40 By Renee Rundquist Asha Stichter, a senior theater major, recently played the character “Julie” in a Bethel production of Neil Simon’s “Jake’s Women,” directed by senior Jessica DeGroff. I sat down with her during production to ask a couple of questions. R: “Why did you choose to major in theater?” A: “Well, coming into college, my first major was art and I planned to minor in theater, and then I realized that I missed [theater] too much. Coming into it I just wanted it to be fun, and I realized that I could put a lot of aspects that I’d learned from art into theater.” R: “Why did you decide to come to Bethel?” A: “Since I’m in the area, I had heard a lot about Bethel and the theater department from church friends that had seen previous shows done. I had never seen shows before coming here. So I came from word of mouth, feeling that I was being led here, that I was brought here, I guess.” R: “How many shows have you been involved in at Bethel?” A: “Including this year, 16. [These included] ‘The Butler Did It,’ ‘The Shape of Things,’ ‘1984,’ ‘Christ in the Concrete City,’ ‘Guys and Dolls,’ ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ ‘Don’t Tell Mother,’ ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice.’” R: “What was your favorite show that you’ve been in? What is your favorite show over all?” A: “My favorite show was probably “The Butler Did It,” or “Midsummer Night’s Dream (Adapted Version)” (with Genesians). I mean, I did have fun in “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” but there was just a different aspect in other shows that I liked. I don’t know if I have one [a favorite show overall] because I enjoy a lot of different styles … I think as an actor you have to be up to a lot of different levels or ranges or whatever.” R: “Tell me something interesting about the character you play in this show?” A: “I guess one of the things that sort of really touched me, and it was probably one of the first couple of rehearsals, I realized that [Julie] never got to live out her dreams. She realizes that all of her dreams came true when Jake tells her, and that sort of frightened me. I was like, ‘That’s still years down the road but that’s still somewhat close too.’ And I do have a lot of dreams and I can’t imagine not living them out.” R: “What are you hoping to do with theater after graduation?” A: “I’m hoping to work professionally in theater. I’m going to an audition in Chicago next week and I had to send out 60 headshots … I’m hoping that there’s some callbacks and that there are some doors opened. I think I want to start at a smaller theater and work my way up, if I’m lucky. I just want to see at a smaller scale how the professional world of theater is.
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