Alfredo Aparicio/Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy of Delfina Pandiani
Adjusting to a new city every few years has been a way of life for Tatiana Pandiani, a senior and performance major, who has managed to turn her experiences into a positive outlook, which has taken her forward in her career as an actor, stage manager and, more recently, director.
Pandiani, who was born in Argentina and has lived in Jamaica, Georgia, Massachusetts and Miami, Florida for college, describes her trek across the western hemisphere as exciting and leaving her open to the possibilities of the future.
Originally a dancer, Pandiani dreamed of going to a conservatory in her homeland, Argentina. After a series of grueling tryouts, Pandiani learned that she had not been accepted and decided to move with her father to Miami and apply for the dance program on campus.
“Two weeks before school started, the dance program closed because of insufficient funds, and students who had already started were allowed to continue,” explained Pandiani. “ I started looking for other majors, and I thought about a philosophy or English major because doctors always freaked me out, and I thought lawyers were boring.”
Ultimately, Pandiani decided on a BFA performance major in the Department of Theatre after meeting with Associate Professor Wayne Robinson, who talked to her about the program and its classes and gave her a tour of the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center.
“I always thought I was going to dance; I started dancing since kindergarten when my teachers kept saying I was hyperactive and full of energy. I was in competitions up to high school and taught ballet as well, but it’s hard to go to school full time, be in plays and be a professional dancer all at once, so I dance recreationally now,” Pandiani said.
While her love for dancing hasn’t died, Pandiani recognizes the limits of dancing as opposed to acting or directing. “You use your body as the instrument, they teach you a dance and that’s it. With theater, especially directing, I’ve been able to have all the visuals and movement of the play accompanied by the intellectual understanding of a play,” said Pandiani.
While having an acting crisis after her freshman year, Pandiani picked up stage managing, took classes and was the stage manager for “Twelfth Night” before being invited to direct at the New Plays Festival, which features original, unproduced works by students in various play-writing classes.
When Michael Yawney, an assistant professor at the Department of Theatre, emailed her the script, she jumped the experience.
“I had all these ideas and everything worked really well,” Pandiani said. “The play featured had four actors, and we all came everyday with ideas, and it’s that experience of bridging people together for a common goal.”
Pandiani enrolled in Yawney’s “Directing I” that fall and enjoyed reading about directors as well as being able to direct a few scenes for the class.
“We have an acting class every semester and I remember my freshman year I always felt like I wanted to direct my scenes,” said Pandiani. “Even when I was little, I always liked organizing little shows and choreography, and that’s part of the reason why I thought I would like stage managing; even though it didn’t work out, I don’t regret the experience.”
Pandiani returned to acting in the Department of Theatre’s Christmas show of “The Nutcracker,” “Body and Sold,” and most recently, “Arabian Nights” and has focused this past summer on honing her directing skills by directing very different productions, such as “The Maids” for the Alternative Theater Festival and “A Touch of Destiny” for CCE Miami’s Micro Theater.
“The experience was exhausting. ‘The Maids’ was dark and gritty and I had an hour and a half to get the message across, but Micro Theater is small and in your face and you only have 15 minutes to get to the point of your story,” said Pandiani. “One is more developed and the other is more immediate, but it has been a fun, even if it has been overwhelming.”
Pandiani, in collaboration with Victoria Collado, an alumnus of the University, will submit a proposal to be featured in one of the next three seasons of Micro Theater in September, October and November, respectively. “It’s this script I wrote about a year ago that has issues, but I really like it. I will act and [Collado] will direct because I’d like to have the experience of acting in Micro Theater. It’s every fifteen minutes, so it’ll be a new experience,” said Pandiani.
Pandiani will expand her experience as a director by taking “Directing II” in the fall and immersing herself in her ambitious new project for the class.
The project, which will draw influence from The Wooster Group as well as use some of the methods of the Frantic Assembly, will employ a technique called “Devised Theatre,” a form of theater in which those involved begin production without a script that gets written as themes are solidified and experiences are shared through a series of meetings, while presenting her research on aesthetics and beauty and the media for the Advanced Research and Creativity in Honors Program in the Honors College.
“I’m interested in the concern with image in our society and the media,” Pandiani explained. “Devised Theatre allows you to bring whatever talents you have, so I’ve opened auditions to non-majors because it adds more variety and various experiences are brought to the table. I like that in this project you don’t have to be a character; you can be who you are. It’s more organic that way.”
In the near future, Pandiani will begin applying for various graduate schools for directing. “I’m happy I got to live here [Miami] for four years, but I’m not afraid of traveling. My experiences have made me very ‘on-the-go’ and less attached to material possessions; I’m excited to see what the next city will bring,” said Pandiani.
-alfredo.aparicio@fiusm.com
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