Two University of Iowa theatre arts students have caught the eye of leaders in television, improvisational comedy, and Broadway.

Alexi Bolden is one of four recipients of a scholarship that is a partnership between Saturday Night Live and Chicago’s Second City improv theater, and Brillian Qi-Bell will join 14 other students in the inaugural Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program.

“Alexi and Brillian are both exceptional students, talented theater artists, and active citizens within the university community,” says Mary Beth Easley, associate professor, head of directing, and chair of the Department of Theatre Arts. “The opportunity to be connected with industry professionals that comes with these awards will open doors for them as they embark on their careers after graduating. We are excited to see them take that next step.”

Both scholarships were created with a goal of developing diverse talent—onstage and backstage—and helping to close the disparity that exists at all echelons of the entertainment industry.

“I applaud Cody Renard Richard and individuals at Second City/Saturday Night Live for recognizing the need to provide mentorship and scholarship funds for BIPOC students,” Easley says. “If we see ourselves in someone else, we can imagine traveling there ourselves.”

Alexi Bolden cracking jokes to tell her stories and truths

Bill Murray, Kristen Wiig, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell …

Alexi Bolden?

The University of Iowa senior may be on the fast track to joining those legends in the cast of Saturday Night Live, as the recipient of a scholarship that will culminate with a tryout for the venerable television comedy institution.

A partnership between SNL and Chicago’s Second City improv theater, the scholarship’s goal is to develop diverse, emerging comedic talent. The scholarship will allow Bolden to study comedy and improv performance for two years at Second City’s legendary home theater in Chicago, a prolific breeding ground for SNL cast members like Murray, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler. It will cover all their performance and writing-training expenses at Second City and give them access to SNL executives.

Bolden, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native, was one of four scholarship recipients from a pool of 1,300 applicants. She is already taking online classes this spring semester as part of the scholarship, one that teaches improv performance and another about comedy writing. She’s also taking her full load of five University of Iowa classes and an internship.

“I have a roommate who’s really good at organizing, and she’s helping me,” she says.

After graduating in May, she’ll move to Chicago for more classes and will then move on to Second City’s Conservatory Program for more advanced training. At the end, she’ll have the opportunity to audition before SNL producers for a chance to join the cast or writing staff.

“I’m really excited,” says Bolden. “I’ve always loved comedy, but I didn’t think I could do it for a career until just last year.”

She says her family was full of comedy and jokes while she was growing up, especially her father, so she developed a quick wit to keep up with them. It also helped that she was, by her own description, “weird.”

The family also had comedy tapes around the house—The Kings of Comedy, Queens of Comedy, Eddie Murphy’s Best of SNL, to name a few—but many of those were off limits until she was older. She said that by the time she finally got a chance to watch the Murphy performance, the aging VHS tape had deteriorated so much it was no longer watchable.

She’s been making up for lost time since, getting caught up on 45 seasons of SNL on Hulu and YouTube. She can talk about the rough-edged Chevy Chase, the criminally underused Garrett Morris, the tragic genius of Phil Hartman, and the brilliance of Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Hader as capably as any baby boomer who started watching during season one and still waxes poetic about wolverines, little chocolate donuts, and terrific bass.

A graduate of Jefferson High School, Bolden originally came to Iowa as a theatre arts and political science major intending to pursue a law career. But she got involved in theater and with Iowa City’s all-women Janice improv sketch group and soon changed direction.

“It made me the happiest when I was with my improv team cracking jokes and getting to tell my stories and my truths,” she says.

So, she dropped the political arts degree, added a minor in African American studies, and started spending more time on stage. She performed in plays, including The Crucible, thinking she would pursue a career in theater before refining it to comedy.

She says she loves theater and comedy because being on stage lets her build a connection not just with her fellow performers but with the audience. Seeing an audience react to her performance is tremendously fulfilling.

“People would come up to me after the show and say, ‘I cried when you did this’ and I’d think, ‘Really?’” she says. “I love connecting with people.”

