Miriam Manber is a recent graduate of Barnard College with her B.A in English. Her passion has always been in the arts and so I decided to talk about the days we spent together at the Usdan Center for Performing Arts and how it impacted her life.
Amanda Stevens: What is your earliest memory of Usdan?
Miriam Manber: They have an orientation day a couple of weeks before camp starts, for new students so you can make sure you know where your classes are, meet your instructors, etc. And so my dad took me the summer I was 13 and I remember looking around at all the paths through the woods and stuff and thinking "I am going to just be lost all summer. That's it. It's hopeless."
A.S: Do you remember why Usdan? I mean its located on Long Island and you're from Riverdale, Bronx.
M.M: I can't even remember how I found out about it - I think my mom found it online or something. I'd been going to a Jewish camp for many years before that, but when I was about 12 I started getting pretty serious about theater. I started taking voice lessons and auditioning for local productions. I was sick of the camp I'd been to, and was getting too old for it, and then my mom found Usdan. It seemed more like a learning environment, more grown-up than other, more traditional camps. i was worried about the commute (which did suck, not gonna lie), but it ended up being worth it. the only thing iI can say about having been so far away is that it was really hard to maintain a social life. people hung out after camp and on weekends, but I had to go back to the Bronx every night.
A.S: Could you explain what Usdan was to the readers?
M.M: Well, the general idea is that it's a creative and performing arts summer program. I think the age range was about 8 to 18. Kids could take classes in all kinds of stuff - music, dance, art, theater, writing. Younger kids would choose one major area and one minor area, and older kids had the option of auditioning for more intensive programs in one area.
A.S: For my one summer there I was a Computer Graphics major and a Creative Writing minor. What were you involved in and how did you go about deciding?
M.M: My first summer, I was a musical theater major and a creative writing minor. musical theater was a no-brainer for me, because it was why I decided on the camp in the first place. I'd done a little bit of writing in the past, and so i wanted to explore that also. before my next summer, I auditioned for an intensive musical theater program, called the repertory company, and I spent my next three summers with them.
A.S: What exactly is the Repertory Company?
M.M: The idea behind it, I think, was to give a more intensive experience to really talented kids, especially those who wanted to go on to professional careers. It was really intimidating to be surrounded by that amount of talent; I'd landed there almost by accident with my casual interest in theater, and met kids who had already been on Broadway as children. We put on pretty large-scale productions that were definitely of a higher caliber than what was going on in the downstairs theater.
A.S: Out of all your years at Usdan, what do you think was your favorite production that you were a part of?
M.M: Hmmm. It might be a tie. My first summer, I was cast in Hair. I was 13. I had to pretend to be stoned onstage without even really knowing what it meant, which was hilarious in and of itself. But the show itself is also really fun, and was a great introduction to what theater can create on an empty stage; it requires basically no set, and has a really active and involved ensemble. Once i got to the Repertory Company, things became a little less focused on just having fun and more on creating a quality production (but still having fun!) In 2004 we did Titanic, which has an amazing score by Maury Yeston, and I learned a lot about choral singing that summer. The nature of the show also meant that we got very emotional during rehearsals, and by the end of the summer we'd formed some unusually close bonds as a cast.
A.S: Would you consider those shows part of your best memories of Usdan or is there something, non theater related, that you would consider one of your best moments?
M.M: It's hard to quantify something as non-theater related when, especially during the last three years, I spent pretty much every moment in the rep theater, but I think there were definitely revelatory moments for me during my first summer there. I'd never really had friends from any sort of diverse backgrounds before, and suddenly I had Black friends and Catholic friends and other people who I wouldn't have been able to meet at my Jewish day school. We all came from different cultures and religions, but we all felt really strongly about the arts, and we could be dorks together knowing that everyone around us loved it as much as we did.
A.S: So, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Usdan helped evolve your outlook on life?
M.M: I think the key word there is evolve. it turned my worldview upside down, and over the next few years, and the time after I left, I started gradually piecing it back together. the experienced certainly changed me, but I've also changed since then. My experiences there showed me a little bit of what my life would be if I pursued theater exclusively, and I was able to consider whether or not that was what i wanted. though I ended up taking a different path, I'm a much happier and smarter person for the experiences I had there.
A.S: I am going to hit you with a throwback, do you remember my first venture in publication, The Word? How did I rope you into that and what did you think of it?
M.M: Yes! That was fantastic! I actually found some old copies I'd saved about a year ago when I was cleaning. obviously I cringe at the horrible poetry I gave you back when i was 13 or 14, but I think it was a really ambitious and interesting project, and a good way to reach out and make connections. I think most of us are a little embarrassed at the stuff we wrote as teenagers (and I'm sure I'll want to burn what I wrote in my college fiction classes in a few years), but if I remember correctly, it was part of how we became friends - we were in that creative writing class together, and you handed me a copy asked me if I could submit something for the next issue. The rest is history!
A.S: lol. Yeah, and I still keep creating new projects. I think I got that from my time at Usdan, that you don't stop being creative. What would you say was the most important thing you took away from your time at Usdan?
M.M: Honestly, I'd like to say that it's something all-encompassing about finding my true inner soul or something, but I'm not sure i can. a lot of that happened at Usdan, for sure - but that happens at that age no matter where you are. what I did learn a lot about was theater, and I loved every second of it. I was exposed to it from the inside out like I'd never been before, and that had a profound impact on what I thought i wanted to do with my life. we were intimately involved in every part of the production, learning how all the pieces get put together into a seamless spectacle. I learned a lot, both theoretically and practically, which made me a better, more educated performer. but it also made me realize that theater would only ever just be a hobby for me; I didn't want it as badly as most of those kids did. still, that was a really important realization, and my experiences in that rep theater were a crucial aspect of it. Learning to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses is the most important part of maturity, and that's what my time at Usdan taught me.
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