The first of the four summer interns for the Westcliffe Center for the Performing Arts (WCPA) has arrived for live theater events scheduled in the coming months. For Vidur Katyal, this is a much anticipated second performance. Vidur was a much appreciated and active intern in the summer of 2024, while still a student at the State University of Vermont (VTSU). That year, among other engagements, he starred in the lead role of Orlando in Shakespeare’s As You Like It. While honing his skills in Shakespeare studies and play production, he significantly contributed to WCPA’s community outreach and education.
“I am so excited to be here again, in a prestigious theater program, and at the heart of three productions while being part of the Center’s community outreach,” Vidur said. The Tribune had an opportunity to sit down with Vidur earlier this week, both to catch up over the intervening two years and to glimpse his vision for the summer season here.
His enthusiasm for being here is exceptional. He graduated from VTSU in 2025, having had an intensely productive year that culminated in his participation in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. There, in recognition of his exemplary performance in VTSU’s production of Once Upon a Mattress, he was nominated for the Irene Ryan Award, and competed as a finalist, providing honor and recognition for exceptional work in acting and musical theater.
After graduation, he had a stint at New York’s Woodstock Playhouse as Technical Director, where he contributed to their legacy of artistic excellence. Then off to LA, where he has been in the center of whirlwind engagements in film and live theater. “LA theater was very accommodating to me, my interests and skill sets,” Vidur commented, while also noting the fast pace of production and performance. In one instance, his participation in a Sixty Minute Shakespeare production spanned a mere three days of preparation, yet played to full house performances.
During this time he had maintained connection with WCPA’s Chris Relph, and when she informed him there was an opening for a director in 2026’s Shakespeare in the Sangres season, he jumped on it. “To be back in Westcliffe and this beautiful setting with all the interaction with the supportive community is an outstanding opportunity for me, so here I am!” he exclaimed.
A mark of Vidur’s professional development is his intertwining of performance and production, and that will be so during his summer season with WCPA. He both directs and has a leading role—Brutus—in the forthcoming Julius Ceasar staging this season. The same will be so for 1776: The Musical, where he will direct and play Richard Henry Lee. “So contrary to Brutus!,” Vidur said; “All that singing and dancing and lightness after Brutus’ brooding dilemmas.”
An exciting season is indeed ahead, but even as we chatted, Vidur was deep into the performance preparations for WCPA’s readers theater production of Agatha Christy’s And Then There Were None. In spite of the stark contrast between bustling LA and the quiet natural beauties of Westcliffe, the creative work of live theater remains the same: intense preparation, casting, rehearsal, blocking, lighting, sound…the list goes on, and so does Vidur.
In the midst of all this Vidur, an India national, is seeking an extension of his acting visa, a complex process. Here in the Valley, the Tribune is not alone in the community welcoming him back to the WCPA summer theater performance schedule. We anticipate his needed and cherished creative contributions to one of the anchor institutions of the Valley. A great match!
Break a leg, Vidur, and have great joy while doing so!
– W.A. Ewing
