Seniors Sidney Hulburd ’14 and Cody Anderson-Salo ’14 were both part of the cast for the fall production Almost, Maine, and attended the Boston University Summer Theater Institute (BUSTI) together this past summer.
BUSTI is a five-week program that mirrors a bachelor of fine arts experience and gives a taste of a conservatory education. Hulburd and Anderson-Salo took classes in acting, design, voice, singing and stage combat, and they created their own original works of theater.
“It was really cool to see how I grew as an actor,” Hulburd said. “Ms. Hynds even said to me when I auditioned for Almost, Maine, ‘What happened to you? You’re changing from day to day, and it’s great!’ and I definitely give that to Boston.”
Inspired by Mrs. Hynds’ acting class sophomore year, Hulburd began her Deerfield theater career that spring when she joined the cast of The Dining Room. Since then, Hulburd has participated in two other Deerfield productions and developed a love for acting. “After this summer, I realized that it’s just something that I really love to do, and I’m going to give it my all,” she said.
Growing up, Hulburd was exposed to various forms of art, including singing, dancing and drawing. She found that acting resonated with her the most. “Acting is like storytelling, and it gets people thinking about things,” she said. “If you can express it, it gets people talking. And that’s what I want to do in life; I want to get people talking about real issues and real current events. I think it’s so important for people to get themselves out there and go see art, and be cultured.”
Anderson-Salo, having grown up watching his older brother act in Deerfield plays, described himself as a “home-grown product” of Deerfield’s theater program. “Just being around that, and going and watching the shows at Deerfield made me really want to act,” he explained.
This past summer in Boston allowed him to focus on his individual technique. “[BUSTI] had a lot of focus on yourself as an actor,” he said. “For example, what you’re trying to get out of the scene, and what your interaction with your scene partner is.”
Anderson-Salo also expressed a deep appreciation for Ms. Hynds and the Deerfield theater program. “We have a lot of focus on the ensemble; [Ms. Hynds] is not developing individual actors, she’s developing an acting
program, where we can have a blend of incredibly experienced actors and new actors to form something greater than ourselves.”
Anderson-Salo believes both programs have been incredibly enriching for him as an actor. “Most of my experience has been with the Deerfield program,” he said. “I feel like I could take elements from the Deerfield program and elements from the BUSTI program, and blend them into a better system for me as an actor.”
Anderson-Salo hopes to continue acting in college. “I’ve looked at colleges which I believe have a strong acting program that I could be involved in, but also be able to pursue other interests,” he said.
Hulburd is more focused on acting as a career. “I could care less if I don’t become a famous actress,” she said. “I just want to do anything that has to do with theater.”
“I think that success comes within what you define as your goal,” Hulburd added. “Success doesn’t mean fame and money, success means happiness to me. So I could be the happiest girl, have a family and live in a small town and be a director or actress at a community theatre, and I’d be so happy just to keep [acting]. I think you just have to listen to what your heart says.”