With the popularity of theatre constantly competing with movies and television, the perception is that finding work as young stage actor is nearly impossible. Recent University of Saskatchewan graduate Miranda Hughes is proving this wrong.

Hughes convocated in April 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in drama and was immediately faced with the prospect of making a living as an actor. Finding acting work requires constant effort, so young actors are increasingly making projects happen on their own.

Hughes got started on her career right away when she and two of her friends co-wrote, co-produced and starred in their well-received play Bear Ass. Debuting at the Saskatoon Fringe Festival, the play centered around three friends heading out into the woods to get drunk, coming to a climax with an exciting — and scary — encounter with a bear.

Showcasing your own work as a young person is a daunting experience, which was made all the more uncomfortable for Hughes and her friends by the fact that the characters were based on themselves — even going so far as to use their own names.

“It was really interesting and challenging to play a version of myself. There were major differences between the character and me, but at the same time they were so close. It was like taking me from four years ago and putting her on stage,” Hughes said.

The experience of viewing herself objectively was strange for Hughes. Finding the balance in her Bear Ass character between her own characteristics and the necessary modifications for the role was a difficult creative process.

It is not guaranteed that a recent graduate from a drama program will find work fresh out of school. Hughes credits her success in securing job opportunities to networking and the professors she worked with at the U of S who have been very supportive of her career.

Hughes also fondly remembers a role that she played in her second year at the U of S. Hughes portrayed the baker’s wife in Into the Woods, which was incredibly formative for her as an actor.

“It was one of those situations where I was watching a lot of actors that I really admired, and I was acting with them and I had to really step up and bring my A-game,” Hughes said, adding that the experience has affected her approach to acting roles ever since.

In addition to acting, costume design has been keeping Hughes busy, with her latest designs due to appear in two upcoming Saskatoon shows: Doctor Frightful Presents: Dead Air at the Refinery and (Post) Mistress at the Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre. Hughes feels that costume design is something she doesn’t want to give up. Combining acting, musical theatre and costume design would be her dream full-time career.

For now, staying in Saskatoon seems to be Hughes’ plan for the near future.

“I feel like I’m just beginning. I talk to my classmates and everyone is working so hard to get these opportunities and everyone’s been growing. I think the most successful thing is all the creativity and the passionate drive that’s come out of the [drama] department recently,” Hughes said.

Saskatoon and its artistic community are important to Hughes. However, being successful in Canadian theatre inevitably involves a willingness to move for work. Hughes wants to find her way to a city larger than Saskatoon eventually.

“I’m not big on the structured plan. I like to work on a more visionary basis; I’d like to leave Saskatoon at some point but I’m not putting a deadline on that,” Hughes said.

The U of S drama department was a starting point for Hughes, but it won’t be the end. Hughes is living proof that there is work out there for a dedicated theatre graduate.

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Photo: J.C. Balicanta Narag