Malcolm K. Darrell reflects on how his time at Cal Performances continues to shape his career.

By Krista Thomas, Cal Performances’ Associate Director of Communications

There are many staff members who make the work Cal Performances does possible, about one-third of whom are students! Even after these student workers graduate, their impact on us—and, in some cases, the arts world even beyond—can be extraordinary. In this article, we’re spotlighting a former Cal Performances student worker whose career trajectory and, more importantly, his passion for community and for encouraging the growth of others, serve as ongoing inspiration.

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From a very young age, Malcolm K. Darrell showed a predisposition for the arts. “To tell the story of how I ended up at Cal Performances, I’d have to start in first grade,” said Darrell. “My mother saw I was a very inquisitive, very precocious child, and knew I could get some of that energy out via performing.”

Trusting her son would flourish in an arts space, Darrell’s mom enrolled him at 32nd Street/USC Performing Arts Magnet elementary school in Los Angeles, where the family lived. By the age of 12, Darrell had taken elective classes in film and media, visual arts, Hungarian dance, West African dance, and Jalisco dance, and was part of a choir that performed for a variety of esteemed guests (including British royalty!). By the time he graduated from high school at Hamilton Academy of Music, another incredible arts school, Darrell had played in award-winning jazz ensembles and acted in school productions that incorporated real Broadway sets, costumes, and choreographers.

“My time in elementary, middle, and high schools cemented for me the importance of being cultivated by and immersed in the arts,” said Darrell. “I really appreciated those years at arts schools. But, when it came time to apply for college, being from a working-class family, I wasn’t convinced I’d have the ability to make a stable career out of it, so I applied to schools and planned on simply taking advantage of opportunities in the arts to complement my learning.”

In the summer of 1996, Darrell made the move from southern to northern California to begin his freshman year at UC Berkeley, where he was enrolled in a work/study program. When he first saw an opening in the Cal Performances box office, he was thrilled at the opportunity to both support and watch the performing arts. “I was excited, and the only expectation I had was that having work experience from a legitimate arts institution would look great on my resume,” he said. “I had no idea how that job would change my life.”

According to Darrell, his time at Cal Performances shaped his trajectory, both in terms of his career and his artistic sensibilities.

“Because of my job, I saw some of the most memorable performances of my life in Zellerbach Hall. Robert Cole, then-director of Cal Performances, brought fascinating artists from all over the world,” he said. “Because I was able to see such inclusivity and creativity reflected on the stage at such an early point in my career, I had the unique advantage of understanding all the arts had to offer; this was clearly evident in all the jobs I’ve held since leaving Cal Performances.”

Decades later, one specific memory still stands out. “I thought I liked dance already, but I fell in love with dance in a different way at Cal Performances. There was one piece by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater called Slaves. I remember sitting in the back orchestra and watching this piece, and just being in a puddle of tears thinking, ‘How did dance do this to me?’ Companies like Alvin Ailey, Nederlands Dans Theater, and Mark Morris Dance Group changed my understanding of what dance could be,” said Darrell.

During his four years at Cal, Darrell was promoted to Box Office Assistant Manager, took on an extra job working the stage door, worked as Robert Cole’s assistant, and was even invited to serve as a student representative on the Cal Performances Board of Trustees. Serving on the board was yet another moment that, because of Darrell’s determination, catalyzed a new path forward.

“When I applied and was selected for the board, I was blown away. It really boosted my confidence. But there was a moment in that first or second board meeting when I looked around the room and saw one Asian woman, and me, and, other than that, a real lack of representation,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘This organization has such stunning diversity on stage; why does our board not look like that?’”

Though Darrell had always felt that the staff around him were deeply invested in his success, he recognized a serious need for change at the level of the institution and the field more broadly. “In that moment, I decided I wasn’t going to pursue being a performer, because I felt the world had enough people who looked like me performing. The real question for me became, ‘Are there enough people who look like me behind the scenes?’” he said.

Though Darrell continued with a performing arts major, he shifted his emphasis to business management in the arts and began taking classes on topics like psychology and leadership. Upon graduation, Darrell returned to Los Angeles for a job at the legendary Center Theatre Group’s education department, connecting local schools with arts opportunities. Cal Performances continued to follow Darrell, however, and within just two years, he was called by a former box office manager and offered a supervisory position at UCLA’s box office.

“What I learned at Cal Performances prepared me to serve in that role. Throughout my foundational training at Cal Performances, I took a lot of pride in being of service to our patrons. I loved the work that we did and the opportunity to meet folks from all backgrounds,” he said. “I believe there’s a level of detail, attention, and service that you only learn when you work for an arts organization, that idea that ‘the show must go on’ and that we all have to work together to respond to challenges. The level of rigor, care, and creativity that is produced in that environment is unparalleled.”

