Student Profile: SAMSON SYHARATH

This spring, PAC will feature blog profiles of our second-year conservatory students. These students will be graduating in May 2013 and launching their professional acting careers. Here, they share with us their origins, goals, and insights into acting and life as a student at Portland Actors Conservatory.

Samson Syharath
Photo: Owen Carey

Meet SAMSON SYHARATH

PAC: What is your educational background, and where is your hometown?

Samson: I went to Mansfield High School, and then graduated from the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

PAC: When did you know you wanted to be an actor and how did you get started acting?

Samson: In college, I took a theatre class and my professor encouraged me to audition for the original play he had created. The rehearsal process brought me closer to the people in my ensemble, closer than I had ever gotten to anyone in my life. After the performance, at the very first curtain call, I felt an energy from both the ensemble and the audience. After the show, strangers would come up to me and tell me how the production had really touched them and changed the way they see things. Acting showed me that I have the power to communicate and really reach out to people.

PAC: How would you describe what you are learning here at PAC?

Samson: I have learned how my body and voice are instruments and how to use my instrument. I’ve learned techniques to get my voice, mind, and body connected and in tune with each other, and most importantly, how to put all the techniques I’ve learned to practice.

Samson (center front) in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
Photo: Gary Norman

PAC: What interests or excites you most about acting?

Samson: I would love to be able to reach out to people and change someone’s life. I love making people smile and laugh. I even love making people cry. Being able to feel and connect to human emotions is a joy for me and I would like to share that.

PAC: What scares or challenges you most about acting, and how do you deal with that?

Samson: Trying to connect to a character that I don’t “like” or that I disagree with is a challenge. But I have to realize that the character is that way for a reason. I have to find a perspective that works for me and find out why this character is the way he is.

PAC: What has been your most memorable experience at PAC so far?

Samson: In an acting class, I was so in the moment, so in character, that my actions and voice were so out of character for “Nice Samson” that it scared me. It surprised my scene partner and the entire class. The idea that I could have such power and that I never used it until then was a revelation for me.

Samson (second from left) in A Bright Room Called Day.
Photo: Gary Norman

PAC: What are your plans after graduating from PAC? What do you want to be doing 10 years from now?

Samson: I plan on sticking around Portland for a while and act around town. I hope to get my master's, and teach. As I mentioned, I love reaching out to people and teachers are some of the most underappreciated, yet influential people.

PAC: If you could go back in time to your first day at PAC, what advice would you give your past self?

Samson: Stop worrying. If you do all your work, all that’s left to do is play.

Samson (right) will be onstage in subUrbia in April 2013.
Photo: Owen Carey