Love of movies leads student to stage role

In a way, it was Zakary Brock’s love of movies that landed him on the stage at Clovis Community College’s Town Hall in this week’s production of “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge.”

The play, which opened Wednesday night, is the culmination of the semester-long company theater class taught by Christy Mendoza.

Zak, a 22-year-old student from Portales, had taken Christy’s film class last spring, and he says Christy talked him into taking the theater class this fall. He agreed, he said, “Because there’s no homework, for starters.”

Zak graduated from Portales High School in 2012, and is scheduled to receive an associate’s degree in general students from CCC in May.

He has autism.

Besides ongoing support from his parents, Larry and Anna Brock, Zak has two life coaches/mentors: his sister-in-law Karen Brock, and his best friend, Zachary Santos.

“I’m the motivator,” Karen says with a laugh.

I met with Zak and Karen last weekend at Sweetwater’s, the coffee shop connected to Landall’s Box Office in Portales. Zak works weekends at Landall’s, a job where he is surrounded by thousands of his favorite things: videos.

In conversation it quickly becomes clear that he has an encyclopedic knowledge of cinema.

Landall Goolsby, who owns the business, said Zak’s love of film is one reason Zak is “not just one of my best employees … my best employee.”

“He knows movies, and he’s very attentive and he listens,” Landall said. “He can hear a conversation across the room and go find the movie. It helps that he enjoys movies. He can come in and go right to work.”

Karen tags along on many of Zak’s activities — she’s his chauffeur and sits in on most of his classes. When he started his job at Landall’s a year or so ago, Karen said, “I was going to job shadow him for at least the first week, but there was no need.”

In the film-making class at CCC last spring, he got to dive into a topic he loves, make a few short films, and find a new supporter: His teacher, Christy.

“Christy fell in love with Zak and wanted him to take the company class this fall,” Karen said.

“I didn’t know there was going to be a play,” Zak said. When he found out the group was doing a parody of “A Christmas Carol,” he said, “I was hoping to get a small role, like the bartender.”

Instead, Christy had him read for the part of the Cratchit’s ailing son, Tiny Tim, “which has kind of a lot of lines,” Zak noted.

He landed the role, Christy said, because “he has the perfect delivery for this Tiny Tim.”

Like all the roles in this humorous production, Tiny Tim is not the traditional character audiences might expect. In one scene he says, “I think I feel consumption coming on. That’s when your lungs fill up with something and you die, right?” In another, he laments, “So, there’s no Christmas dinner, and no Christmas pudding. I can’t be brave anymore.”

Although Zak said he hasn’t been on stage since “probably second grade,” he’s in seven of the 12 scenes in the current production, according to the yellow highlighted lines in his well-worn script.

The cast includes many faces familiar to local audiences: Leslie Nagy as Mrs. Cratchit, Chris Cummins as Scrooge, Sandy Lyons as the three ghosts, Wayne Davis as Mr. Fezziwig, and Jennifer Brandon in numerous roles.

“The whole cast has taken to Zak,” Karen said. “They included him right away.”

That inclusion is a passion of teacher/director Christy Mendoza, and not only for theater. “I feel this way about all arts,” Christy said. “They must never be for the selected few, but for all to enjoy and partake.”

If you’d like to enjoy and partake yourself, “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge” has four remaining performances: 7 p.m. tonight, 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10 general admission, $7 seniors/students/military, and may be purchased online at http://www.clovisarts.org, by calling the CCC business office at 575-769-4031, or at the door.

Betty Williamson wishes Zak and his classmates a great run. You may reach Betty at: [email protected]