{"id":7952,"date":"2022-10-21T11:14:41","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T15:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=7952"},"modified":"2022-10-26T11:50:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T15:50:31","slug":"the-intention-of-one-line-of-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/fall-2022\/the-intention-of-one-line-of-dialogue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Intention of One Line of Dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Erik Robles \u201922 on set at the Gamm Theatre<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re pondering that idea, you\u2019re engaged in philosophy, says actor and philosophy major Erik Robles \u201922.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An entrepreneur since middle school\u2014he ran a pop-up candy store out of his backpack\u2014Erik Robles \u201922 wasn’t looking for 溏心vlog免费B站 to provide him with a career path. He wanted to tackle life’s big questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know how to make money,\u201d says the philosophy major and co-founder of Complex Ambition, a company that creates content about urban music. \u201cI went to school to gain knowledge. Philosophy foregrounds the big questions. It’s asking the why; it\u2019s asking the how. Without that, we are nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his final semester, Robles completed an independent study of ancient Western philosophy with Douglass Reed \u201904, assistant professor of philosophy, and finished a 10-month fellowship for emerging artists of color at the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre in Warwick, R.I. Robles, who earned a minor in theater, was one of three fellows in the inaugural year of the program. The Gamm’s goal is to provide a real-world immersive experience and mentorship to its fellows. Robles\u2019 goal is to become a stage and screen actor. Should you wonder what philosophy has to do with theater, Robles argues they’re inseparable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn actor I was working with, Jonathan Higginbotham, was actually on Broadway in Slave Play<\/em>. He was recently at the Gamm, and he\u2019d come down from doing a scene and we would talk at length about the intention of one line. That’s philosophy right there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robles appeared in the Gamm\u2019s production of A Lie Agreed Upon<\/em> and assisted director Joe Wilson Jr. in its production of An Octoroon<\/em>. He returned to the stage for the Gamm’s final show of the 2021\u20132022 season, A Midsummer Night’s Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spirit of resilience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe classroom, the rehearsal hall, the stage; he seems to recognize already that they really are all one. That’s rare.\u201d
\u2014Anthony Estrella \u201993, 溏心vlog免费B站 acting instructor and artistic director, the Gamm Theatre<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Providence, R.I., native, Robles attended Classical High School where he played baseball. His dream of an athletic scholarship ended when he injured his pitching arm. It also put college further out of reach. Robles grew up in a working-class home, and asking his parents to help pay for college struck him as \u201cexorbitantly expensive and indulgent,\u201d he says. But mentors at Classical encouraged Robles\u2019 ambitions and his talents in music, acting, philosophy, and writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their faith in Robles paid off. \u201cI was eventually accepted into the Talent Development program, and I knew I had to take advantage of it. I was essentially able to attend school for free,\u201d Robles says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once at 溏心vlog免费B站, Robles added to his network mentors who recognized his depth and drive. Anthony Estrella \u201993, Gamm artistic director and Robles’ senior acting instructor at 溏心vlog免费B站, says his student makes a lasting impression. \u201cHe challenges himself and is not afraid\u2014even with more experienced collaborators\u2014to engage deeply and risk. He’s passionate, which also means he recognizes passion in others. That’s a magnetic and necessary quality to success in any endeavor. I’m proud to collaborate with him in any way\u2014the classroom, the rehearsal hall, the stage; he seems to recognize already that they really are all one. That\u2019s rare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Walshe \u201901, associate professor of theater, Gamm teaching artist, and production dramaturg on Octoroon<\/em>, calls Robles \u201cthe kind of student that renews a teacher\u2019s commitment to the institution of higher learning. He was never, even for a moment, in a classroom to do what was required to get a grade and simply move on,\u201d she says. \u201cHe sought to identify the intrinsic value of every iota of his coursework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gamm experience, and the chance to observe professional actors, has been invaluable, Robles says. \u201cThese people really care about what they do. They do it with a sense of intentionality and such passion, such love. You just want to work harder because they inspire you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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A passion for inquiry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the challenges for the inquisitive mind is paring down interests. It\u2019s a topic he and Cheryl Foster, a philosophy professor based in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s political science department, have spoken about at length. \u201cErik has the kind of mind that springs fully into action at the interface of books and speech, literature and performance, ideas and feelings, silence and gesture,\u201d Foster says. \u201cEven in the most ordinary of moments, Erik grasps the sheer power of embodied communication where people and cultures collide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reed recalls the moment Robles announced his intention to pursue a degree in philosophy. It was the fall of 2018 and Robles was taking Reed\u2019s course, Philosophy 110G: Love and Sex. Robles and Reed had a one-on-one meeting a few weeks into the semester. \u201cErik told me that he was planning on majoring in philosophy. I was overjoyed when he explained what it is he likes about philosophy. He expressed a genuine curiosity about the world and a passion for inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was even more impressed when I found out that he was an entrepreneur and had been running his own business for the past few years,\u201d Reed continues. \u201cErik did not need a college degree for financial reasons; he was in school because he loves to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since graduating, Robles has acted with the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, playing Claudio in Much Ado 溏心vlog免费B站 Nothing<\/em> in Boston and the role of Mario in the Martha\u2019s Vineyard Playhouse\u2019s production of Burning Patience<\/em>. This fall, he returns to the Gamm, where he\u2019ll appear in a production of Sweat<\/em>, directed by Walshe.
Robles has a message for students like himself. \u201cLearning will open you up. There are things you’ll come to learn and people you’ll meet who will change your perspective on the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd that broadening of perspective is going to make you realize that you can do so much more than you believed you could.\u201d \u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: Nora Lewis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erik Robles ’22, a philosophy major and actor is one of three students statewide to receive a 10-month paid fellowship at the GAMM theatre for emerging artists of color. The fellowship provides real-world immersion in the theater through mentoring relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":8133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2022","architecture-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7952"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8393,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952\/revisions\/8393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}