By Jessica Barzilay
Bloodshed is not usually a positive sign when it comes to building sets. However, in the case of Theater Program Director Christopher Moore, "it was not a good day’s work unless I bled," he said. Although not a carpenter by trade, Moore has quite a few other occupations to fall back on including teacher, actor, producer, playwright,and director.
Moore began working on productions at the age of 13, and by 17 he was making his living as an actor while simultaneously attending the Northwestern University School of Speech. Performing Arts teacher Ted Walch had taught Moore’s best friend in college as a high school drama student, and it was in this way that Moore first established a connection to Harvard-Westlake.
Later, when Moore ran professional acting classes with Walch, his relationship to the Harvard-Westlake performing arts department grew. He began building sets for school productions as an extra stage hand, resulting in a daily injuries and a fair amount of bleeding, Moore said.
After graduating from college, Moore added to his theatrical resume by starring in what amounted to more than 200 national commercials, guest starring on television shows and acting in stage productions. He was also a member of the Organic Theater Company, a group that specialized in adapting novels into scripts.
His experience reviewing plays gave Moore exactly the preparation he needed to edit and evaluate submissions to the Harvard-Westlake Playwrights Festival, he said. Moore, who spearheads the festival of student-written one act plays, reads and works individually with every playwright over the course of the year.
"From the first draft to the final selections for the festival I hardly have a free period," Moore said.
One year, Moore recorded the cumulative number of script pages he read from September to June and found the total to be a staggering 6,296 pages of plays, he said.
Although it is a grueling time commitment, Moore is willing to put in the time because "the One Acts opens it up for so many people to have fun and try something new out," he said.
Moore’s goal as the leader of the Playwright’s Festival is to create a sense of ensemble on stage, by his work to involve all who audition in the One Acts in some way. He also encourages students to take chances both in his classes and as playwrights.
Moore said he avoids words like "rejection" and to create a classroom environment in which everyone feels very safe.
"It is important that if a student does something brilliant everyone will cheer and applaud, but the next day if they fall on their face, everyone will cheer and applaud them for trying," Moore said.
Some years Moore serves as a director or producer in the Festival in addition to fulfilling his role as mentor and teaching acting classes during the school day.
Being involved in so many aspects of drama has its perks, but Moore also takes advantage of the increased respect that accompanies being an educator, he said.
When Moore drove into Canada to film a commercial, he informed the border patrol that he was an actor. The guard then proceeded to complete a thorough search of his vehicle before allowing him to enter the country. Driving back home, Moore decided to approach his departure from a different angle. Upon the guard’s customary questioning at the border of Vancouver, Moore called himself a teacher. Moore enjoys the side benefits of being a teacher, but his favorite part of the job is giving kids the opportunity to explore storytelling, he said.
The transition from actor to backstage helper to teacher was a natural progression for Moore, and "it’s probably safer that I stay away from building sets," he said.