Faye Widjaja will be attending LDI 2024 in December as part of the Pat MacKay Diversity in Design Scholarship Program where she hopes to take advantage of the networking opportunities and classes. She is currently enrolled in the theatre program at UCLA and works as an event technician to hone her practical skills.
Widjaja spoke to Live Design about her career goals, why theatre should accessible to everyone, and the moment she realized that sound design can touch people.
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Live Design: What brought you to this scholarship?
Faye Widjaja: My sound professor actually shared this scholarship with me! I was impressed with the message behind the scholarship and I think it’s amazing that LDI funds such initiatives to support the next generation of designers. I believe that opportunities such as these truly help shape what the industry will look like in the future.
LD: What drew you to design?
FW: Sound, in my opinion, is so important to theatre because it is one of the departments that crosses the threshold of the proscenium and touches the audience directly. The vibrations of sound waves touch all in the theatre, whether you are on stage or in the audience. Additionally, as technology evolves and advances, there is always an opportunity to innovate and so much to learn. Overall, the ability to influence the world of a piece, an audience’s emotions, and a story draws me to design.
LD: What are some of your career goals?
FW: I would love to work as a sound designer and composer for new works. I am especially interested in the creation of experimental, unconventional, and immersive works and hope to continue making original compositions and sequences. I am so grateful for the people who have encouraged me, not by treating me as someone who knows less, but someone who has the capacity to learn."
LD: How can the industry better serve underrepresented communities?
FW: First, I am, and always will be, a believer that theatre should be accessible to everyone. I would not have the love that I do for theatre if not for the many lottery tickets and student rush tickets that I have been able to acquire. Theatre is an art that should be available to everyone. Setting aside a few tickets can mean building the next generation of theatre-goers and theatre-makers.
I also believe that is especially important for both theatre educators and professionals to make space for and encourage artists in underrepresented communities. It can be difficult to work in an industry where you do not see yourself represented in the roles that you dream of working in. I am so grateful for the people who have encouraged me not by treating me as someone who knows less, but someone who has the capacity to learn.
Theatre is a collaborative art that can only benefit from new perspectives and ideas. A more diverse team means more diverse stories, different audiences reached, and the opportunity for fresh innovation. When we start to change the idea of who a designer can be and what a designer looks like in our minds, we open our minds to a new future of theatre.
LD: Who or what are your influences in terms of people or events?
FW: I am influenced by everything in my life, from the small record store in my hometown to the professors who teach and inspire me every day! A particularly influential event that I constantly look back on, however, was a concert I went to for the artist Dodie. It was a chilly evening, as it always is in San Francisco, and I had been so stressed by the week before. She was performing in the Warfield, a historic venue that has a special place in my heart. I remember closing my eyes at one point during the event. I could hear the soft singing of the people around me who had all of her lyrics memorized. I could her band and her singing, live and right in front of me. Feeling all the sound wash over me and surround me, the cold faded away. Sitting there, surrounded by strangers, I felt the warm, peaceful feeling of being at home.
I think it was at that event that I felt how music and sound could touch people. One of the most important things that live events have the power to do is change people and influence their minds and emotions. I felt different when I left that venue, refreshed and drained in the exact same way that only the best live events can do. This experience ignited my passion and motivated me to explore how sound can evoke emotion and shape an audience’s experience.
LD: What challenges have you faced?
FW: I grew up in a majority Asian community that had no shortage of amazing performers but with very few people interested in and willing to prioritize theatre. It was so interesting to see how the environment cultivated at high school and our cultures enforced by our families and friends created an atmosphere that valued art, but not the people who wanted to create and participate in it. My high school didn’t even have a theatre department at the time that I attended.
One of the biggest challenges I have had to face was trying to bring my high school to compete at a theatre festival just a few hours away. It seemed that everything we asked for had a barrier we had to struggle to overcome. We did not have the funds to license a play to compete with. So, I wrote and composed an original musical for us to present. We were not allowed to use a room since we had no theatre teacher or director. So, we held auditions and rehearsed outside, bundling up and using flashlights once it got too dark and cold. Even our field trip proposal that we brought up months in advance to the administration was always missing something and could not be approved. So, we found volunteers to drive and I called hotels to try and get us discounted rooms. Still, I am so grateful that we were able to make it there. It was at that theatre festival that I realized how supportive a community could be and how important it is to have people who acknowledge and encourage the effort it takes to even participate. It was there that I realized that I could actually create something that moved people.
As I learn and grow as a theatre-maker, I have realized how the challenges that I faced have shaped me into the person and leader I am today. This experience taught me resilience, resourcefulness, and the value of perseverance. It solidified and reinforced my passion for theatre and the transformative power it holds, not just for audiences but for the people who create it. It showed me what is possible when people share a vision. I realized how important theatre is to me and how much I want to share and create spaces for people to experience that same sense of belonging and purpose.
LD: You have accomplished a lot already, but do you have a bucket list item?
FW: I’ve always wanted to go skydiving! It terrifies me, but it also sounds so exciting!
About the Pat MacKay Diversity In Design Scholarships
The scholarships are named for Pat MacKay, former publisher of Theatre Crafts International (TCI) and Lighting Dimensions and founder of the LDI trade show. She is a USITT Fellow and has mentored multiple generations of industry professionals. The Diversity In Design Scholarships were introduced in 2019 to support the diverse and unique voices in the field of entertainment design and are presented to undergraduate students.
The Diversity In Design Scholarships are sponsored by Lightswitch, in their effort to support the next generation.