Darrell was unsurprisingly a smashing success in his new role and stayed with UCLA’s box office until 2004, when he decided it was time to pursue his MFA degree. Darrell attended Yale and focused his studies on Theater Management. The program involved many hands-on elements, which gave him the opportunity to spend a semester working at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), then under the direction of Sandra Gibson.

“I knew if I were to work under another leader, I wanted it to be with a person of color, and specifically a woman, since all of my other professional mentors had been white men,” he said. “Sandra Gibson reminded me of the Robert Coles and Rick Andersons [a past Cal Performances box office manager] of the world: She saw something in me and was going to push me and provide opportunities.”

Full of new inspiration, Darrell graduated from Yale in 2007 and went on to live a number of lives in his career, from serving as a founding general manager of Ebony Repertory Theater—the first and only professional African American theater in LA’s history at that time—to working with the Kennedy Center (a lifelong dream of his) managing a massive festival to celebrate Chinese artists and their culture. Around the same time, Darrell also associate-produced Radar L.A., a new festival of contemporary theater focusing on artists from the Pacific Rim.

Eventually, as a result of his strong industry relationships, Darrell opened his own business for artist management. Though he ultimately decided that business model wasn’t a great fit, he was thankful that closing his business allowed him the invaluable opportunity to spend additional time with his father, who was diagnosed with stage-four cancer just a month later.

Following the passing of his father, Darrell began to reevaluate where his career would go. “At that time, I didn’t have clients or any major work prospects and, because of the economy, it was hard to find a job,” he said. Darrell had a friend who was looking for a driver at that time and, though the position was far outside of his experience, Darrell was thankful for any opportunity and began driving celebrities, executives, and many other interesting people around the LA area.

One day, Darrell was scheduled to pick up the president of Walt Disney World and, naturally curious about others’ backgrounds, did some extra research. Darrell was “blown away by his trajectory,” having also come from a working-class family and moved up in the organization over a long period.

“I normally didn’t talk to clients but I was so inspired, I wanted to share with him how incredible I thought his story was. We had an amazing conversation and he ended up asking me my own story and, later, for my CV,” he said. “Within a week, I had two interviews lined up at Disney, and, after months of interviewing, accepted a position as Associate Creative Director at Disney Imagineering.”

In coming back to his artistic roots, Darrell shared that his position as Associate Creative Director and later Creative Director at Disney were really made possible because of that first job in the ticket office. “It’s because of Cal Performances that I had the knowledge and exposure to the arts that allowed me to become a knowledgeable creative. I’m respected for my creative input today because, at Cal Performances, I had the opportunity to hone a level of taste that sets me apart.”

Darrell left Disney at the end of 2021 and now continues to design guest experiences, support community, and amplify others’ voices as the Director of Experiences at Nearest Green Distillery, home to Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, the spirit brand created in partnership with the descendants of the formerly enslaved man Nathan “Nearest” Green, who taught Jack Daniels how to distill whiskey.

“We’re the only spirit brand owned by an African American woman and the only spirit brand that has majority women chief executives,” he added. “This role has been a great opportunity to shine a light on Green and finally tell his story.”

Looking back on his career, Darrell sees his value of humanity and his artistic training as common threads. “Humanity is such a beautiful, glorious spectrum, and reflecting that spectrum in an artistic way can take so many different forms,” he said. “The path I’ve taken has not been linear, but I learned so much about who I wanted to be and about who I already was as a leader at Cal Performances. Reliving these experiences now is truly a full-circle moment.”

As for other students still plotting out their future, Darrell recommends, above all, authenticity and knowing your value. “Being a six-foot-four Black man in a predominantly white arts world hasn’t always been easy; I had a lot of insecurities and often felt the need to diminish who I was to make my white colleagues feel comfortable. It took years to realize that who I am is a gift,” he said. “People like to say humanity is a melting pot, but I prefer to say it’s a gumbo: For the result to be fantastic, every individual ingredient must have its own distinctive flavor. And when we diminish one, we are diminishing the entire recipe. We all have something important to contribute, and I hope that other students carry that knowledge wherever their journey takes them.”

Arts, Science, and the Opportunity to “Become”

By Krista Thomas, Cal Performances’ Associate Director of Communications

Though Cal Performances is foremost a performing arts organization, we are part of one of the prominent research universities in the world. The value of science and the arts are inextricably linked, and the places they intersect can be the impetus for immense discovery. Today, we spotlight Dr. Alison Billman, Early Elementary Curriculum Director & Senior Researcher at Lawrence Hall of Science, a musician, a trained fiber artist, and a beloved member of the Cal Performances community.

Dr. Alison Billman grew up in an “extremely musical family.” Throughout her childhood, her father played bass, trombone, and cello in local jazz bands and orchestras. After serving during WWII—when he played in an Army band while in the 82nd Airborne—he used the GI Bill to go back to school and become a music teacher. He steeped his children in music early on. As the oldest of seven, Alison was the first to learn an instrument and was introduced to the violin by age five!

