Social worker by day, theater artistic director by night
| Tuesday, Jul 20 2010 05:51 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Jul 20 2010 06:29 PM
By Camille Gavin
Contributing columnist
gavinarts@aol.com
Michael Pawloski is a social worker by day, a theater director by night.
Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not.
"As a director, you want to fix things --that's what we're supposed to do," he said. "In social work you don't do that; you don't fix things, you're supposed to help clients figure out for themselves what to do about their problems."
Even so, Pawloski, 26, enjoys both his vocation and his avocation. Currently he's serving as artistic director of the Late Night Show at The Empty Space.
"I have to keep busy because when you're hearing people's problems every day it can be draining -- no, it is draining," he said. "Theater is therapy for yourself."
As it happens, he didn't set out to be either an actor or a director.
"I was this shy, quiet kid in high school," he said. "Then in college, I got my first part -- it just fell into my lap when somebody dropped out -- and that kind of opened me up."
It was a one-act student-written play at Cal State Bakersfield. Somewhat ironically it was titled "Limbo." Pawloski recalled how he was affected by the experience.
"There's a rush about being on stage; it's a feeling I can't explain," he said. "You're a different person when you're a character in a play."
Since then he's appeared in other productions at CSUB, most recently in May when he was a last-minute fill-in for a minor character in Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor." He's also done shows at Bakersfield Community Theatre and appeared as an Egyptian pharaoh in "The Greatest Story Never Told" at the Empty.
Yet his preference is to direct, which is why he volunteered for the artistic director position.
As for his day job, Pawloski was hired as a social worker by the county in 2008 shortly after he graduated from CSUB with a double major in communications and theater. Now he's working on his master's degree in social work at the university and hopes to complete it in 2011.
His graduate studies, as well as his work with the county's Department of Human Services, have had an influence on what he's chosen to present during Late Night shows.
"It's changed the type of plays I do," he said. "I used to do fluffy, silly kind of stuff; now I'm more into dark comedy. And I want to do plays that make people think, that educate people."
As examples, he pointed out two recent productions: "Mr. Marmalade," which focuses on domestic violence, and "Dear Harvey," a biography of gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
"I'm proud that we made $500 from 'Dear Harvey' to give to LBGT," said Pawloski, referring to a gay-rights advocacy group. "That's what the playwright wanted."
Most of all, the Bakersfield native would like to give local audiences a taste of theater that hasn't been done here before. Or as he puts it, "more experimental theater -- the kind you see in L.A."
Some theater buffs grumble that the city has too many theater venues, but Pawloski isn't one of them.
"People like to have choices," he said. "I'm glad there are so many theaters in town -- people can go to Stars or the Spotlight for musicals and if they like edgier shows, there's The Empty Space."
