Student Profile - Spencer Thomas
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Leadership Scholar
Major(s): Drama, Program on the Environment
Project: Into the Heart of the City: A one-man play delving into the undertones of the greater Seattle's changing environment
At the beginning of my senior year I came up with the idea of writing and performing a solo environmental play. I had been inspired by a one-man play about the spotted owl controversy of the mid 90s, and so I wanted to undertake my own play about a current environmental issue. I finally settled on looking at the debate that is happening over the future of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated highway that runs along the downtown Seattle waterfront. This is a controversy that has been making headlines since the 2001 Nisqually earthquake cracked the viaduct. The city realized that the viaduct has to be replaced, but the controversy has been over how to replace it. Some activists has advocated for tearing the viaduct down and not rebuilding it, while others have suggested replacing it with a new elevated structure, and some have even called for it to be replaced with a tunnel. The future of the viaduct has become a public debate with many politicians and public figures chiming in.
I had a vision of my play being a docu-drama, which is a play that grounds its script in real excerpts from documents and interviews. So I undertook the task of interviewing the various stakeholders on the controversy: elected public officials, local business owners, activists, reporters, transportation planners, urban planners, prominent community members and scholars. Each interview was transcribed and then edited into a monologue that highlighted the person’s perspective on the issue. Each monologue is performed as a character representing the person interviewed, and altogether the monologues compose the arching story of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seattle waterfront controversy.
My experience as a Mary Gates Scholar has been an enormous encouragement to my project. The support I have received from the endowment has allowed me to spend more time focusing on the project. To me, being a Mary Gates Scholar has meant knowing that I am part of a student movement that is engaging creative, personal, and exploratory ways to use our education to create meaningful academic and societal contributions. It is about applying what we’ve learned in the classroom in ways we would not ordinarily get the chance to.
I’ve learned through my experience the value of exploring all sides of controversial issue. There are numerous perspectives that are fueling the Alaskan Way Viaduct debate, and it has been a challenge to incorporate and accurately depict all of them in my docu-drama, but in the process I’ve realized the importance of acknowledging and trying to eliminate personal bias. I’ve also learned that a project is only as good as your passion for it, and so to all future Mary Gates Scholars I urge you to engage in projects that you are excited and enthusiastic about because only then will you truly allow the Mary Gates experience to enhance your university education.