MOMENT OF TRUTH: Growing up in Chicago, Cuza often was told by family and friends that she’d make a good lawyer, “so that was always the path.” But in college, “It got to the point where I couldn’t wait for the end of the school year so I wouldn’t have to work at it anymore-I just didn’t have the passion that everyone around me did.” She was one semester short of graduating and heading to law school when she decided to leave.
BACKSTORY: She moved home and worked temp jobs as she struggled over what to do next. On one of those jobs, she met the artistic director for Chicago Scriptworks, which produces staged readings of screenplays by emerging writers. Cuza, 24, started to volunteer there. She helped to cast actors and became fascinated with stage production and how directors bring a script to life.
OUTCOME: Cuza works days for a small manufacturing company so she can spend her nights and weekends indulging her newfound passion: theater. She has been a stage manager or assistant director with four local theater companies and can’t get enough. “With this, I wasn’t afraid of immersing myself in it. I couldn’t wait to come back.” Though quitting school when she did was traumatic, Cuza says the timing for her epiphany was perfect. “I don’t have any responsibilities yet-nothing’s holding me back.” She plans to return to school, but this time to study directing.
SIDE EFFECTS: Cuza’s mother was worried and skeptical at first, and wouldn’t attend any of her daughter’s productions. But now she’s supportive “because she sees how happy I am.”
PAYOFF: “I’m getting closer to being myself.”
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dchen@tribune.com
