Collegiate Theatrics: USC's ADAM LEBOWITZ-LOCKARD

Theater's next generation of actors will come from all over the globe, to be certain, but one might find an impressive concentration of artists on the campus of the University of Southern California, where the list of candidates for the Master of Fine Arts in acting rivals any group to be found anywhere.

Take Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, for example. A native of Philadelphia, he was an English major at Boston University and he boasts a noteworthy resume of onstage assignments all over the country that other young actors might envy.

Now, from February 6 through March 6, Lebowitz-Lockard joins his classmates, his friends, his comrades - his very theatrical family, to be sure - to take the stage during this year's MFA Acting Repertory at the Scene Dock Theatre, bringing to new life onstage productions of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera (adapted by Marc Blitzstein) and Anna Deveare Smith's Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. Also featured in repertory is The Oresteia Project, inspired by Aeschyus' Oresteia, written and directed by David Bridel in collaboration with the MFA Acting Class of 2016.

Here is your opportunity to get to know USC's Adam Lebowitz-Lockard in this week's version of Collegiate Theatrics. He recently found time in the harried schedule and demanding life of an MFA candidate in the final months of study to tell us about his life at USC and to talk about his theatrical aspirations for the future...

What's been your favorite part of study at USC? My favorite part about studying at USC has been the teachers, hands down. They are truly the most amazing group of teachers I have ever worked with, especially our "Core Four" faculty. I would not be the person I am today without their guidance and inspiration.

Has it lived up to your preconceived notions? Honestly, I auditioned for USC kind on a last second whim, so I didn't have a lot of expectations about the school before I started. That said, it has wildly surpassed any grad school experience I could have ever imagined.

What moment from your time at USC stands out in your memory? It's impossible for me to pick just one moment from grad school that has stood out, but the moments I'm most proud of have happened in our acting class with David Warshofsky. I learned in those classes with him that everything I need to have to be an actor I have inside of me. I don't need to be anyone else. I am enough.

What's been the biggest difference of studying theater in grad school as opposed to undergrad? I didn't study theater in undergrad, but I took a lot of classes in New York during my summers at school. The biggest difference is that those classes would last for six to eight weeks, while this training has been over 3 years. The difference between those times is enormous! In order to fully grow and change and develop you really need a few years to let everything sink in.

Have your dreams and aspirations changed over the course of your time at USC? My dreams and aspirations have definitely changed for me as an actor, but more importantly they have changed an immense amount for me as a human being.

Where do you hope to find yourself in five years? In five years I'm going to be supporting myself full time as an actor, working on cool feature films and across the country in the theater, and I'll be starting a theater company. Also my band will be playing regular gigs, I'll have a bunch of half marathons under my belt, and I'll be living in Los Feliz or Dumbo.

If anyone could play you in a stage or film version of your life story, who would you choose? And what would be the title of the script? If there were a play or movie being done about my life, I'd like it to be weird and funky and have all sorts of different people (or animals?) play me, like that Bob Dylan movie I'm Not There, but with more dance and music bits. I think it would be titled Boats.

In addition to the MFA Acting Repertory from February 6 to March 6, USC's MFA Class of 2016 will be featured in a pair of showcases in New York and Los Angeles:

• NEW YORK: Wednesday, April 20, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. at The Ailey Citigroup Theatre at The Ailey Studios, 405 West 55th Street
• LOS ANGELES: Tuesday, April 26, at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, April 27, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Odyssey Theatre, 2055 South Sepulveda Boulevard

For more information about USC's Class of 2016 MFA Actors, who also will be featured in Collegiate Theatrics for the next few weeks, go to www.dramaticarts.usc.edu/showcase 2016/mfashowcase/

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