Dear everybody,
Eventful
Transcendence
Admirable
Dauntless
Unswayed
Generous
Engagement
Amazement
Skim Milk
These are all words that have been circling through my head this spring. They arise as I watch students, faculty, and our theater community face the challenges this first half of 2020 has brought us.
(Well, maybe not skim milk, but stay with me here.)
Because these are also words that first appeared in written form thanks to another theater person -- William Shakespeare. To be sure, they may have existed prior to his penning them. But we have a record of them, the meaning and breadth of their substance because in the midst of a chaotic 16
th
and 17
th
century, someone decided to make art for the people. He didn’t cure the Black Plague or negotiate an end to religious violence, but he and his fellow artisans chose to create in the midst of turbulent times. So, I stand in amazement at the dauntless efforts of our students and staff to transcend the current crisis and keep the craft vital.
Moving forward into summer 2020 and marching toward the fall, I am confident that we will continue to do the work that serves our community. We will offer Theater Appreciation this summer through distance learning. We will offer a full range of performance and technical theater courses in the fall through a blend of face to face and online modes. And we will present a new season of performances for the 2020-21 academic year. We will do this with the health and safety of our
communities at the forefront of our planning
.
We’ll do this in spite of crisis, because we need what art offers us to surmount crisis.
As we get set for the second half of 2020, I invite you to the latest offering of the ACC Drama Department. Please take a moment to join us on May 29 as we present our end of the semester showcase in its new digital form. The showcase will feature student performances from our acting classes, tech and design installations, and a look back at what our students have accomplished this year. I hope you’ll join our celebration.
Marcus McQuirter
Chair, Drama
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STAFF SPOTLIGHT:
CHANNING SCHREYER
Interview by Jamie Rogers
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Where are you from? What schools have you attended?
I grew up here in Austin, Texas. I took classes at Austin Community College while I was a high school student and then went on to study Production Design and Studio Art at Pepperdine University.
How did you get interested in Production Design? What are your main areas of focus?
I’ve just about always been interested in the arts. When I was 15 I went to Summer Performing Arts camp with my cousin up in Grand Forks, North Dakota. SPA had all sorts of production classes you could take in addition to the shows we put on and I found that I loved production design even more than performing. While I enjoy many areas of production my main focuses are in Lighting and Scenic Art.
What are the various theatres you have previously worked?
After working in my high school PAC, I worked at Smothers Theatre while a student at Pepperdine. After College I did a summer at the Texas Shakespeare Festival before becoming the Master Electrician for Baylor University. I have also worked at Texas A&M’s Rudder’s Theatre and I am now am happy to call ACC home.
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Lighting design for "Songfest" at Pepperdine University, 2007
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Can you tell us a bit about your involvement with FronteraFest?
This year I was lucky enough to get involved with FronteraFest as their Technical Director. It was my responsibility to get Hyde Park Theatre set up for the festival. This included choosing, hanging and programming the lighting equipment, borrowing furniture from St. Edwards University, training the light board operators, painting the stage and walls and adding lights to the alley to increase safety for our wonderful performers.
How long have you held a Staff position in the ACC Drama Department?
I am brand new, I started in February of this year.
Tell us about your responsibilities/job duties at ACC?
I get to work closely with both the drama and dance departments here at ACC taking care of the lighting equipment. This can mean repair work, reading light plots submitted by designers so I can get the spaces ready for performances, being available to assist with any lighting needs for classes projects and designing lights for the Dance department performances.
Currently I am helping with the move to distance learning in anyway that I can and developing materials for the dance students to learn about lighting design from home.
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Lighting design for ACC Faculty & Guest Dance Concert, Spring 2020
photo credit: Dwayne Barnes
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You were the assistant lighting designer and the lighting designer on our Spring 2020 ACC Productions, most recently
Harry and the Thief
and our cancelled student production of
12 Angry Jurors
. What was the experience/process like for each?
Assisting the Lighting Designer and faculty member Rachel Atkinson on
Harry and the Thief
was my first project here at Austin Community College as a staff member. It was a lot of fun getting to familiarizing myself with the Austin Playhouse facilities and our equipment while working with such a great team. It is really exciting that I got to be part of what may be the last production utilizing that shared space before we move into our own black box theater this summer.
For
12 Angry Jurors
, we were in the middle of a really exciting part of the collaborative design process. We as designers were getting to work closely with the director, Glen Bird, shaping our designs and bouncing ideas off of each other as we worked towards his vision for the show. When it was postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis, I was working on what would be the best way to make it look like it was raining outside of the set window during the second act of the play.
It is so incredibly disappointing to be stalled on this project. Theatre is about working toward a final product you get to share in real time. While it is extremely disappointing to lose that, it is also important to notice all of the amazing creating from home and sharing resources that is currently happening in our theatre community. From shows streaming online, to zoom productions to companies like ETC (a theatrical lighting company) making face shields for medical professionals; it is awesome to also see our community use their gifts and skills to bring comfort and safety to everyone.
What advice would you give a current ACC student who wanted to start a career in design or technical theatre?
If you love doing this, you should do it. Such amazing and hardworking people are in this industry. My advice is when you create something be sure to take the extra time to photograph it. Take the time to draw every day, show up early and ask for help when you don’t know how to do something.
Also ACC is launching an Associates degree in Technical Theatre this fall which would be a wonderful way to build your portfolio and gain the knowledge you need to succeed. The Austin area is a wonderful place that really celebrates the arts and there are opportunities to get involved.
What are your future plans?
For now, I hope to stay with ACC for as long as they’ll keep me. Eventually I believe I’ll likely go back to school to obtain a Masters degree in theatrical design so that I can eventually become a professor. In the hopes and dreams category, I’d like to someday either run or start a theatre company that has an educational mission and close ties to a local university and the community.
