After 36 years of teaching theater at BYU–Hawaii, Craig Ferre said he plans to retire at the end of Spring Semester 2016.
“He was the type of teacher who really wants to help [his] students. I think he likes his job for the students, not the payment,” said Tyler Morgan, a freshman from Washington State studying biomedical science. Ferre said this job has been a “dream job” for him, and the thing he will miss most is interacting with the students.
“Even though I’ve done [this] for a long time, as the students come in, it’s generally all new to them and it’s exciting to see the excitement in their eyes. It gives me a lot of energy in turn,” said Ferre.
Mikee Bayona, a senior from California studying English with a theater minor, works as the student assistant director with Ferre. She said she affectionately calls him “Ferrbear” and described him as “very willing to work with his actors and understand their interpretations of the scene or play… He loves the people he works with, and after every show, he gives each cast member or technician a handwritten thank you card, which is a rarity now. He’s probably the best mentor I could have asked for.”
Ferre said he plans to end his collegiate directing career with the same play he started with 36 years ago, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” which he hasn’t done since. The performance is slated for April, he said.
In the spirit of nostalgia, Ferre even invited former cast members to return and perform in his farewell show.
“Amazingly, two of the students have agreed to come back, one of them is even taking the same role she had back when we performed it the first time,” said Ferre.
Ferre said he has had a strong love for theater since even his youngest years. He said when he was about 12 years old, he and his 7-year-old sister, Robyn, would create and perform plays for their parents and two brothers, Timothy and Richard. “I remember one Christmas we staged a theatrical version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ [where] I played Scrooge and Robyn played all the other parts. We [performed] in her bedroom and invited mom, dad and our brothers in to watch,” Ferre said.
“One of the greatest influences that helped me was the church because, back in [my earlier] days, they had what were called roadshows. Every year we would do a roadshow or some theatrical production like it, which gave me a lot of acting experience,” Ferre continued. A roadshow was a 15-minute play or musical done by a ward, most usually in the youth program, said LeeAnn Lambert, who was a youth in the 1970s in California.
On top of regular performing opportunities at church, Ferre was also involved with the theater program as he attended Highland High school in Salt Lake City, Utah, which, according to Ferre, had the best theater department in the state at the time.
After high school, Ferre earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the University of Utah, and a master’s degree in performing arts from the University of Utah. He moved to La Puente, Calif., where he began teaching theater at Nogales High School. After four years, BYUH had a job opening for a professor in theater, to which Ferre applied. He was accepted and moved to Laie.
Years later, a student of his introduced him to her mother, Harriette. Ferre and Harriette were married in 2009.
Ferre said he has mixed emotions about retiring. He looks forward to being able to relax, but he knows he will miss his job dearly. Ferre said after he retires, he hopes to become an ordinance worker in the temple and spend his time serving there.