Scholarship recipient: Chloe Baldwin

Chloe baldwin, class of 2017 , depaul university the theatre school

What is your favorite class this year?

My favorite class has been physical theater and clowning class. My professor's name was Marc Frost, and he was so inspiring. He's part of a company that specializes in both of those things and travels around the country performing. By the end of the quarter, I'd learned an entirely new skill set by applying what we've been working on in the rest of the acting curriculum for the past four years. It was amazing to all these hilarious performances and get to see a side of my classmates that I'd never seen before. One of the characters i developed was simply named "The Captain", and he was a prominent naval officer who'd been out at sea alone too long and became best friends with a mop, a la Castaway. It was a fantastic to go back to the more instinctual part of myself as an artist, and Marc was such a great teacher. 

What activities do you participate in outside of the classroom? 

I've been an intern for R&D Fight Choreography for the past four years and I just completed my apprenticeship with them. We design the violent moments so that they're safe but still look real for theatre companies across Chicago. It's been a great way to meet people and companies and to look at theatre from another angle. It's also a great workout! I've learned that I'm a great leader and teacher, and I'm excited to be able to bring these skills into the theatre companies that i go to work for once I graduate! 

I'm also the Vice President of ST*ARS, which is a community building and fundraising organization for The Theatre School, and I've loved being able to organize events for our community, espcially Mildly Rehearsed Shakespeare and TTS Drag Shows. I'ts a great chance for everyone to express themselves and come together as a group, and its really awesome to be a part of that. Plus, it's taught me a lot about organizational leadership, which will be helpful down the line.

What are your aspirations for after graduation?

After I graduate, I will stay in Chicago and be an actor with Stewart Talent. I just signed with them, which happened because one of my professors brought a Stewart agent into our audition class and we got to meet him. I'm really excited to bring my skills into the city and keep building them -- I'd love to work at Chicago Shakespeare Theater be on Chicago Med sometime, and someday I'd love to star in an action move of some sort. I'm so thankful for the network that DePaul has set up for me and the skills that it's given me to make the kind of art that I want to be making and really do what I love the most in the world.  

What does receiving this scholarship mean to you? 

Receiving this scholarship has meant the world to me. It has meant that i can focus on my studies and launching my career rather than worry too much about debt and finances. It has been such an honor, and it's meant that, for instance, I had time to audition for Oak Park Festival Theatre, and now I have an understudy gig there for this summer that I'm very excited about! 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't even begin to tell you how much this has meant to me. So many people that I look up to have received this honor and it's so inspiring to think that I can follow in their footsteps and affect American theatre as they have. It's amazing to feel that the work I've been pursuing can be of value and that people like you support and encourage it. Not only that, but it's been such a drive and encouragement emotionally. A thousand thanks!!