“Our students get the opportunity to get exposed to other programs from other community colleges and the University of California level, and [Farr] exposes students to as much of that curriculum as she can,” Greene said.
After working professionally with Farr for years, Ken Gray, former chairman of the GCC theater arts department, said he noticed her commitment to students.
“I watched her grow as a theater person, playwright and teacher and was always impressed with her dedication to her students, which is kind of remarkable,” Gray said. “She seems to really care about a student growing on their own. She doesn’t hand out things authoritatively but leads them to make their own discoveries.”
Farr is working with co-chair Melissa Randel to apply the Los Angeles Community College conservatory model to GCC by connecting the theater, dance and music departments. This will prepare students to become a “triple threat” — dance-, song- and acting-proficient, she said.
“I see it all as preparation and getting [my] students ready for the outside world,” Farr said. “I bring the experiences of classes I’ve taught other places and taken and examine those with the needs [at GCC].”
But topping her to-do list is adding a playwriting class to the department, she said.
“Whether it’s to express themselves or whether or not they want to put [playwriting] into practice as a profession, answering those two questions are the starting place . . . a class would help with the commerce of theater — how to get produced, or submit to a contest, or produce it yourself — knowing structure would certainly help and take the student who has an idea or interest to the next level.”
