In our first issue of the year, JustArts talked with Brandeis alumna Lynda Bachman '10, who worked at an arts camp on campus over the summer. Bachman graduated with a B.A. in Sociology and Theater Arts and was involved with the Undergraduate Theater Collective and Rather Be Giraffes.

JustArts: How did your time here at Brandeis affect your future career or artistic inspirations?
Lynda Bachman: I didn't really explore theater seriously until college. The UTC was this incredible playground where I got to experiment, make mistakes and figure out what I really care about as an artist. It was also my first real artistic community. The Theater department gave me a strong foundation in technique and an opportunity to develop my craft with really excellent teachers and mentors.
JA: Do you have a particular theater or other artistic project that has been a favorite to work on?
LB: That is a really tough question. I don't think I could name a favorite. Partly because since Brandeis I have a made a concerted effort to expose myself to as many different types of theater as possible and I have loved so many projects for very different reasons. I have worked on Sondheim, Shakespeare, devised work, musicals with kids, new plays and a wide range of other projects. I've been very lucky and I have learned a lot about myself as a theater artist. I work as both a director and a teaching artist. One thing I do know for sure is that teaching theater is the most fulfilling thing I do as an artist.
JA: This summer, you spent four weeks at Brandeis teaching art in a Jewish setting to high school student as part of BIMA, a program hosted here. What encouraged you to get involved with this summer program?
I was recommended to BIMA by my friend and mentor, Jon Adam Ross, and so glad that he helped me make that connection. BIMA is an exceptional program for high school students. Truly exceptional-there is no other program like it. I jumped at the chance to return to Brandeis to teach and devise theater with smart, engaged, creative high school students in a pluralistic Jewish setting. As a director I am not always able to marry my Jewish background with my work. It is a major part of my identity and of course informs everything I do, but at BIMA I not only get to teach as a Jewish artist, but also explore what being a Jewish artist means to me. Also, devising theater with teenagers is my favorite thing to do as a director and teacher. It combines all of the things I love most about theater: collaborative creation and education. BIMA is a perfect fit for my goals and interests and it was an incredibly fulfilling summer.
JA: Could you give a brief summary of what exactly you did with the BIMA students? What do you think is the most important lesson or skill the students got out of the program?
LB: There were multiple components to the theater major at BIMA: technique and skill development classes, a special workshop with a professional playwright, seeing professional productions in Boston and devising an original play. The summer started with an intensive focus on skill development and honing the craft. As the summer progressed our focused shifted to applying the techniques and skills to our devised process and working toward completion of our collaboratively created play... if I could only teach them one thing it would be that theater is the art of empathy.
JA: Among your many roles, you were the head of the theater arts program at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. How did you combine Jewish traditions and themes with theater while working at the camp?
LB: Easily. One of the things I love about theater, and art in a general, is that it a conduit for expression. You can use the theater to explore just about anything. At camp, this manifested in a wide variety of ways. We create Jewish theatre-exploring Jewish texts, themes, rituals, etc. through theatrical representations. We put on big musicals in Hebrew ... We teach Storahtelling, which is a method of studying Jewish source texts through theater and performing theatrical translations of Torah readings. Part of the goal of theater at Camp Ramah is also to teach high level skills and actor training, so that campers can develop as artists and still go to Jewish summer camp.
JA: What makes your unique artistic style different than other directors and educators?
LB: I am still figuring that out. I know that collaboration is at the heart of my work as a director and educator. I believe strongly in empowering my fellow artists to bring their creativity to whatever work we are doing. As a director and teacher I see my role as a facilitator and a guide-I challenge, I support and I both contain and channel the ensemble's vision to its final realization. I gravitate toward theater that is challenging and rich, both in text and subject matter. And I enjoy a good dose of theater magic.

-Jessie Miller