WSU’s Jim Christian retiring on a high note
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, left rear, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Jim Christian, chairman of the Weber State University theater department, is directing his last musical after teaching/directing on campus for the past 25 years. Photo taken at the Browning Center at Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
OGDEN – Weber State University musical theater professor Jim Christian has been showing students how to do their thing and how to love it for 27 years. It’s easy to see why, because he loves what he does.
The celebrated professor has found great success in his own right while at the school, earning the WSU President’s Distinguished Scholar award, Artistic Director award for the Utah Music Theatre Association, and the Musical Theater Playwriting Award.
Christian is retiring from Weber State at the end of this semester.
It didn’t take long for Christian to make a name for himself at the school when his self-written and produced show, “Pirated Penzance,” was so successful that he was able to take his cast of students to perform the show at the Kennedy Center.
The show, now called “Pirated,” will be performed again at the Ogden Amphitheater this summer. Christian said the show is one of his favorites, but admits it’s hard to pick a favorite.
“We have had a lot of different productions that have had their premiere here,” Christian said, referring to “Xanadu,” “Assassins” and “Blake Collins.”
Catherine Zublin has worked with Christian during his whole career at WSU and she admits to feeling sad about his departure.
“I really value his positive attitude. I really value his work ethic and I really value how he works with his students,” Zublin said.
Zublin, interim dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, said Christian has left a legacy that will not be forgotten. “He has this collaborative, let’s-get-it-done attitude,” Zublin said.
One of Christian’s former students, Christopher Shenefelt, agreed. “Directing is what he does best,” Shenefelt said. “He has a strategy in mind when he goes into the process,” Shenefelt noted. Students will have all the parts memorized in the first couple of weeks and the rest is time spent developing the show and the characters. “There is a plan and a vision and it just works,” he added.
Zublin said Christian remembers his students well and knows what they are doing all over the world. “He amazes me that he keeps track of them and knows what is happening in their lives,” she said.
Christian said he can’t help but care about them on a personal level because he wants to see them succeed. Christian has kept busy on the local theater front for that reason. Being involved in theater programs in other places helps him to help his students – those who have already graduated, those in the program and those who may want to come into the program.
When Christian came to WSU there were only a few musical theater students graduating every year; now there are usually 40 to 60 in the program. Both Zublin and another colleague, Jenny Kokai, give that credit to Christian.
“Jim is well regarded in the state and nationally as an outstanding educator and for the musicals he has written. Part of the reason the theater program committed to doing a season of all new works every four years is because we have had Jim here providing us with outstanding new works of musical theater,” Kokai said.
It’s that reputation that brought now-WSU graduate Julie Waite Silvestro to WSU. She heard about the program when she was in Maryland. When she arrived, she quickly learned about Christian and saw his passion and it inspired her. “He is so down to earth and real with everything. He has a real and genuine desire for us to succeed,” Silvestro said.
Shenefelt agreed. “He shaped the way I took every move I made at Weber State,” Shenefelt said. His path led him away from Christian’s department, but Christian saw what was best for Shenefelt and helped him to achieve his goals. “He let me stay in both worlds,” Shenefelt said.
For Christian, while he enjoys directing, his work with his students is his passion. “I love to see that light bulb go off over their heads and make connections,” Christian said.
Kokai has seen that love for his students and sees that others have benefited as well. “Tens of thousands of people have benefited from seeing a student he trained on stage, or being taught by a student he trained, or working on or seeing a show he directed or wrote,” Kokai said.
He is not sure what is next for him. “That’s part of the excitement for me,” Christian said.
He knows he will love being a grandfather, which will happen in a couple of months, and he plans to continue doing some local directing. “It will be nice to not have to have my life planned out around the next three to five productions,” he said with a laugh. For right now, he is working on his last WSU production, “Nice Work If You Can Get it,” which opens Feb. 26. “This is a good one to go out on because it has all the things I love best. It will be good to go out on a high note.”