Why I Give Back

Andrew Birdzell and Family Set Drama Students up for Success

written by
Pam Wigley

Sketching and doodling weren’t compulsions for Andrew Birdzell when he was growing up in Stockton, Calif. That may seem odd for a man who made a career in scenic design, but for Birdzell, getting a late start worked. It wasn’t until he was a teenager that he discovered the theater, and his fascination with creating stage environments grew from there.

Birdzell enrolled in a small conservatory program at San Joaquin Delta Community College, focusing on set design. There, he refined his skills and first heard about Carnegie Mellon University from a directing alumnus of the School of Drama, Jeffrey Wentworth, who supervised the program.

“I worked in the scene shop and became fascinated with scenic design,” Birdzell said. “I have a propensity to think about things related to space, so it worked for me.”

He went on to earn his undergraduate degree at the University of California Davis, where he found a professional and academic mentor in John Iacobelli. Iacobelli was “the first role model to show me I could do [set design] as a career,” Birdzell recalled. In fact, Iacobelli kept in touch with Birdzell when he pursued his master’s degree in scenic design at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama and hired him right after he graduated in 2006.

“John told me to go to graduate school and learn from others,” Birdzell said. “I looked at Yale, NYU and CMU. My peer group at CMU was most like me. You end up where you’re supposed to be.”

He found a welcoming presence in former drama faculty member Anne Mundell, who made him feel comfortable from the minute he met her. A stranger to Pittsburgh, Birdzell said he found in Mundell not only an academic mentor, but also a therapist and an empathetic maternal figure.

"Anne helped me to learn how to ask the right questions, and I now use her technique with my family, my children. These were the hardest three years of my life, but I left [CMU] more than prepared. I felt like I could handle anything that came my way."

Andrew Birdzell

To gain release of sorts from the rigors of the program, Birdzell took time during his studies to find a respite in Hawaii, where he could continue to work toward his master’s and still have the self-care break he needed. Thanks to grants that Mundell helped him procure, his studies in Hawaii were covered and he returned to the School of Drama rejuvenated.

“That gesture solidified for me how important even small gifts could be in a person’s life,” he said. “The experience connected me to myself again.”

He worked for Iacobelli then, designing sets, and found other roles through his CMU network. As his career thrived, so did his personal life. He met his wife, Flora, in 2009 while working on a movie set in Boston; they married in 2012. In discovering love, he rediscovered the power of giving.

Her family — Willliam R. Hewlett and Flora Lamson Hewlett — founded the Flora Family Foundation in 1998. Birdzell saw the effects of the foundation’s work while visiting villages in Tanzania, particularly how meaningful the assistance was for women. Seeing funding in action reminded Birdzell of his own experience receiving help during his time at CMU.

"I quickly came to recognize that philanthropy is a way to think outside of yourself. It’s a great way to connect with your children, if you choose to have them. You can begin the journey of giving together."

Andrew Birdzell

Birdzell and his family decided to support the Student Enhancement Fund in the School of Drama to help others, like him, who truly need assistance while facing the challenges of a demanding curriculum at one of the world’s top universities.

“Any amount makes a difference. It makes a difference for a million people to give a dollar in the same way one person gives a million dollars. Explore it. Begin that conversation with yourself.”

featuring the following:

images courtesy of Andrew Birdzell

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