Who's Who: Keeping the Arts in Education

Name: Antone Olivier

Age: 59

Occupation: Teacher of visual arts, theater and stagecraft at

How long have you been at Saint Mary’s? I was a student here; I’m a member of the class of 1970. There were two very influential instructors on campus when I was here. One was one of the Christian Brothers; he lived on campus. Eventually he directed on Broadway.

The other was Bobby Barrett, the band instructor who taught here for 30 years. He was very much a life coach, a mentor.

I came back in 1977 as an instructor. Bobby Barrett passed away in the early 1990s. Many of the teachers – 10 – have been students here; almost all have been taught by Bobby Barrett.

How does Saint Mary’s maintain such a strong arts program? We have a fine arts requirement where every student is involved for two years; after two years they can opt to continue. It’s realized that art plays a very important part for well-rounding the student. In many ways the theater is a way for all of the arts to come together. We do two formal shows a year; there are also concerts for band, dance concerts, student-directed one-act plays.

For Visual Arts we have periodic art shows featuring student work [such as a show in the student cafeteria] – it’s to be lived with. We’re proud of making those opportunities available.

The schedule is changing, but previously we have had nine different performances [a year]. For a school of 630, that’s a lot. That speaks to the fact that our students are very engaged.

Arts provide an avenue to explore your own voice in a way that other areas of study may not. There’s definitely a connection between having your ideas and finding a venue to express them.

How do you make each production – and each performance – fresh? One of the things I’m very blessed by is that the students have to keep it fresh. They come to it with great passion and expectation. The expectation is what fuels my energy, because I want to see them get what they need, to keep that light on, that imagination sparked.

Producing shows takes a lot of work. It is a lot of work; most of [the Stagecraft] is after school, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We need an unbroken block of time to really build something. It’s very interesting; the kids look forward to Saturdays. One said, “It’s kind of like a party.” I bring snacks; we play music.

I design a show so that there’s something for everyone to do, and that gives them a source of pride and identity. Everybody needs to find a niche and a place where they belong.

Do you also perform? I love to perform! I am an actor and a painter. I don’t do it enough anymore. Every summer, if I wasn’t directing a show, I was performing. I try to not forget what it’s like to be in that position – the position of the performer.

How do you pick the shows for your students to produce? We try to choose shows that I like, but that connect with performers. Last spring we did Urinetown, as a way to address how we use our natural resources; it’s a very strong social-commentary-type play. It asks, “What are you doing individually [to address the problem]?”

Here’s the irony: as soon as we chose it, we found out that three other schools were doing it – , Alameda High and Berkeley High. We heard that Albany High School because of a cut in funding. We took people to see it as a show of solidarity with comrades-in-arms, so to speak.

Beyond graduation, have your students remained involved in theater? There are some who have made their profession as performers. We have previous technicians who are now working at Berkeley Rep and at various theaters around the Bay Area. Several others have gone into teaching dramatic arts.

One of our grads, Russell Hornsby, is the featured performer in Lincoln Heights and also performed on Broadway with Denzel Washington two years ago in Fences.

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