The Play's Her Thing

It's been 15 years since members of the Caltech community last produced and performed a musical, and five years since a student directed a Caltech production.

Now Christina Kondos, a sophomore majoring in economics, has taken on the plum job of directing I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. A musical comedy with book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts, it's the second-longest-running Off Broadway musical and was nominated in 1997 for the Outer Critics Circle Award as Outstanding Off Broadway Musical.

The show is being presented in Caltech's Ramo Auditorium under the auspices of EXPLiCIT, the newly formed EXtracurricular PLayers at CIT, and sponsored by the Institute's venerable Theater Arts at Caltech (TACIT) program. Showtimes are Friday, May 7, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, May 8, at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. For tickets, please contact the Caltech Ticket Office. Admission is free to Caltech students with ID.

Kondos was attracted to the musical because of the way in which it deftly explores love and relationships. Through a series of witty vignettes, it develops its theme from dating through marriage to child rearing.

"Everyone can relate to it," she says. "Everyone has had at least one of the experiences—a first date, kids screaming in the back seat on a road trip. It's about life and love, relationships—sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. That's what life is all about."

Thoroughly enjoying the challenge of her first directorial effort at the Institute, she readily acknowledges that doing the show at a bigger institution with more resources would be easier. On the other hand, she says, staging such a production at Caltech is more fun. Not to mention more rewarding in terms of community involvement.

"The reaction has been stunning," she says, referring to the number of Caltech community members who have volunteered for every aspect of the show, from performing to lighting design. She was hoping to get lots of undergraduates involved and has succeeded. She's even had students volunteering to play in the orchestra.

It's a very minimalist orchestra. One of the things that drew Kondos to the musical is the fact that it requires only a piano and a violin for accompaniment. Being very much theater of the imagination, the show requires the simplest of props, and almost no set.

The biggest attraction is simply the sheer entertainment value. "I love happy plays," she says. "I love comedies. I want to be entertained, and there's something about singing and dancing and acting that is really entertaining. You can be over the top."

She grins. "I'll sell their pride to get a laugh," she says, referring to her cast. "They'll say, 'That seems silly.' And I'll say, 'But it's funny!'"

Kondos says that part of what's great about doing theater at Caltech is the diversity of the cast. Everyone brings something to the table—none of it relating to Actors' Equity. "The beauty of Caltech is that none of us are theater majors," she says.

So what does it take to be a good director? "Listening to the actors," she says. "Rather than imposing your view, get their impression. The more they own the scene, the more joy they feel about the characters, the more effort they put in. And," she adds, "if it doesn't work, we try again."

Confident as Kondos is, she still has moments of uncertainty. "Sometimes I say, 'I don't know what I'm doing here.' I ask for suggestions and comments. I try to stay chill. Sometimes there's too much stress. After all, if it's not fun, what's the point?"

She's discovered that putting on a musical also involves getting the right balance of singing and acting from the cast. "Not everyone comes from the same place vocally," she says. "Some are good actors but fight the music."

Kondos loves to sing but sees herself as more of a pianist—though she emphatically will not be dividing her attention between directing and playing. She also loves acting.

"Some actors overthink," she maintains. "Acting should come easily." Rather than worry too much about things like motivation, she says, actors should just go with the flow.

The "orchestra," composed of violinist June Wicks and pianist Pam Tadross, both undergraduates, warms up during a rehearsal. Credit: David Seal

Since this is the first musical on campus since Caltech Theater Arts presented Stephen Sondheim's Assassins in 1995, does Kondos feel more like a pioneer or a revivalist? The latter, she says, looking forward hopefully to more such productions at the Institute.

"Part of me is thinking this has to be big," she says. "Otherwise we won't be doing another student show for 20 years."

Kondos became interested in acting at a very early age—"when I was four and realized ballet wasn't going to work out for me."

She spent her childhood in Wisconsin, daughter of a Midwestern mother and first-generation-American father whose family had emigrated from Greece. Her family later moved to Dallas, Texas. There, precocious in the way of so many Caltech students, she actually spent her last two years of high school at the University of North Texas, which, she says, has "one of the best jazz schools, music schools, and theater schools."

Still, she chose to come to Caltech. "I tell people it was a sign from God," she says with a smile. "I really do feel there's a purpose in my being here." She loves involving people in having a good time, especially at Caltech.

She'd also like to see her fellow Techers get more involved in applying their knowledge and training to areas outside academia. Interning last summer in the Washington, D.C., office of Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, where she helped to write a nanotechnology bill, she was shocked to find that none of the people she dealt with knew much about the science involved. The experience helped convince her that there is a need for people with backgrounds in science and math to be in government.

Her own passion is applied mathematics. "I'm doing it every day," she says. "I'll be watching sports and find myself working out the betting lines. It's why I'm majoring in economics."

Despite this, Kondos feels she is very much a people person. She concedes that this makes her a bit unusual at Caltech. But that's OK, she says, because "Caltech is a very accepting place."

She became involved with campus theater almost immediately after arriving at Caltech, when she found herself cast as Mary Sherman Morgan, the 1950s rocket-fuel pioneer who is the heroine of George Morgan's play Rocket Girl. Indeed, Kondos was in every scene but two.

"It was very intense," she says. "Getting here, trying to figure out Caltech, and doing the show at the same time. But I'm glad I did it."

The experience has certainly provided her with her share of "only at Caltech" moments. While doing her Physics 1a homework during one Rocket Girl rehearsal, she was startled when a fellow cast member—an engineer from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory—pronounced the problem that she was trying to solve "impossible, something that could never happen in real life."

He took her book and turned to a different problem. "Let's do this one!" he insisted, her assigned problem notwithstanding. She finally had to return to her dorm to finish her work.

Caltech undergraduates Andy Matuschak and Kenzie Day embark on a hopeful if slightly awkward first date in the musical number "Stud/Babe." Credit: David Seal

She has also heard some decidedly unusual excuses for being late to rehearsal: "I'm sorry I'm late—there was a problem in deep space." No further explanation—just that. "My laser exploded," proclaimed another laggard. (Yes, Kondos adds, the cast member's laser really had exploded.)

So where do her schoolwork and stagecraft intersect? They really don't, according to Kondos. "The only connection is that theater keeps me sane for doing my schoolwork," she says. "Everybody needs an outlet."

She sees no contradiction in being as passionate about people as she is about problem sets. Indeed, it would be difficult to find a more seamless blend of intellect, idealism, talent, and the gift for having a good time. At Caltech, it's safe to say, whether she's in the classroom or lab or on stage . . . it's showtime.