get invested in character on stage is what we do when we think about a character in a written form. It’s just been amazing to see all these correlations that I didn’t think there would be.
DL: Do you ever have trouble directing your creative impulses? I mean, do you ever start writing a story and think it would be better as a play or maybe start a musical piece and realize it would be better as a painting? How does it all cohere? It seems overwhelming to have so many outlets of creativity.
SR: You kind of approach them from all different angles. For example, if I spend a lot of time working theater and only in theater, then I’ll start to miss my visual outlets and written outlets. A lot of times you’ll just get an impulse. It’s usually not where I just have creative energy and I need to plug it to anywhere. It’s usually that each of these disciplines has a different feel for me and a different meaning to me. So I can go between them and follow impulses for whatever.
DL: Is there one you favor more, or not so much?
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SR: People ask me that a lot, especially with the art and writing majors. I am just so interested in the way they overlap and the way I can combine them. That’s why I don’t rank them. I’d say my long-term ambitions are more related to art and writing. Music is more of a personal outlet. I don’t have any ambitions, say, to look for long-term success.
DL: Are there any art forms you haven’t tried that you would like to try, like singing or dancing or something like that?
SR: I am amazed by dance, and I love to watch it. I am not quite graceful and flexible enough to engage in that. There are things like dance and singing and stuff like that where I like to dip in and try stuff whenever I can. It’s not something I’m going to pursue.
