Jack Rowe’s future was determined when, as an undergraduate, a friend suggested he take a drama class because “they’re really easy.”

He was studying economics at the time, but theater would soon overtake his life.

“I came down and took the stage prep class,” he recalled. “And then I went over and got myself a job at Bovard Auditorium as a techie, hanging lights and working shows and all that stuff. No real thought about getting onstage or anything.”

As he watched rehearsals from backstage, he became fascinated by the theatrical process and found himself wanting more and more to be in the spotlight.

So he auditioned.

Although he described his tryout as “not very good,” his friends in what was then the theater department lobbied John Edw. Blankenchip to cast him “until he said, ‘All right! Shut up! I’ll cast the guy.’

“That’s when I started acting,” Rowe said.

With the exception of “a two-year opportunity” in the Army offered him by the draft, he has been doing theater ever since.

After his military tour – served stateside, thanks to his clerical skills – Rowe returned to find that a group of fellow USC alumni had started a theater company. He joined immediately.

That was the Company Theatre, founded by Rowe and fellow graduates in 1967. The Company created avant-garde works that engaged audiences and enchanted critics. It was theater done with plenty of talent, love, ingenuity – and very little money.

Over the next 12 years, Rowe and fellow Company members earned accolades from publications ranging from The New Yorker to Newsweek and Time. They toured from San Francisco to New York, London and Paris with their show, “The James Joyce Memorial Liquid Theatre.”

The show was highly portable and completely interactive, involving the audience in the action through theater games.

The Company showcased Rowe’s many talents, as he worked not only as an actor, but also as director, stage manager, composer and musician. After the members of the Company went their separate ways in 1979, Rowe returned to USC – this time to teach.

Louie Piday – who still directs an occasional show for the school – was teaching at what was then the department of drama under the leadership of John Houseman. She suggested to Houseman that the department could benefit from Rowe’s presence.

Rowe’s role in acting classes is a nurturing one, helping students to get in touch with their own emotions and find the full potential of their talent.

“I asked a friend of mine who is a virtuoso guitarist, how he approached teaching the guitar. He told me what he really did was encourage the talent of students and urge them not to quit as they teach themselves the guitar.

“That’s as good a statement of my philosophy as anything,” Rowe said. “What we try to do is provide guidance – and help students avoid the pitfalls as they learn – who they are and what their voice is. It’s more like coaching than like teaching a math class.”

Students appreciate Rowe’s love of acting and dedication to teaching. He has twice received the John Edw. Blankenchip/William C. White Award, an honor voted on by USC School of Theatre students for their favorite instructor.

“His excitement is infectious,” said sophomore Ben Bowen. “And he doesn’t sit on the sidelines. If you don’t understand a scene, he jumps right in there and works it through with you.”

As the USC School of Theatre’s artistic director, Rowe is in charge of choosing the season of shows – a complicated process with many factors to balance. Performances are not extracurricular, but instead are courses taken for academic credit.

Over the years, Rowe’s involvement with the school has grown from teaching a single acting class to serving as associate dean and artistic director. He teaches courses for both BA and BFA students and frequently directs them in School of Theatre shows.

During the past three summers, he also has taught at the British American Drama Academy in London, coaching high school juniors how to audition.

Painted on the back of the USC Drama Center, in addition to quotations by such luminaries as Stanislavsky and Stella Adler, is this saying attributed to Jack Rowe: “Let’s keep the drama on the stage.”

It is good advice for actors – especially coming from a man who, through his own work and that of actors and directors he has taught, has been responsible for a whole lot of drama on stage.