On the Scene with Brandon DiPaola

Brandon DiPaola didn’t grow up with dreams of being an actor. Born in San Francisco, a Hawaii resident since 2001, he said he was “a bit of a geek” whose interests included reading and board and video games. Then the soft-spoken Kalaheo grad (2007) took an entry-level theater class at Windward Community College and found his calling and his mentors in faculty members Nicolas Logue and Taurie Kinoshita.

DiPaola took every theater course he could and performed in class productions and community theater shows. Last summer, working with Logue and Kinoshita in the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival production of “The Witch of Edmonton,” he gave a career-best performance as a young man so innocent and ignorant the Devil couldn’t corrupt him.

This summer, with his mentors’ guidance, DiPaola, 28, went to England to study, perform and audition for the prestigious East 15 Acting School outside London.

JOHN BERGER: How did things go in England?

BRANDON DIPAOLA: The first week I was at the East 15 Acting School taking classes. The following week I went to Stratford-upon-Avon to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. We did “Titus Andronicus” and “Antony and Cleopatra.”

JB: When did you find out you’d passed the audition for East 15?

BD: We had an all-day session with one of the heads of the program that I wanted to apply for, and afterward Nicolas Logue and I were on the (subway) to London.

I was still under the impression that I was also going to have a formal audition, and finally he said, “If you were accepted, would you take it?” I said “Yes,” and he said, “I just got an email from the head of the program. He says he wants to accept you into the program for next year.”

JB: What will you be studying when you return?

BD: It’s a stage combat course so I’ll be trained with all those stage weapons and learning how to use them adequately. I’ll also be taking aikido and equestrian training and archery and a lot of physical classes. I’ll also be taking ballet and doing a lot of vocal work.

JB: And between now and then?

BD: Working full time at Windward as their performing arts assistant.

JB: Where would you like to be in 10 years?

BD: I love theater but … I’ve been told that I do have that “film look,” so it’s wherever my passions lead me. The industry is always changing so you just want to be flexible and willing to do work that you think you can’t do.

“On the Scene” appears on Sundays in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.