TOM TITUS -- Theater

There are football schools and basketball schools, but if you want

your kids exposed to a top-of-the-line drama program, Estancia High

School is the place to send them.

Estancia has had that reputation as far back as 1987, when I was house

hunting. I had one primary requirement since both my kids were into

theater. I had to live in the Estancia High School attendance area.

Then, as now, Estancia was known as the cream of the crop insofar as

turning out talented thespians was concerned. The primary reason for this

was the drama instructor, Barbara Van Holt, for whom the school’s

performing facility is now named.

Van Holt retired five years ago after a quarter of a century at the

helm, but Estancia continues to collect the lion’s share of the MACY

(Music and Arts Commendation for Youth) awards each spring, for which a

good deal of the credit must be accorded her successor, Pauline Maranian.

Since 1997, Maranian’s student actors have swept through the MACYs

like the Lakers through the NBA playoffs -- including the most recent

competition when the school’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof” left

other competitors in its wake. The school won a record 17 performance

awards, including the Masterpiece honor, the top prize.

Why, one might wonder, do the Eagle performers do so consistently

well? After all, the seniors graduate and other students fill their shoes

every year. Yet since the torch was passed from Van Holt to Maranian in

1997, Estancia has won, by Maranian’s estimate, between 60 and 70 MACY

awards.

“If it hadn’t been for Barbara Van Holt, I would not have the

wonderful tradition to build upon at Estancia,” Maranian, 32, says with

characteristic modesty. “She created an amazing sanctuary for teenagers

to come together and create excellence in a loving and nurturing

environment. I stepped into a magical empire and have been blessed ever

since.”

Yet, a glance at Maranian’s background provides a clue to the school’s

continued success. After graduating from Huntington Beach High School,

she earned a bachelor’s degree in dramatic arts from UC Santa Barbara

(also Van Holt’s alma mater) and went on to earn a masters from the

American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

“I was mainly studying classical theater and wanted to pursue a career

on the stage,” she says. “My previous background had been in dance,

mainly ballet, but I knew after high school that I wanted to be an

actress.”

After school, Maranian performed in regional theater and Shakespeare

festivals, moving to Los Angeles and taking the usual actor’s day job --

waitressing. But two years in L.A. convinced her that it was the wrong

place for her, “spiritually, mentally and physically,” as she puts it.

“I had started teaching dance and drama to children in the L.A. area

to supplement my income and found I had a knack for it,” she recalls.

This led her to return to Huntington Beach High, where a teaching

position “literally landed in my lap.”

After two years at Huntington Beach and Ocean View high schools, the

Estancia position opened up.

“I switched schools because I had heard of the magic of Estancia and

Barbara Van Holt,” Maranian says. “She happened to be retiring at a time

in my life when I needed to move on, and she graciously took me under her

wing.”

Maranian wasted no time establishing herself. Her first musical,

“Carnival,” won the grand prize at the MACYs, along with several other

individual awards (including one for my daughter, Mindy, as the snake

charmer). Since then, four other shows of hers have been honored -- “A

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Godspell,” “The Wizard of

Oz” and “Fiddler.”

“I love telling people I teach high school kids, because I always

shatter their impressions of teenagers when I tell them about my kids,”

she beams. “They truly are special. We all love what we do and take care

of each other, just like a family.”

Given Pauline Maranian’s youth and enthusiasm, Estancia High School

should be piling up the MACY awards for a long, long time to come. It is

-- as they say in “Fiddler on the Roof” -- tradition.

* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.