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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:
ADAM SORNAT
Interview by Jamie Rogers
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Where are you from?
I was born right here in central Austin. I am a first-generation citizen and student after my parents moved here from Poland.
Were you involved in theatre in when you were in high school? Any past theatre experience on stage or behind the scenes?
Yes, I tried out a technical theatre class in high school and loved it so I decided to pursue it. I have been in school and professional productions at any chance I’ve gotten. I enjoy acting and have performed in a handful of productions but I realized my passion for being backstage.
Why did you decide to pursue a career in stage management?
I have always loved being on my feet and constantly working on something so the natural versatility and constant change that stage management brought was enticing. I love how every show is a new challenge to face with a new group of people; the bonds and memories are inevitable. Stage management has proved itself to be very fulfilling to me so that is why I am becoming a stage manager.
What were the reasons you decided to enroll at Austin Community College?
I am the primary payer of my college tuition so the cost was an immediate challenge when searching for a good school. That became a blessing because ACC had the versatility of a great start to a bachelor’s degree while being cost-effective and having plenty of opportunities and programs to help students.
Any favorite classes in the Drama Department and why? Important things you have learned so far?
My favorite class has been Theatre Workshop because of its focus on stage management. It has really taught me the importance of organization and communication during the production process and how everyone needs to be on the same page or else things start to go off the rails.
You stage managed a production that was part of FronteraFest in Austin this Spring before COVID-19. What was the rehearsal/performance process like?
Because it was a festival that meant that we had to rehearse in another space without adding tech until a day before the first showing. Because of this, we had to have a minimalistic set which was difficult when we had a piano and cellist to accompany our musical. I’ve never been in a festival before so this was a new and exciting challenge with the speed that everything needed to be done with.
Any favorite ACC Drama Production?
I was ASM in
Much Ado About Nothing
as my first show at ACC and I loved working on it and then being able to watch the final product.
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Adam with the stage crew for
Much Ado
at ACC
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Do you attend school and have outside employment? If so, how do you find a balance between work and drama department involvement?
I work part-time at the Texas Farmer’s Market which normally gives me a good balance between schoolwork, work, and free time. However, while working on a show I really have to crunch my free time and double down on schoolwork which is tough but it usually works out well. Occasionally when I have spare free time I’ll work for a delivery service or pick up a gig here and there; I like to keep myself busy and focused.
Any overall advice to give to current Drama Majors on ways to get them involved in the Department?
Being a part of a class has been a wonderful experience for me but being in a show is a great way to participate and make friends. There are so many people needed to help out on a show whether it be auditioning for an acting role, to advertising, to helping out with building, to teching and running the show, etc. There are plenty of opportunities that are easy to jump into that everyone should try out to become more involved in the department; just ask anyone!
What does the future hold?
Uncertainty as the future always does, but with the expansion of the ACC theatre department it’s going to be an amazing place as always to be a part of. Sometimes it is hard to see the road through the storm, but it’s there.
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HEATHER BARFIELD
was selected to attend the Celebration of Great Teaching Retreat this year.
She was also selected as a participant of the Global Gender and Women’s Studies Faculty Learning Community for 2020-2021.This unique partnership between Austin Community College and The University of Texas at Austin will enable her to explore how to globalize her curriculum. She is one of ten ACC faculty members who will be given this honor.
KATIE VAN WINKLE
is serving as a community engagement and marketing consultant with Gateway Theatre Company, collaborating with ten homegrown theatres to build new audiences for local live performance. To lean more and join the experiment, please visit
gatewaytheatreproject.com
-- or seek us out on Facebook!
She also published her article, "'How King John Would Have Preferred to Die, If He Hadn't Been Poisoned by the Crown:' The Rude Mechs Fix
King John
," in the most recent volume of
Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation.
http://borrowers.uga.edu/784337/show#ref13
ELIZABETH BERNHARDT
recently published
The Power of Pretend: An Actor’s Struggle to Unite Faith & Work.
Even after trying to "make it" in New York and earning a graduate degree in theatre, Elizabeth Bernhardt struggled to align her work as an actor with her commitment to Christian faith. After searching for a resource to help her, she realized she needed to write the book she was looking for.
Part memoir, part research project, part Bible study,
The Power of Pretend: An Actor's Struggle to Unite Faith & Work
is Elizabeth's vulnerable invitation to wrestle alongside her as she seeks to take both her faith and her work seriously. It's a book for Christians and non-Christians, artists and non-artists. Asked with equal parts introspection and humor, investigation and poetry,
The Power of Pretend
contains a challenge for every reader: Why do you do what you do?
The Power of Pretend
is being published by Sword & Swan Media House, and is available at
swordandswan.com
and on Amazon.
GREG ROMERO
had two plays selected for the Mid-America Theatre Conference in Chicago, March 5 - 8. His 10-minute play,
Daphne Becomes the Arctic
, was presented as the 10-Minute Playwriting Symposium; and his full-length play,
Door to Balloon
, was included in the Plays-in-Progress program.
CARRIE KAPLAN
will be on a panel for the National New Play Network on May 26, talking about anti-theatrical prejudice pamphlet wars in the Renaissance, alongside others weighing in on other time periods around plays and plagues. It's free, but you have to register.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/105652132372
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CALLING ALL ACC DRAMA ALUMNI!
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Be sure to join the ACC Alumni Network!
The ACC Alumni Network is open to all former students who have earned an associate degree or certificate, or completed at least 20 credit hours at ACC. Our mission is to promote and support our alumni and students in their educational, social and professional endeavors, and to foster a spirit of loyalty and lifelong connections to Austin Community College.
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You can always keep
up-to date with the
ACC Drama Department
by visiting our website
or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
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