MaryAnn Schaupp seems to have two parallel drives -- to teach and to act. Throughout her life she has taught theatre, dance, and movement. Since the mid-eighties she has taught what she calls "Flexibility and Relaxation Techniques" for seniors through Monterey Peninsula College and is presently teaching dance and theatre to students at Children's Experimental Theatre. And she finds herself rather steadily in theatrical productions, currently playing the title role in CANDIDA for Staff Players Repertory Company.

MaryAnn grew up in Stockton, California. She loved to perform from a very early age. As she describes it, " My family is Italian. They loved to perform. At family gatherings my grandfather would sing, my father would play the violin, my aunt would play the piano. I did impressions, sang and danced. I liked to copy the choreography I saw in the movies or on TV or make up my own dances." She always begged for ballet lessons, and at the age of seven began lessons with the Stockton Symphony Ballet. She also always wanted to act, and started drama classes in junior high school. She explains, " That took the pressure off of my family as an audience. By that time I had played all the parts in WEST SIDE STORY for them." While in high school, she began giving private dance lessons and choreographing local musicals. In addition, during those teen years she also began modeling "petite fashions" in local department stores.

Next MaryAnn attended Delta College, a community college in Stockton. In the evenings she would study dance and choreography in San Francisco and then would adapt what she had learned in dance for theatre and teach what she would call "Stage Movement" at Delta College. Since she was a teacher's assistant she could take courses at different colleges, so on the weekend she would take workshops and courses in dance and theatre with some extraordinary dancers in numerous colleges around Central California. She continued giving private dance lessons, choreographing, and performing, primaily with the Stockton Civic Theatre.

In 1976 MaryAnn moved to Monterey County. By then she was married and had two children. She found employment teaching physical education and dance, first at Carmel River School and then at Parent Peninsula School. She also taught dance at Jenny England's Dance And Twirl Club. She continued doing choreography, her first for THE WIZARD OF OZ at Carmel High School. When she returned to acting, she wanted to avoid doing musicals since she felt she had been type-cast in Stockton. So she auditioned for comedies or classical works. She performed for Staff Players in TARTUFFE and then for Unicorn in A COUPLA WHITE CHICKS SITTING AROUND TALKING. She joined Grovemont (now Pacific Repertory Theatre) for their very first Fairy Tale Theatre. She finally stepped back into musicals in MPC's INTO THE WOODS - "I just couldn't stay away; I just loved it."

In 1979 MaryAnn began teaching "Creative Exercise" for seniors through the Monterey Parks and Recreation Department. It was a continuation of the low impact stretch aerobic classes she been teaching in Stockton (mostly to young mothers). In about 1985 she began teaching those classes through MPC -- at the Carmel Foundation, Meals on Wheels, and in convalescent hospitals.

MARYANN SCHAUPP

MaryAnn talks about the two creative drives so important in her life, "From the time I was very young, when I started taking dance classes, I was always intrigued by how the teacher communicated with the students. I always thought I could teach something I had learned better and quicker. All my life I wanted to be a teacher. I never had dreams of being a big star; my first love is always teaching. But I'm driven to act. The acting is in my blood. From the time I was a child I knew I had to perform on stage. When I was three I would sing to an imaginary audience. We had a sunken living room, so the dining room was my stage. My drive is to act, not be famous or make money (unfortunately). To have the experience of doing the role is first and foremost."