Alumni Spotlight - Christy Berryessa

"Abintra taught me that, even as a child, my opinion mattered. The level of self-worth that comes from knowing your thoughts and feelings matter to the people who teach you is tremendous."

-- Christy, Theatre Artist, Costume Designer, Director

Christy graduated from Abintra in 2004 and continued her education at Nashville School of the Arts. She earned her BFA in Theatre Performance from Belmont University in 2011, and has been a freelance theatre artist in Nashville ever since. Since graduating, Christy has acted in several local commercials, as well as the Standardized Patient program at the Center for Experiential Learning at Vanderbilt University Medical School, a program that allows medical students to work on their bedside manner with actors instead of actual patients. Christy has also done costume design for Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre and Tennessee Women's Theater Project, and has been a stitcher for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival and the Tennessee Repertory Theatre. However, the extensive list of post-grad experiences above doesn't cover the work that Christy has been most proud of - read on to learn more!

Abintra: Tell us what you've been up to lately.

Christy (top right) with Middle Schoolers after their play.

Christy: In addition to my community theater work, this year I have had the pleasure of directing plays at Abintra in Lower Elementary through Middle School. The work that I have done with those children has been the most fulfilling thing I have done since I graduated. I will be leading a theater camp in July for Abintra elementary students, and I can’t wait to get started!
When I am not working in the theatre world, I am working in the film world. My husband, Steven, and his family own Dangerous Muse Productions, a film company based here in Nashville. We have been working toward our second full length film, The Corsican, for the past year. You can see the teaser trailer here. I am so proud of the work we did to make it and I can’t wait to get to work on the full length film!
We made our first film, Zombie Warz: Falls the Shadow, in 2011 and it has sold here in America and in markets around the world. I worked on costumes for Falls the Shadow, (That’s the original title. You can thank our American distributor for ‘Zombie Warz’. ) and I will be co-designing the costumes for “The Corsican” with my fantastic mother-in-law, Teresa Berryessa.

Abintra: How do you think your time at Abintra influenced your future experiences?
Christy: I could literally write a book about this. To save time, I will pick 3 of the most important things I learned at Abintra. They have each shaped me and opened my world to experiences I never would have known, had I grown up in a different school.

Christy acts in Abintra's Greek Myths play in 2003.

1. I learned that my ideas mattered. Abintra taught me that, even as a child, my opinion mattered just as much as those of the adults who surrounded me. It taught me that people cared deeply about what I was saying. The adults wanted to hear what I thought about the world and they wanted to talk to me about my feelings. I think that many young people feel disrespected by the adults in their lives and I am so grateful that I never felt that way. The level of self-worth that comes from knowing your thoughts and feelings matter to the people who teach you and take care of you is tremendous, and its importance cannot be overstated. I carry it with me everyday and it influences everything I do. 
2. I learned how to ask questions - as many questions as I needed to ask. And I have a lot of questions! I will admit, that are times in school where kids might make fun of you if you ask a lot of questions, but at Abintra I learned that it doesn’t matter. The kids who make fun of you are probably the same ones who are afraid of looking like they care about learning. Which brings me to the 3rd most important thing I learned at Abintra!
3. I learned that caring about things is awesome. Caring about school, about the environment, about people, about art, is the best way to live. When you care you can make the sweetest and longest friendships of your life. When you care you can help people when they are hurting. When you care you can make deeply meaningful art. When you care you can make a difference. Your life is better when you care.

Abintra: What is your favorite Abintra memory?
Christy: I came to Abintra in 1st grade. That was the year before they built what is now the Middle and Upper Elementary building. When I was first there that area was wooded and it was part of our recess space. There was a long sort of U-shaped path which had little cleared pockets all they way around in which we established our "stores." The store where I worked searched for and sold beautiful rocks. Our currency was fossils and shells which could be found on the playground. Our store had a huge slab of rock in it, which we used as our display table. The whole thing was full of gorgeous sparkles, which was only right in a Beautiful Rock Store. We called this U-shaped area The Kingdom of Salt and Pepper, and yes, we had a King and Queen. Their throne was a seat shaped stump of a tree that had grown around a huge rock. They ruled in peace for a time, but when they split up we divided into girls vs. boys. Thus began The Lasers vs. T-Birds recess war. That whole year was awesome.

Abintra: If you could give one piece of advice to a current Abintra student, what would it be?
Christy: Be kind. Always be kind.