Reporter Volume 25, No.25 April 21, 1994

By BETHANY GLADKOWSKI
Reporter Staff
Her faint British lilt belies the short year she spent amidst English
thespians. Buffalo-born theater/special major Cassie Holl spent her
sophomore year at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England,
studying drama and performing artsQas well as computer science.
	A student in the UB Honors Program, Cassie has been involved
with chorus productions and school dramas since she was 10. Her
repertoire includes two professional shows in England: Showboat and
The Pajama Game; and stateside performances, Carousel for the Greater
Buffalo Opera Company and The Merry Widow with director Charles Nelson
Riley, as well as summer stock productions.
	Currently, Cassie is writing a multi-media production that
will combine dance, drama and music. The theme is based on the
stereotypes that "kids grew up with in the '80s," (such as jock, prep,
hick) and, she hopes, each character by reacting to crisis, will
reveal the real person behind the stereotype.
	She's looking into graduate programs for performing arts at
the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, the Royal Academy for Performing
Arts in London, and the Drama Studio of London. Her foremost goal: to
become director/choreographer of musical theater productions.

Q. You've obviously built yourself an outstanding reputation in the
performing artsQwhat does the "special" part of your major signify?
A. UB's Honors Program was very attractive to me....I was looking for
a mix of music and theater, even though UB's fine arts program seems
to me divided into groups (the Departments of Theatre and Dance and
Music), which do not like each other very much. I created a special
major in what I call "performance art" (instead of theater/dance
studies). It's a broader program. A strong actor may not sing well,
and an excellent singer may not move well. Combining the arts can only
make you more qualified for jobs. So I took mostly dance and acting
classes. My music background came from off-campus ventures.

Q. To study theater in England seems logical. How did you come up with
computer science?
A. I have always loved logic. In high school I took Pascal programming
and loved math and science.

Q. Some would say you chose the impractical, less stable career.
A. My answer to you is: what's a stable job? Look at how many doctors
and lawyers there are. Those fields are competitive because there are
so many of them. A career in the arts is just as competitiveQif you're
good at what you do, you will get the job.
	As for the perception of the arts being easier and secondary
to those "stable jobs," it's the work of the artist to make it look
good. We need the arts. I challenge anyone to picture a world without
the artsQit would be extremely boring. We need people who create
things because art shows us who we are.

Q. You speak fondly of your year abroad. What is your most striking
memory of it?
A. The most striking thing about the trip was more an attitude change.
I don't know how to explain it....I was taking dance lessons from a
studio in town, which was the only one accessible without a car. It
was a run-down, outdated building with a warped floor. I went home
after the first day and cried because I didn't know if I'd get through
it. To make up for it, I stretched and practiced everywhere. In my
room, in practice. The amazing thing is that after I came home, I
danced better than before I had left.

Q. You described the people you met in England as "warm." That doesn't
seem to follow with the stereotype of the stuffy, distant British.
A. I came down with mono at the end of dancing for Showboat in London.
I was in the infirmary for two weeksQI had between six and 14 visitors
every single day. The people were just great. I didn't even go home
for the holidays.

Q. What is the British perception of Americans?
A. The stereotype for Americans was "loud, rude and obnoxious."

Q. Did this make you reluctant to admit you were American?
A. In a way, yes. The other American students were well-to-do. They
represented, sometimes unknowingly, what I call the concept of
"American Excess." Because they had a background of "have" they could
never relate to "have not."
	But I wasn't always recognized as an American....I did take
one trip through Europe, even though I still had mono (I was
determined to travel). During that trip, I didn't have the bright,
trendy clothes the wealthy students wore, so I was not recognized as
an American. It's amazing how quickly a visual image is used to peg
you, and immediately the stereotype is laid upon you.
	You represent your country when you go abroad. I think that
every country has its problems, its good people and bad. But it would
be nice if people could be respected as individuals.

Q. Which UB theater production was your favorite?
A. God's Country was the most relevant thing I've ever done. My major
role was prosecuting attorney. To research the part I called up Peter
Muller, U.S. District Attorney in Seattle, on whom the character was
based. I spoke with him about an hour, asking him all kinds of
questions about his job.
	I'm also proud of choreographing for the Indian Dance Piece in
the 1993 Dancers' Workshop. It's another all-student production, and I
did a lot of research for it.