The School of Theater plans to start a new partnership with the World Theatre Education Alliance.
The WTEA is an organization that is based out of The Central Academy of Drama in China. It is comprised of 14 theater schools from all over the world. If the partnership is finalized, then OCU will be the first American school to join.
WTEA members meet annually at a theater festival in Beijing. OCU plans to send eight theater students to the festival in October to perform and participate in workshops.
Auditions for the trip to China will be the weekend of March 22. They will take place in conjunction with the auditions for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s The Comedy of Errors, directed by Lance Marsh. Rising juniors and seniors are eligible to audition.
Mark Parker, dean of the theater and music schools, said people in China are increasingly interested in the arts.
“The central government of China is very interested in arts and culture for the country,” Parker said. “Applications to arts schools in China are at a record high. The Central Academy of Drama has 67,000 applicants this year for 545 openings next year at their school. And the leadership at the Central Academy sees a lot of similarities between their program and OCU’s.”
Parker said he thinks OCU was selected as the first American school in the alliance because of the size and the history of the performing arts programs.
“Per capita, we might be the largest performing arts school in America,” Parker said. “I think in researching us they found out the history and the success of the dance students and the music students and what’s happened in the last 12 years with the theater program. We’re doing a lot of things that are getting a lot of people’s attention, and they’ve hooked onto those things.”
Parker said the partnership is a good chance for OCU students to build contacts in other countries.
“Most of the performers, in all disciplines, will be in a very different global marketplace than they are in now,” Parker said. “It really is going to be a global workplace and if you can build contacts in China, which has a great desire for arts and culture, then that is a good marketplace to have an in. And with this alliance, as you go and meet these 150 students from all these different countries, suddenly you have a web of contacts that could lead to all kinds of things in the future.”
Parker said the partnership could result in other new projects.
“I anticipate there will be a lot of other important projects that we can do together,” Parker said. “It’s a really big deal, and it’s a long time in the making as far as our relationships in China and the partnerships that we’ve built.”
Maddie Gustitus, acting junior, said she thinks the increase in global opportunities for theater students is awesome. “I know the theater school is doing a lot to reach out to other countries,” Gustitus said. “I know they have a lot of study abroad opportunities and other opportunities like this that they’re making possible, and I just think it’s awesome.”
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