Jesse Dufault '11
FROM KINGSTON TO TINSELTOWN:
Theatre major sets his sites on Los Angeles and credits donor generosity for "exceptional" experience at URI
While the rest of us were shoveling snow in mid-January, Jesse Dufault was enjoying the kind of weather in Los Angeles that won’t be seen here until late spring. The theatre major, who will graduate in May, was on a mission: to see what it will feel like to live in the film and television capital and to investigate work possibilities.
If Jesse can follow his brother Jamie’s footsteps, then the younger Dufault will be off to a good start. Jamie minored in theatre at URI and moved to Los Angeles last September. He quickly began picking up acting roles, many on television, according to Dufault.
Yet, if his experience at URI is any indication, Dufault should be able to blaze his own trails. It was during his junior year when desire and opportunity converged. Dufault was cast in all four URI Theatre Department productions. And it was his portrayal of handsome playboy Romain Tournel in “A Flea in Her Ear” that won Dufault a nomination to participate in the prestigious annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF).
Participating in conferences and competitions like the KCACTF, however, requires funding beyond student tuition, so donor generosity helps fill the gap. Fortunately, URI’s Richard E. Beaupre Hope and Heritage Award has made it possible for outstanding students like Dufault to participate in a variety of beyond-the-classroom experiences.
In fact, the fund afforded Dufault and 19 other URI students the chance to take part in the regional activities of the KCACTF, during which they competed in the areas of acting, management and design. Though Dufault was not selected to go to Washington, D.C., for the festival’s culmination, two URI students have been selected in past years to represent the New England region.
“When I came to URI, I felt it was going to be tough to live up to my brother’s reputation, but I was determined to achieve my own success,” Dufault says. Among his other endeavors, Dufault has edited video for the annual Honors Colloquium series, and he is featured in URI’s student orientation films and academic advising video.
“URI has provided a lot of great opportunities for learning,” Dufault explains, “But donor support has made it possible for me to go beyond the campus for an experience far superior than I ever could have imagined.”
Today, Jesse Dufault stands in no one’s shadow. So, in show business lingo, we say, “Break a leg, Jesse!”