To comply with social distancing requirements, the schools of theatre, dance and music are altering their seasons to allow for increased social distancing and online performance opportunities.
In a newsletter sent on July 8, the School of Theatre announced their plan to supplement their two mainstage productions – “Woe is Me” by Euripides, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Racine and Aeschylus, and “Love and Information” by Caryl Churchill – with a series of additional in-class performances.
Lance Marsh, professor of acting and head of performance, said the additional projects will contribute to satisfying the pedagogical needs of the students while keeping them safe.
“Getting them up on their feet and doing and having full processes is really important,” Marsh said. “What we ended up deciding to do was change the season, at least the fall season, to reflect lots of safe opportunities for students to do things that were very similar to what we had originally planned.”
Marsh said the original mainstage season, consisting of “The Trojan Women” by Euripides and “Sense and Sensibility” by Kate Hamill, needed to change to fit The Burg Theater’s max capacity of 4 performers.
“I was tasked to come up with something that did exactly what ‘Trojan Women’ did, or something like what ‘Trojan Women’ did for a lot of people. And so, I figured what was safe was monologues,” Marsh said.
“Woe is Me” will be directed by Lance Marsh and adjunct professor Hal Kohlman and consists of 34 monologues by various authors. The production will feature no more than three actors on stage at a time.
“Love and Information” is replacing “Sense and Sensibility”and will be directed by Rena Cook, theatrical director and former president of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association.
The School of Theatre newsletter said all performance students will be cast this semester, either through Stage II, mainstage or class performance productions. All performances will be streamed or recorded, depending on their licensing requirements.
“Woe is Me” will open Sept. 18-19, and “Love and Information” will open Nov. 13-14.
The Stage II productions “Women of Lockerbie” by Deborah Brevoort, and “Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” by Jennifer Haley will be performed Oct. 16-17 and Oct. 23-24, respectively.
The Ann Lacy School of Dance and Entertainment, on the other hand, has suspended all in-person performances.
In an email, John Bedford, dean of the School of Dance, wrote that social distancing requirements for dancers exceed the standard 6 feet.
“For slow-moving dancers, the social distance is minimally 16.25 feet, and for a fast-moving dancer, the social distance increases to minimally 32.5 feet,” Bedford said.
Instead, Bedford wrote in an email that Jo Rowan, head of dance, is creating a virtual Christmas show along with the dance faculty.
“Rehearsals will be remote, and for performance, the dancers will be combined electronically into a performing cast,” Bedford wrote. “All students in the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Entertainment will be invited to participate in the virtual Christmas show with no audition required.”
Bedford wrote that more details will be released in the coming weeks.
In “The Broken Leg,” the official OCU opera and music theater newsletter, the Wanda L. Bass School of Music announced their mainstage season, “Monty Python’s Spamalot: A Socially Distant Concert-ish Version,” by Eric Idle, “Così Fan Tutte,” by Mozart, and a series of 10 performance projects spanning several nights. All productions will be livestreamed or recorded, depending on their licensing requirements.
Dr. David Herendeen, director of opera and musical theatre, said the COVID-19 distancing requirements provide an opportunity for artists on campus to think creatively.
“The COVID-19 cover allows us to ask different questions, to think about the art that we have differently, and for me to really push my students to talk about things,” Herendeen said.
Herendeen said all students will have the option to participate in productions face-to-face or digitally, but he will reserve the right to make any face-to-face performance digital. Like the School of Theatre, all voice students will be cast in either a mainstage production or performance project.
Nasir Panjwani, music theater/vocal performance junior, said he is excited for every student to have a performance outlet. He said he hopes the new opportunities to perform continue after the pandemic.
“I hope that this is a successful endeavor – that this is something that is good for our students in general, and not just when a pandemic is going on,” Panjwani said.
“Spamalot” will stream Oct. 9-10, and “Cosí Fan Tutte” will stream Oct. 30-31. The first performance project will stream Sept. 25-26.
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