July 27, 2006

‘Fiddler’ role opens doors

Presentation grad Christine Schisano performs her dreams

By Justin Petersen
Staff Writer

Almaden prodigy Christine Schisano is living the dream, and looking to sing.

Schisano is an actress with homegrown talent, an affinity for musicals, and she hopes to one day grace Broadway. Prospects have bloomed, too, since the Presentation High grad landed lauded director Marc Jacobs’ interpretation of Tony-Award-winning production “Fiddler on the Roof” this summer.

Christine Schisano

Schisano can be seen playing a momma within the 40-member ensemble cast in the Broadway by the Bay production, which runs through July 30 at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, hosted by the San Mateo Center of Performing Arts.

“Theater is so unique—it’s amazing,” said Schisano. “Where else do you get a chance to really take on a situation or take on a character and create relationships with other people on stage, show them and move people to laughter and tears and maybe not even liking you?”

Jacobs said that he is no fortune teller, but Christine has a shot at the big time if she continues to work, perhaps scaling down from large production credits to central roles in smaller venues. “She’s a terrific kid that really commits to what she is doing. She has a beautiful voice and she is a hard worker and good company member,” he said.

Once upon a time
Before drama, Schisano said she had never experienced such an adrenaline rush, so when she and her friends began searching for college destinations several years ago, Schisano considered her art.

“It was toward the end of my junior year in high school,” said Schisano. “I started focusing on what colleges we were going to go to. I actually decided that I really wouldn’t enjoy my life if I wasn’t doing theater.”

A year later Schisano was enrolled at Sonoma State University, gunning for a B.A. in the performing arts. Six years later, the brunette is living on a performer’s stipend to support her passion, while she hosts Intel Museum tours to support her dream.

Schisano was reared on a steady diet of sports and work at home, but her elementary experience at Holy Family Educational Center exposed her to performance early.

“When I think back, it feels like I have been doing theater forever,” said Schisano. “When I was younger, I was into sports. But I gave them up so I could perform. There was always choir and school plays going on through the school.”

Schisano described an “amazing” feeling, like an adrenaline rush she experiences when she appears on stage. “It’s kind of like what runners get,” she said. “I think the most exciting part is that it is creating something.”

In high school, Schisano’s craft blossomed further at Presentation. By the end of her high school career, Schisano was convinced that the stage was her desire.

“If everything turns out the way I want, I will be in New York performing on Broadway one day,” she said.

Drama doesn’t necessarily run in her bloodline, but performing does. Schisano is the daughter of an international businessman. “He yells at people to get things done,” she said. Schisano said that her dad really wants her to go into business, but she continues to refuse.

Her uncle was also a comedian.

“My mother’s brother was actually a comedian,” said Schisano. “He used to perform for us growing up. Anytime we got together with family, people were performing in some way, whether that meant goofing around or simply singing.”

Schisano said the arts were always around, even though it was outside of her father’s occupation. “People think that you’re never going to make any money as an actor,” she said. “What’s more important, making money, or becoming miserable?”

Schisano said her mother, especially, has helped counsel her regarding the negative views people build about actors.

Networks
Broadway by the Bay is a lofty line on Schisano’s resume. The 41-year-old production company has grown from a nifty community theater outfit into what Jacobs described as the largest and most qualified production company on the Peninsula.

“Christine has made a good start [toward Broadway] being with companies like Broadway by the Bay where quality is high,” said Jacobs, whose sparkling area reputation stems from feats including nine years served as associate artistic director and director of New Works at the American Musical Theatre of San Jose (AMTSJ). Jacobs was trained, in fact, at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, before traveling to the New York City Opera, the Houston Opera Center and the Los Angeles Music Center Opera.

Schisano, in return, is ecstatic that she landed the role just out of college, and amongst such notable talent. She chalks it up to an experiences she shared working with Jacobs during a summer seminar session at AMTSJ.

“In 2003, I had been told by teachers of mine that there was this really great nine-week program, and Mark Jacobs was the director,” said Schisano. “I auditioned and I was accepted. It was very singing intensive. Classes were all day long.”

Throughout the session, Jacobs built an opinion about Schisano and her talent.

“Based on that experience, I always wanted to work with Mark on a play,” said Schisano. “People that have worked with him always enjoy it. It’s probably the way he breaks things down. He knows how to bring certain emotions out of the things that we do, the scenes and the situation.”

When Schisano arrived for “Fiddler” auditions, she wasn’t sure want to expect.

“Auditions were actually fun,” she said. Schisano shined, when she belted out a rendition of “Vanilla Ice Cream” from the musical “She Loves Me.” She received a call back and returned the following week, when Jacobs taught the final group a dance combination and four part harmony.

“I first learned of her in that class,” said Jacobs. “Christine is doing the right thing by getting as much experience locally as she can with good companies.”

The next event
While Schisano has enjoyed her experience performing in a Jacobs’ production and to large crowds, she said that she envisions her next role in a smaller program with greater responsibility.

Two recent auditions with Renegade Theater project in San Jose were successful, and Schisano will return on callbacks this month. She said the hope is to secure a central role with a target audience of 50 people.

“Theater is so important because even if you just act in a couple of plays, it helps so much with self confidence,” said Schisano. “You can get up in front of people and be silly. It helps you talk to people. People can forget to play and be creative waiting tables. Without creativity we are just falling into this awful rhythm and nothing comes out of it.”