Magik Theatre Managing Director Melissa Zarb-Cousin has a eager sense of the accountability she and the remainder of the oldsters on the kids’s theater have in shaping the way in which younger audiences view theater.
“A toddler is available in, that is their first time being uncovered to the humanities or at the least to the performing arts, and I need them hooked from that second,” mentioned Zarb-Cousin. “We have now the accountability to domesticate the subsequent era of arts lovers, so we’ve gotta get it proper.
“That’s why we don’t compromise on high quality. That’s important. Simply because it’s a present for youngsters doesn’t imply we get an out in taking a backseat in high quality.”
She’s going to mark her second anniversary as managing director this summer time. She oversees the enterprise aspect of issues whereas Creative Director Anthony Runfola tends to the remainder.
Her path to this job started when she was a child.
Zarb-Cousin, 39, bought her first style of the performing arts within the fourth grade. Her mother introduced residence the solid album for “The Phantom of the Opera,” and as just a little lady, she was immediately captivated.
“There was one thing concerning the music and the expression,” she mentioned. “I realized the entire thing and I’d carry out it with out having any context about efficiency typically, simply an intuition factor.”
She went to the North East College of the Arts, the place she met Ariel Rosen, the daughter of Magik founder Richard Rosen. The teenagers clicked immediately and stay finest mates to today. They spent loads of time hanging out at Magik, together with interning there throughout summer time camps. Additionally they have been capable of stage an all-girl manufacturing of “The Miraculous Saint Joan” within the house.
“We thought we have been all so cool, coming into knowledgeable theater to do a present,” she mentioned. “That was actually the beginning of all of it. Magik has been part of my life since then.”
She has performed plenty of roles within the house together with on stage. She additionally served as govt assistant to Richard Rosen for 5 years. Whereas she was doing that, she was incomes a grasp’s diploma in nonprofit administration from Our Woman of the Lake College.
“In the end, it impressed me to go on the trail that I discovered myself on,” she mentioned. “To return and convey the whole lot I’ve realized and my expertise again to the place it began is past significant.”
She’s additionally grateful to assist protect Richard Rosen’s legacy. The theater is marking its thirtieth anniversary this season, and she or he’s aware of the necessity to ensure it has a stable sufficient basis in order that it lasts at the least one other 30 years.
“It’s not misplaced on me the accountability that I’ve, not just for the Rosens and that legacy, however for town of San Antonio and the youngsters in our neighborhood,” she mentioned. “It’s rather a lot.”
She now feels snug sufficient within the job that she is getting again onstage. She’s going to play Woman Capulet within the San Pedro Playhouse’s manufacturing of “Romeo and Juliet” this summer time.
Realizing precisely what performers want is useful.
“It solely serves me as a pacesetter,” she mentioned. “I feel it’s straightforward to take with no consideration the work of artists, however for me, that’s all the time prime of thoughts and a precedence. That’s one thing that lends to the magic of Magik.”
