Once Upon a (Show) Time in Santa Barbara

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Samantha Eve who grew up in Goleta and fell truly, madly, deeply in love with musical theater. That love took many forms over many years, from dance classes at Santa Barbara Dance Arts to starring in Showstoppers, Santa Barbara Youth Theater, and Stage Left shows, and summer programs at the Rubicon and Idyllwild. She went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts — to study musical theater, of course — and paid her dues for a few years, auditioning days and working nights as the coat check girl at Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-starred Per Se, among other gigs.

She sweetened her New York life by learning to bake and starting a cupcake-centric side business, Violette Bakeshop. But after a while, the Big Apple began to feel a bit rotten. 

“I love New York. As soon as I get off the plane, I feel like I’m home. But living that life in New York was exhausting, because you keep feeling like you’re waiting for somebody to tell you, ‘Okay, you’re an artist. Now you get to do your art.’ There’s these gatekeepers of sorts that just control that process. It was very frustrating to feel like it wasn’t really in my control to do what I love to do,” said Eve.