Jazmine Thompson Ramay chats exuberantly about her actor’s training and the recent news that she was one of only a few actors in the world chosen to attend an
upcoming special conference. She knows her enthusiasm shows—she just can’t help it.
“I try to be pragmatic, but I get so excited it’s hard to be,” she said.
On the cusp of graduating from the PCPA program at Allan Hancock College, having pulled off some outstanding performances—like her portrayal of one of the Wyrd Sisters in PCPA’s recent Macbeth—and already generating interest from the work she’s sent out to agents, Ramay has no need to explain her excitement. But she tries anyway.
“Because of this experience with PCPA, I’ve gone from amateur to professional,” she said. “I can now call myself an actor, when I really wasn’t two years ago.”
Her experience is drawing notice, but one response took her by surprise: an invitation to participate in the International Cabaret Conference at Yale University this summer. The conference is an intensive nine-day teaching program in the art of cabaret performance and trains professionals for the live entertainment industry.
Ramay wasn’t initially familiar with the honor, so she had some of her mentors check it out.
“They said there’s some really big names attached to this,” Ramay said.
In fact, not only were there some notables involved, but she learned only 36 students from around the world were invited.
Even more surprising for her was that the program centered on cabaret.
“I was very surprised,” she said. “I’ve never been viewed as a musical theater type, but I felt like things have been gearing that way.”
She was increasingly told through her training, she said, that she needs to pick more cabaret-like songs. When the invitation came, she took it as a sign: She should add another level of depth to her experience and nurture the musical theater side of her. That side, after all, is where others are seeing potential.
Shifting her perspective was easy, however, compared to the financial challenge of getting to the conference. Ramay only just returned to the workplace after spending two years in the PCPA program. She’s been sending out sponsorship packages to try to come up with the funds. Through friends and family, she’s been able to come up with the money to pay for the non-refundable deposit, and she remains positive she’ll be able to come up with the rest.
“I’m sort of gambling, but I feel you kind of have to to get what you want,” she said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone just takes what she wants. Give her what she wants at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 3, 2010.
