I hope you’re staying warm. I spent some time earlier this month in sunny Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, and it was a cruel return to the snow in New York. Speaking of California, I had the pleasure of connecting with UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts and South Coast Repertory to learn about The Next Stage, a partnership to bridge the gap between theatre training and professional practice.

The pilot program, years in the making, launched this year with two SCR shows in repertory: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and God of Carnage, running through March 21. The initiative integrates MFA students directly into the process, including two student understudies, a stage management student serving as a PA to support the changeover between the two shows, a dramaturgy student, and a sound design student assisting on both productions. It also brings SCR staffers to campus to teach undergraduate students.

“We wanted to formalize this framework so that we could create a professional on-ramp experience for students, to bring them out of learning within the classroom and into a professional theatre space,” says Joel Veenstra, chair of the theatre department. “It’s kind of like an intense residency program as well as an apprenticeship—a two-way street, where we’re going into the theatre, but then they have members of their community as well coming to UCI to teach, engage, and enhance the experience of our community to elevate this cross-collaborative bridge.”

For SCR artistic director David Ivers, the partnership was a natural fit—and one that mirrors the kind of training he received as an MFA student at the University of Minnesota in collaboration with the Guthrie Theater. It also reflects models he experienced at Utah Shakespeare Festival and Denver Center Theatre Company, where he served as artistic director of the former and as a member of the resident acting company at the latter. “My career as an actor and a director was never separated from the benefits of having brilliant young minds around.”

And the benefits of The Next Stage go beyond the youthful energy in the rehearsal room. “The real benefit for SCR is that we’re making a commitment to the future of the field. SCR benefits by having direct contact with what’s coming right out of the institution. We also benefit by expanding our workforce…Why wouldn’t we choose to work with students who are just about to be in the profession to both help shape and learn from to figure out what the next iteration of the American theatre is going to be?”

MFA student Esther Pielstick, who is understudying the role of Honey, has relished being in the rehearsal room and witnessing the commitment of the professional actors. “Learning from people who have been doing this for a long time and who are working professionally makes me so hungry to want to do this and to be a part of that process…It’s a really powerful feeling, and sometimes you lose that because, in the arts, you can get discouraged, but like this feeling of like, ‘Okay, no, I can do this, and I want to do this—people are doing this, it’s possible,’” says Pielstick.

Looking ahead, SCR plans to include five student performers in next season’s repertoire, with current students providing feedback to inform future iterations, including a formalized mentorship program. “It’s really exciting that everyone’s wanting to make this a long-term relationship that’s going to be best for the students as we continue in the future,” says Pielstick.

Representation on stage—and seeing people build careers in the arts—is essential to sustaining the American theatre pipeline.

In case you missed it, this important report highlights the education and training programs at risk due to the Kennedy Center’s transition to the Trump administration and its upcoming closure for renovations—disruptions that constrict this important pipeline.

As some education programs close and contract, may we see more partnerships like The Next Stage emerge between schools and professional theatres.