For Isabella Lobaina, CommUnity Arts Collective\u2019s production of \u201cWater by the Spoonful\u201d is more than an opportunity to step into the role of director for the first time. The play\u2019s exploration of cultural identity and military experience is a story she\u2019s carried with her since her freshman year at USC, when she first encountered it in a critical theater studies class. <\/p>\n
Lobaina is a junior studying theater and public relations and advertising, and a member of CAC, an independent student production group dedicated to, as its mission statement reads, \u201cmaking theatre accessible to all regardless of background, beliefs, experiences and abilities.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWater by the Spoonful\u201d follows two parallel worlds: the life of Elliot Ortiz, an Iraq War veteran struggling with addiction, and his biological mother, Odessa Ortiz, who leads an online forum for recovering addicts. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play is the second in a trilogy that follows Elliot and explores themes of addiction and its lasting effects on familial relationships. It was written by Quiara Alegr\u00eda Hudes and runs Nov. 19-22 at the Scene Dock Theater.<\/p>\n
Lobaina first encountered the play in THTR 125: Text Studies for Production, a course typically taken by first-year School of Dramatic Arts students. As a Cuban American and child of a military family, she said the play, which follows a Puerto Rican American marine, really drew her in. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just very beautiful,\u201d Lobaina said. \u201cI just kind of held it onto my heart this whole time.\u201d <\/p>\n
When the time for director applications came around in the spring, Lobaina, who is the treasurer for CAC, said the support she saw from her fellow executive board members encouraged her to apply. Lobaina hopes to bring an authentic portrayal of Hispanic voices to the stage. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really wanted to highlight Hispanic voices. I feel like there are a lot of aspects of theater that really don\u2019t,\u201d Lobaina said. \u201cIf they highlight Hispanic voices, sometimes it\u2019s very stereotypical.\u201d <\/p>\n
For the cast, \u201cWater by the Spoonful\u201d offers an opportunity to see their identities reflected on stage. <\/p>\n
Daphne Ruiz, a junior transfer student majoring in theater, plays Yazmin Ortiz, Elliot\u2019s cousin. As a first-generation Mexican-American, Ruiz said Yazmin\u2019s story and struggle with her identity resonate with her. <\/p>\n
After transferring from Bakersfield College, which she described as having a large Hispanic population, Ruiz noticed a difference in Latino representation at USC. Ruiz said she, along with other students she met, has felt underrepresented at the SDA. She said the opportunity to portray a Hispanic character was especially important to her because of this. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had not seen a lot of shows that were happening right now that had Latinx representation,\u201d Ruiz said. \u201cI thought that I might not get this opportunity again. I want to be able to serve my story at least once while I\u2019m here.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fabian Gutierrez, a senior majoring in theater and political economy and CAC\u2019s assistant treasurer, plays Elliot Ortiz. Gutierrez, originally from Costa Rica, said he feels that there is a lack of Hispanic representation in the student body and the School of Dramatic Arts. <\/p>\n
\u201cTruthfully, I could never conceive of a show like this being produced at this university. It feels like our voices and our stories are seldom told despite the fact that this is an institution of higher education in the middle of South Central,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to have faces and names like ours up on stage.\u201d <\/p>\n
Eileen Kang, a freshman studying theater who plays the ghost, amongst other characters, says producing \u201cWater by the Spoonful\u201d at USC is especially important for the visibility it brings to addiction. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen the worst of addiction, and I\u2019ve seen people strive to get out of it and fail,\u201d Kang said. \u201cWe are in such close proximity to downtown L.A. When you walk down the streets of downtown L.A., you\u2019ll see the issue\u2026 but we\u2019re in such a little bubble in a society that faces addiction every single day, and I think that it\u2019s so important for USC students specifically to learn about addiction.\u201d <\/p>\n
For CAC, creating a space where even non-SDA majors can join theater is a priority. According to Maia Tumbokon, a theatrical design major and president of CAC, this is how the Independent Student Production eliminates barriers. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe love having people of non-SDA majors, maybe people that have done theater in high school and they want to ignite that fire back into their life,\u201d Tumbokon said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about community and friendship, and I think that we\u2019ve really created such a safe and friendly environment and space, and I think it\u2019s really beautiful.\u201d <\/p>\n
CAC was awarded the 2026 Paul Backer ISP award for the 2025-2026 academic year, a faculty-nominated award presented to a student who shows exemplary talent in the production of new plays and musicals within the ISP community. This year\u2019s fall production marks a change for the organization. CAC typically holds an arts festival in the fall and stages a full production in the spring. <\/p>\n
According to Sarah Brewer, a senior majoring in theater and CAC\u2019s production manager, the board wanted to challenge itself after the success of its previous production. <\/p>\n
Brewer said Lobaina\u2019s pitch for \u201cWater by the Spoonful\u201d stood out because of her passion for the project. She said the show is especially impactful because anyone can connect to it. <\/p>\n
\u201cBella\u2019s pitch for Water by the spoonful was just so incredibly passionate, which was really exciting,\u201d Brewer said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Isabella Lobaina, CommUnity Arts Collective\u2019s production of \u201cWater by the Spoonful\u201d is more than an opportunity to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5282,196849,88806,179,9755,16538,14834,48,52,51,47,50,49,5927,200181,47182,3183,8003,1058,200182,3533,646],"class_list":["post-524212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-arts","tag-by","tag-collective","tag-community","tag-experiences","tag-fall","tag-hispanic","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-production","tag-spoonful","tag-stories","tag-students","tag-the","tag-theater","tag-underrepresented","tag-usc","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}