Artist Director invites aspiring actors to follow their dream
The acting bug has come to Mission Valley in the form of the Trinity Theatre Company, a local grass-roots theater group that has been operating in San Diego since 2012. The theater not only serves as an entertainment venue, but more importantly as a school for aspiring actors to learn the craft and cut some chops.
Sean Boyd is the Artistic Director and CEO at Trinity Theatre Company (TTC) and runs the group with his brother Connor who serves as the Associate Artistic Director. Both brothers got into acting at a very early age and fell in love with the craft. “I started doing youth theater at age 10 with my brother over at the Salvation Army Joan Kroc Center, and just knew right there, this is it!” Boyd said. “This is the environment I need to be in – a quirky little kid like myself, having those quirky little people around me I think was exactly perfect; and that bug never wore off!”
The theater is located on the west end of the Westfield Mission Valley shopping center near the Outback Steakhouse and Target. The shopping center was built over 60 years ago, so it comes with abstract old-school ideas such as ample parking and easy access. This makes the TTC one of the most convenient theaters to attend. Not only that, but there are numerous places to grab a bite before or after the show. This makes for a win/win situation for both the theater and the mall.
Boyd feels blessed to have been in the right place at the right time in securing this unorthodox locale for a theater, but he also has a “why not?” mantra that has served him his entire life. “Luckily, we use a PO box right here and every time we were walking by and saw an empty venue we said ‘Why not? Why not that space?’ And everybody complains about parking in San Diego, well, we’ve got the best parking in San Diego! We just moved into this space on May 22nd, and started programing on June 14th. So it was a pretty fast turnaround in terms of getting the space ready to go for our youngest campers. And truly it’s been a nice synergistic opportunity, I think all the companies around us are happy to have us, we’re happy to be around them, the gelato shop right in front of us is just delighted to serve gelato during the intermission break so it works well with them! Trinity Theater started back in 2012 – while I was still a senior in high school – and for a long time we would work with our communities to find venues that we could use as performance space. We performed with Community Actors Theater in City Heights, the Swedenborg Hall in University Heights, and the Tenth Avenue Arts Center in East Village Downtown; so we’ve been all over the map!
The venue includes a stage that is 32 feet wide by 10 feet deep. It also features 62 seats, which will be mounted on risers for optimal viewing. TTC operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit and includes education as a big part of its mission statement. It operates as a theater school for the community as much as a performance venue. “Our mission is to unify friends, family and the community using theater and arts education as our facilitator,” Boyd added. “And we believe that anyone who has an interest and a passion for the arts should be able to participate regardless of past experience, so we’ve been very fortunate to merge the talents of the seasoned professional with the aspiring newcomer.”
Boyd is Irish, and seeing as how he and his brother and father were so instrumental in getting the company off the ground, they decided to adopt the Celtic Trinity Knot design as their logo. The trinity idea refers to the three pillars they aim to bring together through their programming: friends, family, and community. This is a big part of their mission statement, as well as focusing on both youth and amateur theater fans that are looking for a way to break into the theater scene. Boyd says he makes it a point to reach out to under-represented areas of San Diego to find students that might slip through the cracks otherwise.
“We really think about the geographic barriers as a big piece and so a lot of our programs push out into different communities and areas. We’re very fortunate to have partnerships with the South Bay Union School District, the Escondido Union School District, we’ve worked with San Diego Unified with the Level Up program through the San Diego Foundation so we can go directly into the schools and provide students with the access right there without needing to drive to Mission Valley here. We also try to provide financially accessible opportunities so we do offer a number of programs for adults free of charge – our Living Room Readers Theater is one of our favorites – it allows artists to show up on Sunday with no reservation required. We’ll put all of our characters into a hat for a random show that we’ve picked usually that day. So as artists arrive we say ‘Read this, this is your character for today and good luck to ya!’ And that’s always a fun experience.”
TTC is currently putting together a production of Charlotte’s Web, which will be ready to open on December 14. This promises to be a very popular play with unique costumes and sets, and the turnout is expected to be very robust.
Community participation is highly encouraged by Boyd in many different aspects. “So we’re a 501(c)(3) organization and we rely heavily on contributions so that we can continue to provide these free programs that give right back to the community,” Boyd noted.
As with any non-profit, the need for donations is often matched with the need for volunteers who are key to making the program work. Trinity is now seeking dedicated volunteers to help with administration, front of house, lobby decorations, set builds, strikes, and more. Anybody interested can reach out to connor@trinityttc.org to learn more about getting involved. Boyd’s answer to anyone who is interested in theater is to stop on by and talk to him. “Come! Come! And even if you’re thinking maybe this isn’t for you, try it! Try it! And we’ll tell you that you should be here!”
