POCATELLO — When former Miss Utah Vanessa Ballam stepped into the Stephens Performing Arts Center to interview for a position with the ISU School of Performing Arts, she was hooked.
The daughter of internationally known singer and musician Michael Ballam and a star talent in her own right, her options were plentiful.
“Both my husband, Stefan, and I had fairly new artistic jobs in Logan,” said Ballam. “But the moment I walked into that beautiful rotunda, I was completely overcome with emotion and excitement. I knew I needed to say yes.”
“I could not be happier that Vanessa and Stefan are in Pocatello,” said her father, Michael Ballam, who will be performing at the center in support of the School of Performing Arts on Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
“They have so much to bring to the community and the university,” Michael Ballam said. “My father is a graduate of ISU and I have a deep fondness for the community.”
Vanessa grew up in Logan, Utah, at a time when her father was often on the road performing. One night, Michael received a call from his daughter who was just four or five at the time and had just watched “La Traviata.” She told her dad that the story was about a little girl whose father was an opera singer and was gone from home all the time.
“And if you don’t come home, my heart is going to break and he waits too long and when he comes home she dies,” his daughter told him.
Ballam got the message.
“From that point, he took one of us with him each time he went on tour,” Vanessa said.
Though bitten by the “theater bug” at an early age, her parents were a bit reticent about Vanessa following her father’s path.
“They encouraged me to explore other options initially, something I’ll probably do for my son Sebastian,” she said. “It’s a tough field to go into.”
Vanessa honed her talents singing with the family each week and performing at Cache Valley rest homes during the Christmas season.
“And my parents always supported every acting, dance and voice class I was interested in,” she said. “My father was my first voice teacher.”
Vanessa’s second year at Utah State University was interrupted by a detour she hadn’t seen coming, taking the title of Miss Utah in 1999 and traveling to Atlantic City to participate in the Miss America pageant.
“It was unexpected because I really hadn’t aspired to anything like that,” she said. “But it was a wonderful experience and the scholarships allowed me to complete three degrees without any debt.”
Ballam finished her B.A. and BFA at Utah State before moving to Blooming, Ind., where she earned her master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Indiana in 2006.
With her degrees in hand, she headed to California, taking a position as a resident artist at The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria.
“I was the leading actor in all of their mainstage productions and also oversaw the first year acting program,” Ballam said.
While there, she developed her skills and gained valuable experience. She also met her future husband Stefan.
“We met in the theater and did many shows together that first year before he ever asked me out on a date,” Ballam said with a laugh. “It took him a year to get around to it.”
They married in 2009.
Stefan Espinosa is the second half of the talented couple.
With a BFA from Arizona and a MFA from the University of Houston. He has worked as a professional actor for more than a decade, starring in “Big River,” “Camelot,” “Richard III” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”
“Stefan is the perfect balance for me,” said Ballam. “Being an actor, he fully understands my eccentricities and it’s wonderful to be married to someone who speaks the same language. We balance each other out, he keeps me sane and I keep him on his toes.”
Before coming to Pocatello, Vanessa and Stefan performed at Michael Ballam’s Utah Festival Opera and Music Theatre in Logan.
“Both Stefan and I had been offered full-time positions and we thought it would be nice for our son, Sebastian, to be around his grandparents, at least for a little while,” said Vanessa.
But a friend at Utah State suggested considering the position in Pocatello and the Ballams eventually applied. When the university showed interest, she felt she should at least take a look.
“I would get a good sense as to whether or not it was the right fit for myself, Stefan and Sebastian,” she said.
It was love at first sight for both Ballam and the university.
“We were thrilled when Vanessa agreed to join our faculty as our acting specialist,” said Kandi Turley-Ames, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters. “She brings a wealth of professional acting experience that was a key factor in the program achieving national accreditation. Her presence raises the quality and visibility of the theatre program.”
Dr. Thom Hasenpflug, director of performing arts at ISU, said that Ballam’s contributions to the vision of the program are invaluable. “She is a phenomenal acting presence,” he said.
And it didn’t take long for Ballam to make her presence felt within the department.
On Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m., her father will perform a benefit concert as a fundraiser for the Theatre and Dance programs in the Jensen Grand Concert Hall at the Stephens Performing Arts Center.
“All of the ticket proceeds will go directly towards scholarships and production costs,” Ballam said. “I was in a faculty meeting … and I was trying to think of what I might personally be able to bring to this department to help take the program to the next level. It was my suggestion that we call him, and he instantly agreed.”
Vanessa said that it will be an evening of song and insights as only Michael Ballam can do.
“Expect to hear some of the best musical theater songs of history,” she said. “He’s also asked me to sing a few numbers.”
Ballam teaches mostly acting classes, though she also specializes in musical theater and voice and speech classes. Stefan, who is an adjunct instructor of theater, teaches acting and musical theater, as well as dialects, movement, stage combat and drama appreciation.
But Vanessa does more than just teach. She directs and remains active as a performer.
“I am grateful that ISU supports Vanessa’s desire to keep her foot in the door as a performer,” said her father, Michael. “That will reap an important harvest with the students.”
She said she hopes her students at ISU will remember her for teaching them a work ethic and a passion for the art form.
“Acting and theater has always been a very personal experience for me,” she said. “I feel blessed every day that I am able to do what I love and teach what I love.”