“I’m interested in the process of turning on the lightbulb in students’ minds, of turning students to a state of awareness,” says John Blondell, the chair of theater arts at Westmont College. “Their confidence is growing. Their intentions are refined.”
Blondell is one of Santa Barbara’s treasures, an internationally renowned theater director who is cofounder and director of the Lit Moon Theatre Company and teaches full-time to our small community.
When I meet the charismatic Blondell, he admits to being a bit jet-lagged — he’s just flown in from Macedonia, where he directed a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bitola National Theatre. He directs Macedonian actors in English, but the performers perform in their native language.