Storytelling Through Theatre

By Jonathan Lorenzen ’11

If you see Prof. Jay Sierszyn and ask him how he’s doing, he will be the first to warn you, “I’m going to answer with a story.” Sierszyn, associate professor and director of theatre at WLC, will retire this summer after 21 years of service. Being a storyteller seems to be at the heart of his winding path into the theatre vocation: “When I’m asked what I do, I say that I ‘tell stories.’ That encompasses what I do in theatre.”

Throughout high school and into college, Sierszyn thought he was going to be a band director. He credits his high school music instructor, Dave Krubsack, with opening his eyes to becoming an educator: “Still to this day, I think he had the most influence on my going into the vocation of teaching. It was just who he was and what he did.”

In college, Sierszyn joined a traveling Christian pop music-theatre group called Joy Incorporated. The troupe toured the country in a converted school bus, performing concerts and children’s shows. “That was a time of really solidifying my faith. We would do a daily Bible study, and it was, in a sense, a very public ministry.” The experience also guided him further along his teaching journey: “It made much more clear the vocational callings I felt in both music and theatre, as well as to teach.”

After graduation, Sierszyn taught English at an all-boys Catholic high school in Chicago. In addition to his teaching duties, he coached wrestling, started a speech program, and ran the after-school drama club.

Realizing that he was most in his element while leading the drama club, Sierszyn began applying for college teaching positions after earning a Master of Arts in Theatre from Northern Illinois University.

The shift toward a career in theatre education, however, would come while pursuing a music education degree at Concordia Teachers College (now Concordia University Chicago). He encountered a formidable roadblock, otherwise known as Music Theory II. “The Lord made me realize how music should maybe just be a minor. He showed me that I just wasn’t gifted that way.”

Sierszyn received an offer to start the theatre program at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa, where he served on the faculty for 13 years. During this time, he got involved in professional groups such as the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). Sierszyn had a serendipitous meeting with Prof. Jan Nelson from WLC at an ATHE convention in New York City, which proved to be an important moment in his theatre career.

Several years later, and at a career crossroad, Sierszyn reached out to Nelson, who happened to be looking for a theatre faculty member. After a series of campus visits and meetings, Sierszyn accepted the call to serve at WLC.

His first years at WLC were dedicated to teaching set design and lighting. Over time, faculty and program changes led to Sierszyn’s role becoming more comprehensive. These expanded opportunities allowed him to dive deeper into his vocational calling: “I’ve never not been a teacher. My mission is the teaching aspect of getting students to see why they do theatre, and having them come to an understanding that it’s not just about them performing.”

Sierszyn understands theatre to be the art of telling the human story. “You can’t have theatre without the subject matter being human life.” He helps students recognize that, when engaging with scripts and shows, characters will reflect real people, warts and all. “In plays, we are exploring what it means to be human, and that includes our sinful nature.”

Whether serving as director, designer, or producer, Sierszyn was intricately involved in almost every Raabe Theatre production throughout his 21-year WLC career. To him, a good show is one that connects students and audiences to something known, while also exposing them to the unknown: “If it’s too cliché, and there’s nothing new and nothing different, then it’s a snooze. On the other hand, a story shouldn’t be told in such a way that people have no idea what’s going on. We need enough of what we recognize, and yet be told something new.”

When pressed for the favorite play from his WLC tenure, Sierszyn answered: “My favorite show is the next one. I feel I am called to be in the moment.”

Of course, Sierszyn wasn’t without a handful of highlights as seen from the director’s chair. The seasoned theatre professor remembered fondly Dead Man Walking, which he produced with an “ensemble” approach. “It was this very loose kind of thing. Most of the characters weren’t cast until about eight to ten days before we opened, and it drove the students nuts. I had them bring much of their own ‘self’ to the characters and do research on the subject matter.”

The Tempest was another favorite: “The cast was wonderful and so willing to explore things. We brought back alumni to be in the show and to compose the music.” Sierszyn’s memories kept flowing: “How to Succeed in Business was my first big show at WLC. The unrehearsed Shakespeares and The Bending of the Bow – the ones I’m thinking of all came out of the ‘ensemble’ experience and were not as scripted. These shows had creativity that came from being in the moment, which made them totally unique.”

A number of his WLC theatre students have gone on to do professional theatre as actors, writers, technicians, and managers. Many more have found themselves serving their neighbor off the stage. “The way we do theatre very much fits the mission of WLC. We want to just as much celebrate someone whose vocational calling doesn’t end up being in theatre as we do our alumni in the field.”

Sierszyn’s WLC

swan song, Quilters, will premier in April. “In Quilters, we hear many of these little stories, or ‘patches,’ and just like a quilt, they become part of a larger thing that is passed on from generation to generation.” The great storyteller could not have picked a more perfect show at which to take his final bow.

Visit wlc.edu/theatre-productions for information about Quilters and an expanded version of this story.