USD Magazine, Spring 1999

BY MICHAEL R. HASKINS

B rian Hutchison is nearly naked. Stripped down to a Speedo, posed on a revolving platform, he slowly spins. He sees every member of the hushed audience, and they see every inch of him. There are no props to shield him, no other actors sharing the stage to draw attention away from him. At age 28, the USD student is alone in the spotlight at one of the most respected theaters in the country. "Every actor will be asked to do something like this at some point," says Hutchison of his soliloquy from The American Dream, one of 21 vignettes from the plays of Edward Albee presented collectively as Albee's Men. "You have to be willing to do things as an actor that go against your nature, to be completely different than you would be in real life. You have to be comfortable enough with yourself and confident enough to just get into it and do it." OK, so maybe "Just Do It" is a slogan most closely associ– ated with Nike, but students in USD's master of fine arts in dramatic arts program - known informally as the USD/Old Globe Theatre MFA - put the folks in those sneaker commer– cials to shame. They learn about acting, of course, but mostly they act.

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