Summer — 2007

Rudy Caseres

Theatre

“When I walk onto the campus at SMC, I know it’s going to be a good day and that I’m not going to be disappointed.”

Even though he commutes to SMC every day from San Pedro—by bus!—Rudy Caseres was able to report, “I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had in my life! It’s the people, the teachers, and the whole Theatre Arts Department. I just love everything about being here,” he says with large enthusiasm. “I’ve found out that in our department there are so many outgoing and creative people to have fun with. And I just feel like I have a lot in common with them.” But it’s taken Rudy some time to become the man-about-town he’s turning into.

“I’ve always liked entertaining people, but as a kid, I was very shy and inward-looking. But now I’m very open to people, and feel eager about putting on a good show for them,” he says. “It’s one of the goals of theater to help each other out and to look as much at the positives sides of life as possible.” Rudy refers to filling in at the last moment for SMC’s production of Amadeus as “the biggest challenge of my life! But I had incredible fun and a lot of that is due to our teachers who gives their whole hearts to you, and are very loving right from the beginning.”

Rudy plans to transfer to Cal State Long Beach. “But there’s also a possibility—if I can pay for it!—to study in England,” he says. But at the moment, he was feeling pretty ecstatic about SMC’s new Theatre Arts Complex. “I wasn’t really a fan of where we had to perform at the Airport Arts Campus, because it felt cramped. But our new space looks completely professional, and our faculty is among the best in all SMC departments, I’d say.” It’s Rudy’s current hope to expand his range as an actor into the performance of musicals. “I love that form of theater!” he says. “But if they ask me to dance, they’ll just have to put me in a wheelchair!”

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