But acting is not just about finesse--it's abusiness. Being in Cambridge means operatingremotely from home base and dealing with the factthat you're not where the action is.
"Being so far away from [Los Angeles] andunavailable for projects has certainly been a painfor my agent," Weinger says. "[But] I know thatcasting people and movie studios get pretty sickof seeing these lightweight young actors withnothing going on in their minds."
Jason S. Chaffin '00-'01, who has performed inprofessional productions in regional theaters forseveral years (he recently won the New JerseyTheatre Critics Award for Best Featured Actor in"The Who's Tommy"), is fully conscious ofHarvard's sparse drama offerings. Chaffin is alsoquick to note that if a student is looking forfour years of formal theater training, a certainIvy League school in New Haven has a ratherprestigious drama program.
"But going to Yale is too high a price,"Chaffin--a psychology concentrator--says. "I'drather get a non-acting degree from Harvard and goto classes in the summer than go to a schoolexclusively for drama. Not that it would be awaste of time but...casting directors areinundated with [actors with Bachelor and Master ofFine Arts degrees]," he says.
Still, the liberal-arts quest forwell-roundedness can mean sacrificing formalresume-building.
Cohen notes that it is nearly impossible tomaintain a career while at Harvard.
"You're stuck in a very academically rigorousprogram where you have to devote a lot of time toyour studies, and it's tough," Cohen says.
But college can be a time for honing basicskills through vocal, dramatic or dance work.Cohen spent two years as a tenor and a featuredsoloist in the all-male a cappella group, theHarvard Krokodiloes, and says the experience hashelped him prepare for re-entry into the theaterworld after commencement.
"Singing with the Kroks for two years kept meperforming, made me very comfortable on stage, andgot my voice into the best shape it's ever beenin," Cohen says.
For Chaffin, it's been participation in campusproductions that has sated his desire to be in thespotlight.
Two weeks ago, the first-year spent 10 hours aday rehearsing for two shows simultaneously. "It'salways a blast meeting new people and sharing thestage," he says, "and, yes, Harvard shows willhelp my resume."
Although Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC)productions can offer limited exposure to bothroles and professional contacts, campus theater isa student activity--not Broadway.
"It's important to have connections," Chaffinsays, "but given that Harvard will produceexponentially more Freuds than Lloyd-Webbers, it'smore important to use acting in college as afriend-making opportunity."
According to these students, it's when youstart acting outside of college that life startsgetting complicated.
On The Road Again
These days you might see Irene S. Ng '97 inCabot Library, studying furiously for hermid-April MCAT exam.
But not for long.
Ng--star of Nickelodeon's "The Mystery Files ofShelby Wu"--will be on the road again soon,packing up and moving to Montreal for five monthsof week-long, 12-hour-a-day tapings for theteen-detective show.
The aspiring Harvard Medical School student isalso one of Boston Magazine's 50 most intriguingwomen and one of Ms. Foundation's most positiverole models for young women with, among others,Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and talkshow host Oprah Winfrey. With so many professionalcommit-