As told by Isaac Smith
Do not be afraid to dream big and have a vision that others may not see, then have the guts to make it real.
Photo by Kennedy Evans
When I saw the show “Holiday Night Live” on the UVU campus, it was like lightning struck. It was a sketch comedy show all student-produced, student-written, student-acted, and student-directed. I saw it and was like, “I want to do that!” I don’t know what my major would be. I don’t know what I’d be doing day to day. I don’t know what that leads to. But that’s what I’ve wanted to do my whole life. It was the first time I felt something like that.
I told my parents, “I just want to go [to UVU].” They told me, “Well, you’re gonna give up this scholarship, and you’re gonna have to pay your way through school.” I thought, “So be it.” I was determined. Once I got to UVU, it just felt right.
When I think about my time at UVU, the biggest person that comes to mind is Chris Clark. He was a friend, a mentor, a director, an actor in shows that I wrote, a confidant, and he just really helped me in all aspects of my time here at UVU. Chris is one of the biggest reasons for where I am.
He just wanted to see you succeed with nothing in return. It felt like unconditional support — unconditional love, to be honest. When you have that unconditional support, it’s not going to be like, “Hey, that was bad, and you’re not good enough.” It was like everyone was good enough. You got to put in the work and not be afraid to do it. It just gave me permission to fail and to get better and then succeed.
There was a time I was going to drop out of school. I just couldn’t afford to go to school, and Chris wanted me to hang on one more semester, and if you get a mainstage show, you can probably turn that into a performance scholarship. A lot of times, he bought me lunch and breakfast, and he invited me over for dinner at his house. There were so many moments of encouragement and support, and I know I’m not the only person.
That friendship and that relationship continued after UVU. He watched every show I worked on, even when I was just a PA. I would come to Utah to see his shows, and we would get In-N-Out after to talk shop and feed those creative juices. Those things can mean everything.
When he was diagnosed with ALS, it was so devastating to so many people because he helped so many students and was just such a good friend and mentor. That diagnosis was hard; I’ve never seen anyone take it on with so much joy and fearlessness. I think about that a lot and the time that I had with him from his diagnosis to when he passed, and I’m super grateful for it. I know he meant a lot to so many people and still does.
We did a play called “Vincent in Brixton.” It went to the Los Angeles Regional Festival and then went on to the Kennedy Center. It won best collegiate play that year, Chris Clark won Best Director, and we won Best Ensemble.
That play was just a combination of so many skills I learned here at UVU. To do it with Chris Clark, my best friend and mentor, to see how much that meant to him and how much it meant to the school. When I got here, no one thought I would ever get any stage time. I was in this play as one of the leads — that went as far as you could possibly go and also put UVU on the map.
I have never had one big break. I’ve had 1,000 small breaks, and I think I’ll need 1,000 more to keep it going. But whenever one of those big breaks came along, I knew that I was always ready, and I was always unafraid. I think that’s what got me where I am now.
We did a show on the Comedy Central stage in Hollywood with our Laughing Matters Crew from UVU. It was our best sketches. We rehearsed them to a T and just crushed them. Our friends from Utah drove out for the show, all our friends in LA came, and it was just such a great show. I think it was one of the best shows we did.
I wrote a musical called “Fox News: The Musical.” We raised $10,000 on Kickstarter, produced it, found a stage in LA, and directed it. It was so hard, it was so good, and it was so fun.
It opened a lot of doors and got me my job on The Umbrella Academy as a writer assistant, which I turned into being a writer and writing an episode on that show.
A few months later, two writers from The Umbrella Academy created a show for Apple TV+. They gave me a call — “Hey, we got this show for Apple. It’s called For All Mankind, and we created it with Ron Moore. Are you available?” And I was like, “Yeah!” They gave me an episode of For All Mankind, and it must have gone well because they staffed me as a full-time writer on season four.
I rented a theater with my family, friends, and partner to screen my episode of For All Mankind on the big screen and hear everybody laugh, cry, and gasp. It echoed that feeling of the very first show we did at UVU, and we got that first laugh at a sketch. It was like, “Oh my god, okay, I think I can do this.” And to know, 12 years later, you have everyone you love in the theater, and you get that same feeling. It just feels good.
Do not be afraid to dream big and have a vision that others may not see, then have the guts to make it real. Sometimes you’ve just got to ignore the walls, shut out the noise, and ignore the barrier to entry. When someone says no, you just do it.
Links:
UVU Theatre
Chris Clark
Chris Clark Scholarship
