Golden Apple Award: Tripp Pettigrew, CCA
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts has been fostering creativity for 25 years now. Tripp Pettigrew teaches theater there. With a full plate of planned performances Mr. Pettigrew is as organized as he is creative. Those qualities earned him this week’s Golden Apple Award.
Jessica Ghazi is the Assistant Principal at CCA.
She says, ” Yes, we are incredibly proud of our acting department here at CCA and the integral role that Mr. Pettigrew plays in him.”
Tripp Pettigrew describes himself this way, ” I am a Chattanooga boy. I grew up here, born and bred. And then at 18, I went to New York for ten years, and then I went to L.A. for ten years. I had a successful career as an actor and then as an arts administrator, and then this job came open, and I just couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life except coming back to Chattanooga and giving my experience back.”
Here is what a few of his students had to say about Mr. Pettigrew, ” I am so excited to see Mr. Pettigrew. Like, he just brightens my day. He’s like this big honey bun, and I love honey buns. He’s a really cool teacher, and he’s very fun. He’s really down to earth. One thing I think really stands out about him is I can really tell he cares about all of us. I feel like he has been the foundation of improving me and the rest of my peers to be better actors. Pedigree definitely has a different type of teaching style that I think really works with his students. ”
Mr. Pettigrew explains, ” We in our Acting One class. Follow UDA Hagen’s book called Respect for Acting. So, the exercise today was specifically called Environment, and that is really about I had them listen to music and try to activate memories that they could then recreate.”
He continues, ” Oh, at the end, we played a game called Whoosh, and that is about working together, listening to one another. It’s about building ensemble. It’s about listening to our partners so that we know what activities to do based on what they say. Because ultimately, a play is a big game of whoosh. Certainly, we’re saying lines that actually mean things that aren’t words, like whoosh and panic and things like that. But we still have to react from what our partners do.”
He concludes, “I hope they remember to laugh. I think life is way too serious, and it is only through the pursuit and enjoyment of art that I think life is fun. And that’s what I want them to remember from me.”
