Meet Laura Zablit of The Old Globe in Balboa Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Zablit.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Laura. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Today, I’m a community arts organizer, journalist, and interactive performer. Theatre is like my annoying roommate for life. I keep deciding I’m going to move out, burn the bridge, and strike out in a totally different direction. But this roommate just won’t leave my side! Or maybe I keep coming back. Or maybe all the world’s a stage. I grew up loving theatre as a space where the best kind of vulnerability is rewarded instead of punished. The kind of vulnerability that involves loosening the death grip on one’s own self-image, in order to truly connect with another human. Then I earned a BFA in drama, and though I loved the classroom, I didn’t see that kind of vulnerability playing out in a lot of professional theatre settings. So I broke up with theatre and did a bunch of other things instead–I traveled, I live-in nannied, I created marketing editorial content for nonprofit organizations, I published journalistic articles, I performed as a drag king in more accessible spaces around town, and finally ended up loving a job in refugee resettlement, coordinating programs for refugee youth and families here in San Diego. I thought I was done hopping around.

But then, I reached out to The Old Globe to try and bring creative experiences and opportunities to my refugee clients. And I kept seeing firsthand how theatre can do something really crucial, that nothing else in the whole world can do in quite the same way. Theatre doesn’t have to require spoken or written fluency in a certain language, a certain age, or training with complex tools. It opens the door for people to define and share their own narrative, and thereby shape reality. It can be a powerful, unifying force. Believing that, I was really excited to join the arts engagement team at The Old Globe and dive into the best-of-all-worlds. I get to stay connected to communities across San Diego, and still be immersed in the arts, all day every day. I get to keep meeting amazing new people, and keep learning with role models in the field like Freedome Bradley-Ballentine and Katie Harroff. More recently, I’ve gotten to bring some of the interactive performance practices that I developed onstage in Hillcrest, and re-purpose them for The Old Globe’s digital programming through “Word Up!”

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I remember being in rehearsal in acting school–the same room, with the same people, saying the same lines, over and over again–and wishing I could go literally anywhere else and talk to literally anyone else. I wanted to walk downstairs, cross the street, and have a conversation with the kind man who worked at the deli next door. I wanted to interview everyone I encountered on a walk around the block. I wanted to say “excuse me” to a stranger as I moved past them! Anything, except the sound of my own voice saying these same words again to the same air. That was when I thought I needed to pursue journalism instead of theatre–because I wanted to talk to more people, ask them questions, connect with them. And I absolutely love writing whenever I do take on an article for publication–but I have also found exactly what I’m looking for, right back in the world of theatre. I just needed to find arts engagement to meet and learn from people who hold a similar set of theatre values–namely, an awareness and interest in theatre’s relevance and roots beyond “theatre people.”

We’d love to hear more about the organization.
The Old Globe’s mission statement, “to make theatre matter to more people”, really resonates with me. In the statement, I see the onus being, not on “people” to believe that theatre matters, but on “theatre” to DO something, to BE something that does genuinely matter to more people. Something that people actively give a darn about. And this puts the responsibility on us as a theatre company to shape theatre in a way, specifically to make it matter. What an electrifying directive!

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I am far more curious and eager, than I am afraid of failure. I always want to know “what if . . .” and “why not . . .” And that has definitely backfired many times! But ultimately, it has liberated me to do so many things that have brought me profound joy and learning, and led me to treasured experiences of grace and connection with others. My curiosity and eagerness overpower a fear that might otherwise limit what I do and how I do it. And I guess my stubbornness . . . erm, I mean, determinedness . . . may also factor into that.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1363 Old Globe Way San Diego, CA 92101
• Website: https://www.theoldglobe.org/
• Email: theoldglobegfa@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tog_ae/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TOGArtsEngagement
• Other: https://linktr.ee/tog_ae

Image Credit:
Rich Soublet II

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