“Eventually, since there were seven of us, we could make up our own string quartets. We had cello players, viola players, violin players… We were also all students where my father was a music teacher, so music was all around us” she said.

For college, Billman attended Syracuse University and, because she had both a love of musical and visual arts, opted for a degree in fashion design with an emphasis on costume design for theater. Billman was especially fascinated with the extensive historic costume collection the department had accumulated and took the initiative to catalog and organize the costumes for the school.

As an extremely curious person, Alison’s interest in how things work led her to tackle subjects that melded the worlds of arts and science. “Working as a costume designer involves more than sketching looks. There are environmental elements to consider, too,” she said. “For example, when a costume is under stage lights, there’s an interaction with the fabric and light that involves reflection and absorption. For one of my independent studies, I designed an experiment with different fabrics, gels, and lighting to determine, from a physics perspective, what fabric would make the best costumes in various conditions.”

Though Billman did work in fiber arts (designing with natural or synthetic fibers like fabric or yarn) post-college, after having children, she wanted to pivot to a career that felt more secure and so became an elementary school teacher. That’s when she began to really see how the arts and science complement one another in expanding one’s understanding of the world.

Dr. Billman at a music recital

“When I taught first grade, music was the way I started and ended every day because music builds community. Six-year-olds haven’t learned to be scared singing in front of people yet so they’d all join in,” she said. “I also used music to reinforce what we were learning. I’d coordinate little musicals for us and would usually write the lyrics to align with what we were learning, like ‘Every Day Is Earth Day’ and ‘Dragon Stew.’ It all contributed to a very arts-rich community in my classroom.”

In addition to music, Billman found writing to be a unique way to help young students on their journey of discovery. “I knew that the kids at that age were just trying to make sense of the world. The questions they’d ask me were wonderful, but the traditional teaching materials I used to answer those questions weren’t so great,” she said. “I decided that, if the kids were motivated to find out more, I could support that by simultaneously encouraging reading and writing. So, I began collecting their science questions and we’d work together on writing letters to university professors. We’d ask our pen pals things like ‘What makes an apple an apple?’ The professors would get such a kick out of the letters, and the kids were so motivated to get answers that their reading and writing thrived.”

Billman was so captivated by the way the arts and sciences overlapped to help children learn that she decided to, yet again, allow her curiosity to lead the way, and she enrolled in a doctorate program in education psychology at Michigan State University.

“In my first interview at Michigan State, they asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to fly,” she laughed. “What I meant was I wanted to get out there, be part of the world, find out new things. And in that process, I knew then, as I know now, I have a responsibility, too. I’m very privileged to be working at the intersection of new knowledge. As my curiosities push me, it has always been my hope that maybe they’ll help other people, too.”

After finishing her doctorate, Billman began working at UC Berkeley, where she has been the last 15 years. In her current position as Early Elementary Curriculum Director & Senior Researcher for the Learning Design Group at Lawrence Hall of Science, Billman focuses on marrying science and the humanities by “developing an integrated science and literacy curriculum for primary grade students and designing the informational texts that support reading to learn in primary grades.” Her curriculum, which is largely multidisciplinary, even includes a physical science unit in the context of puppet-theater engineers!

While working at Berkeley, Billman has also kept the arts close by performing in a local singing group and even organizing and directing a fun, inclusive singing program to build community among Lawrence Hall of Sciences staff—or, as they’re known on stage, “The Hallitones.” Billman is also a frequent attendee and donor of Cal Performances, where she draws on her holistic experience to enjoy what’s presented on stage.

“Certainly, my professional background influences the way I watch performances. I’ve always been fascinated with the physics part of sound: the vibrations created when an artist pulls their bow across strings, what it is to play something ‘in tune.’ And I do enjoy evaluating the costumes and looking at how each element interacts—the fabrics, the lighting, the sound—seeing where that balance lies,” she said.

One of the most significant benefits of watching the arts for Billman is related to her lifelong journey of gaining and facilitating new understanding. “Engaging with music builds a capacity and a need to listen in a new way. And that’s because it is such a profound method of communication,” she said. “As a lover of the arts, there are times when I challenge myself to think how I would represent a concept visually, or in a musical composition. Sometimes there are articles and books we write that are full of important concepts, but they don’t trigger the understanding we want because people’s ability to get that information is limited to their brain’s interaction with the words on the page. When I’m watching performances like those of the Mark Morris Dance Group, and feel the incredible power of all they’re communicating, there are times I think words just don’t do it.”

Whether your interest is in science, music, writing, or even puppet engineering, Billman sees a common thread in the opportunity for learning and growth, if only we trust ourselves to explore.

“If you look at each day, the number of interactions you have with anyone and anything, it’s all an opportunity to learn. There’s always something to learn, something that can push us forward to ‘become,’” she said. “Living offers us the opportunity to ‘become’ everyday. Letting my curiosity drive me as I have, it has caused immense growth… It’s also been exceptionally fun!”