She says her all-star list of SNL performers is Hartman, Wiig, Murphy, Maya Rudolph, and Dana Carvey, with Bill Hader topping her list. If she makes the cast, she would be the second University of Iowa alumnus on the show, following Brooks Wheelan, who was a featured performer during the 2013–14 season.

Brillian Qi-Bell putting focus on diversity backstage

Last summer, Brillian Qi-Bell shared a social media post from former Hamilton stage manager Cody Renard Richard.

“He called it a love letter to the Broadway and theater community,” Qi-Bell says. “It was about the racism he has experienced as a stage manager of color and how we need to do better. I felt what he wrote so much, and I was so glad that someone was bringing attention to it.”

A few months later, the University of Iowa senior was alerted to a new scholarship program sponsored by Richard and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, along with heavyweight supporters such as Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda and Disney Theatrical president Thomas Schumacher.

Qi-Bell was named one of 15 recipients of the inaugural Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program, “dedicated to honoring, uplifting, and supporting the next generation of Black, Asian, Latinx, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) theatre-makers working behind the scenes.” Along with the scholarship, industry leaders and journeymen of color will provide mentorship to the students through social justice and leadership seminars.

Qi-Bell says she was drawn to the scholarship program because of its spotlight on diversity backstage.

“Diversity in theater is usually focused on the actors onstage,” Qi-Bell says. “People don’t talk about diversity backstage because they can’t see it. I’ve often been the only person of color backstage—most of the time, actually. I want to be an advocate for other people of color and use my voice and identity to be a strong leader. I never dreamed I’d have an opportunity like this.”

The West Des Moines native discovered a love of theater in sixth grade, but knew she didn’t want to be on stage. In eighth grade, a teacher suggested she try stage management. By high school, Qi-Bell knew she wanted to do it professionally.

“Our teacher took us on a tour of the Civic Center, where the stage manager was a Valley High School grad,” Qi-Bell says. “I didn’t know that was something you could actually do. So, I started looking for colleges with good stage management programs.”

Qi-Bell says she feels lucky to have gotten so many opportunities as an undergraduate.

“The first show I worked on was with the International Writing Program in which writers from around the world wrote short plays,” Qi-Bell says. “I had never worked on a new work before, and I had no idea what I was doing. But I learned.”

So far, Qi-Bell says the two shows she has most enjoyed working on at Iowa were P o l a r i s (a tragedy expansion pack), part of the 2019 New Play Festival, and 2020’s Hit the Wall.

“Hit the Wall was especially fun because it was a cast full of people of color or who identified on the LGBTQ+ spectrum,” Qi-Bell says. “I was really passionate about that project.”

In her last semester, Qi-Bell is excited to get her first chance stage managing a mainstage show, The People Before the Park, written by Iowa alumnus Keith Josef Adkins and directed by Jade King Carroll. She also has gotten involved in the virtual reality club UIXR Studio and is stage managing a virtual reality production.

“It’s really cool and an interesting learning experience because I’m working with a lot of computer people who are using a lot of words that I don’t know,” Qi-Bell says.

Qi-Bell says she is looking forward to meeting and working with industry leaders like Richard, but she also is eager to meet the other scholarship recipients.

“I’m excited to connect with people of color who are passionate about making changes in this industry,” Qi-Bell says. “I have a feeling our group is going to be very close and help each other as we go out into this pandemic world.”

As graduation approaches, Qi-Bell is applying for apprenticeships but is realistic about the theater landscape during a pandemic. She says she may stay in Iowa, work, and save money for a year while staying connected with people she has met.

While Qi-Bell is excited to gain new mentors, she’s grateful for the mentors she’s found at Iowa, especially Melissa Turner, lecturer in stage management, and Bryon Winn, professor and director of theatre.

“They have been like my parents here,” Qi-Bell says. “I ask them so many questions about life and different methods to approaching shows. They’ve been amazing and just totally willing to help with whatever I need.”