I wasn’t planning to be here for more than a year,” said Vanessa Ballam. “I didn’t know anything at all about Santa Maria, I knew very little about the company — but obviously I’m still here. So it’s been a good fit.”

And a successful one, as well. Ballam has been a resident actor for the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts of Hancock College for three years now, and she has entertained audiences in a variety of performances.

Since debuting, Ballam has acted in a wide array of plays including “The Sound of Music,” “Othello” and “Godspell” in just the past eight months.

“I started as a bird in “Seussical the Musical.” That was my debut here — and now to have done the shows I’ve done this year,” Ballam said.

During the holiday season, Ballam played Maria in “The Sound of Music.” When that closed, she moved right to Desdemona in “Othello,” and just recently was part of an outstanding ensemble for “Godspell.”

That is a great body of work for any actress in a year’s time, but then throw in the fact that she teaches acting classes at PCPA during the day, and it’s even more impressive.

It is a challenging job, especially when you add to the mix that Ballam performed side by side with nine of her former or current students in the production of “Godspell” that was directed by her day boss, PCPA Artistic Director Mark Booher.

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“This job for me is so ideal and I know I have a lot of friends in the business that are a bit envious about what I do here at PCPA,” Ballam explained. “For me, teaching has always been a great passion of mine.

“I feel so passionately for what I do, so I want to instill that in others. I’ve always had a problem with that saying, ‘Those that can’t do — teach.’ Here at PCPA we show that is not true, because we have to DO it, and that is a big part of my teaching.”

Booher, who spent six years as the conservancy director for actor training before taking over as the artistic director, agrees with Ballam about working next to the students in productions.

“The thing I really like about PCPA is that there is no separation in trying to have an exemplary professional product, and having a great training process,” Booher explained. “It’s absolutely integrated. We really try to synthesize what the students are learning in their skills classes during the day.”

PCPA also offers classes in the technical side of the theater business. Lighting, set design, sound and costuming are just a few disciplines offered, in addition to the acting end in which Ballam is involved.

So now the former Miss Utah 1999 has found her way to Santa Maria, fulfilling two dreams simultaneously — teaching acting and performing at the top of her game.

“Teaching is always something that I’ve been involved in,” Ballam said. “Both of my parents are educators.”

Ballam’s father is a university professor and her mother operates a pre-school.

“My father also runs an opera company in Utah, and I was the theater education specialist for a number of years,” Ballam explained. “I also taught high school theater for a year and that did not kill me — it only made me stronger.”

It has to be a unique experience to be working on a production at night with your daytime students.

“I wake every day excited, I love what I do and hopefully I’m inspiring others to do the same,” Ballam said. “And it’s fun to see those lightbulbs go off in my classroom and to see my students exceed onstage.

“We don’t lower the bar at all, having students in the cast, and we don’t change the way that the play would move forward because of who or what level they are in their acting process. We have high expectations for them, and I think that does them a service.”

With the run of “Godspell” in Santa Maria completed, Ballam is now in rehearsals for the world premiere of “The Heart’s Desire,” which opens June 12 at the Marian Theater. Godspell opens June 7 at the Solvang Festival Theater, and runs until July 27.

‘Godspell’ to bring ‘Good Gifts’ to Solvang:

Solvang will heat up with “Godspell” June 6 through July 2. The production just completed a successful run in Santa Maria.

The popular rock musical plays with a live band onstage, and features a playful and poignant score by Stephen Schwartz (”Wicked”). It includes such songs as “God Save the People,” “All Good Gifts” and the international hit “Day By Day.”

The week after “Godspell” opens in Solvang, PCPA will open a world premiere drama in Santa Maria, “The Heart’s Desire,” by Jos/ Cruz Gonz‡lez. The new work offers “an untold story about a World War II Mexican-American veteran and the struggles he faces upon his return home to California with a new bride, and dreams of a new life,” according to a recent press release from PCPA.

“The play investigates the myth of the American Dream: Those who have it and those who don’t,” according to the release. “It also explores the cost of war on those who have survived it and must now learn to find peace in their newly adopted country.”

PCPA Resident Artist Vanessa Ballam will play the new bride, Rachel.

The veteran, John Guerrero, will be played by Equity Guest Artist Juan Monsalvez whose credits include Manhattan Place Players, East L.A. Classic Theatre, South Coast Repertory, and TVs’ “Saints & Sinners” and “General Hospital.”

The play contains adult language.

“The Heart’s Desire” plays in the Marian Theatre from June 12 through 28, and then performs in rotating repertory with “Godspell” in Solvang from July 3 through 26.

The summer 2008 seasons also includes “Ragtime,” “The Imaginary Invalid,” “Hot Mikado” and “The Weir.”

Tickets for summer shows are on sale now. Call 922-8313 between 1 and 7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, or purchase tickets online anytime at www.pcpa.org. The Solvang Festival Theater Box Office opens June 4. Regular hours are from 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. For information, visit www.pcpa.org.