Eliza Kuperschmid and Cynthia Ochoa don’t have a lot in frequent on paper.
Kuperschmid, a 22-year-old New Jersey native, was a contemporary graduate of a small faculty when she got here to USC. Ochoa, a 55-year-old mom of three who emigrated from Mexico, obtained each her GED diploma and her undergraduate diploma in her 40s earlier than deciding to additional her schooling.
Regardless of these totally different life journeys, each conquered their self-doubt to get into the Grasp of Wonderful Arts in Dramatic Writing program on the USC College of Dramatic Arts, one of many strongest writing applications within the nation.
This system is among the many college’s smallest and most selective, accepting solely two college students per 12 months out of the roughly 100 who apply. It’s so selective that each Kuperschmid and Ochoa didn’t suppose they’d make the reduce.
“I truly needed to electronic mail the admissions workplace to verify that my acceptance was actual,” Kuperschmid mentioned with fun. “I didn’t suppose I’d even get into a college like USC, a lot much less this particular program.”
These emotions of doubt are a far cry from how the 2 Trojans really feel now. This system has given them confidence, not solely of their writing talents, but in addition of their lives’ journeys.
“After this expertise, I imagine that it doesn’t actually matter what your age is, your situation, the place you’re coming from or your background,” Ochoa mentioned. “For those who imagine in one thing, you may make it occur.”
USC dramatic writing: Accepting the perfect
The dramatic writing Grasp of Wonderful Arts is a three-year program that presently has eight whole college students. Based on program director Luis Alfaro, what the cohort lacks in numbers, it makes up for in life expertise.
“I all the time say that regardless that there’s solely eight, it could actually really feel like 80 simply because they’re all so totally different,” Alfaro mentioned. “We search for individuals who have an innate expertise. We’re not as focused on the place they’re of their profession, but when they present that intuition and talent for the craft.”
Alfaro mentioned having a small cohort permits him to attach with every scholar on a better stage. The scale of his courses permits for a extra individualized setting than the usual lecture corridor, as he’s capable of spend extra time with every scholar.
Considered one of his courses, “Writing the Pacific Rim,” immerses college students in native theater manufacturing, in addition to Los Angeles historical past and town’s artwork and meals scenes.
“Via that they’ve began to find what it means to write down the place you’re at,” Alfaro mentioned.
“They begin to perceive Los Angeles as not simply the place they go to high school, however as a really integral place to the nation.”
Velina Hasu Houston, Distinguished Professor of Theater in Dramatic Writing and resident playwright on the College of Dramatic Arts, additionally encourages college students within the cohort to get impressed by every thing L.A. has to supply. Houston, the founding father of the graduate playwriting program at USC, mentioned that what makes this group particular is that even when L.A. is used as inspiration, every scholar’s life story offers them a definite perspective, bringing a spread of themes to the varied performs.
“I discover that all of them come pushed by this nice ardour to inform tales,” Houston mentioned. “I don’t care if somebody is from the South or the North or the Midwest. I don’t care what age they’re, what race they’re — if I really feel that they’ve a expertise, then I need to nurture and assist that and encourage them to maneuver ahead.”
A contemporary voice for the cohort
Kuperschmid admittedly doesn’t have the identical years of writing expertise as a few of her friends, nor does she declare to be a typical “theater child,” having by no means acted at school performs. She was an English and music double main at Skidmore Faculty who occurred to take a playwriting class for enjoyable, which quickly advanced right into a ardour for the craft.
“Playwriting is, for me a minimum of, the freest medium,” she mentioned. “You may actually do and write about no matter you need in a play.”
She knew that to take her writing to the subsequent stage, she’d should department out of her consolation zone.
“I’ve lived in New Jersey all my life and I went to undergrad in upstate New York,” Kuperschmid mentioned. “As a lot as I cherished my undergrad expertise and being from New Jersey, I actually wished to strive one thing fully totally different as a result of I assumed it will push my writing to have some totally different experiences in life.”
Kuperschmid mentioned USC’s interdisciplinary strategy to studying additionally helped elevate her writing.
“I knew I couldn’t solely get higher at my craft, but in addition be taught new instruments,” she mentioned. “USC additionally has such a status for having a powerful community, in order a younger author with out private connections to the theater or leisure trade, I used to be actually excited in regards to the alternative to make connections at USC to hopefully have a profession sooner or later.”
The lengthy highway to USC dramatic writing program
For Ochoa, it was not simply USC that appeared like a longshot, however increased schooling on the whole. Ochoa was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, although her mom moved her and her sisters round typically resulting from her work. As a single mom, the elder Ochoa pulled Cynthia out of college at solely 16 years outdated to assist assist the household.
Regardless of not ending highschool, Ochoa mentioned she’s all the time been inventive, with a ardour for writing and storytelling. She ultimately married, had youngsters and immigrated to California in 2000. At age 40, with the encouragement of her husband, Ochoa determined to earn her GED certificates. With one academic aim checked off, Ochoa continued her research by taking courses at Southwestern Faculty in Chula Vista, Calif., earlier than transferring to the College of California, San Diego. Regardless of incomes a scholarship to UCSD, Ochoa mentioned she nonetheless felt impostor syndrome and even some embarrassment about her age on campus.
“I used to stroll round campus sporting numerous caps as a result of I didn’t need individuals to have a look at my face and see that I used to be older,” Ochoa mentioned. “I felt like I didn’t slot in in any respect, however my want to finish my schooling was so sturdy that I simply saved going.”
Ochoa graduated from UCSD with a 3.94 GPA. When she determined to pursue a grasp’s diploma, one in all her professors advised USC, the place she has discovered assist from each her cohort and school. Three years later, she’s on the verge of graduating with a Grasp of Wonderful Arts diploma from USC with one in all her performs, Matriarch, named as a semifinalist on the Bay Space Playwrights Competition. She additionally introduced her thesis, Damaged Shells, at USC’s New Works Competition in early March of this 12 months.
“Although I didn’t imagine in myself at first, I feel I can lastly cease and say, ‘You’re proficient,’” Ochoa mentioned.
The highway forward
Whereas Kuperschmid and Ochoa hope to write down professionally and have their work featured on stage, each Trojans imagine that the talents discovered on this program will assist them in wherever their careers take them.
“The dream is clearly to see one thing I wrote carried out on stage, however one other dream — that I instructed my USC professors about throughout my interview — is to be a university professor for writing or playwriting, particularly,” Kuperschmid mentioned. “It’s simply thrilling to know that there are far more potentialities than I initially thought.”
One certainty for each college students is that their cohort and time at USC will all the time be pricey to their hearts.
“My time right here at USC has been every thing,” Ochoa mentioned. “Now that I’m attending to the end line, I’m nearly mourning that it’s ending as a result of I really feel like I belong right here. I imply, I’m on campus proper now and I don’t really feel like I’ve to put on a cap, which says loads.”