By Jason Patrick/reporter
For students interested in exploring theater course options, classes are offered on every campus and range from beginning to advanced acting, providing options for all students.
Students can participate in theater productions even if they are not enrolled in theater courses.
“On the NW Campus, any student can audition and potentially be in one of our productions,” NW theater director Brent Alford said.
Alford encourages students interested in any aspect of production to register for Theatre Practicum, a one-credit course that emphasizes production technique and procedures.
Unlike the other campuses around the district, TR does not have a theater, but theater classes are still offered on the campus.
“We’ve been very creative here at Trinity River,” TR communication and fine arts chair Irene Thrower said. “We have no full-time performing arts faculty, but we have really grown our offering since 2009.”
TR adjunct instructor Doug Davidson works to create ideas to maintain the TR theater program.
“Mr. Davidson has found a way to cross-list the acting courses so that he can keep those students engaged and grow them in talent,” Thrower said.
Thrower and Davidson also work with other departments on campus to build the program.
“We always have an end-of-the-semester program, and then we’re trying to integrate into different disciplines, and that’s why we’re trying to connect with the humanities department and the common reader program in order to make that another option for our students,” Thrower said.
Like other campuses in the TCC district, NE also offers multiple theater courses and opportunities to get involved in the program.
“Anybody can come audition for a show,” NE theater director Stephen Thomas said. “You just have to be a student. You don’t have to be enrolled in one of our classes to be a part of the show. You just need to come audition. But to be backstage as part of the crew, the students would have to be enrolled in Theatre Practicum.”
Being enrolled in Theatre Practicum allows students to gain experience working backstage. NE practicum students work on building sets and participate in other backstage activities.
NE theater has some productions scheduled for this year.
“Every spring semester we do one Shakespeare and one musical,” Thomas said. “We will do shows that will give the best opportunities to the students we have.”
South students must enroll in Theatre Practicum if they want to participate in performances, South theater director Lindy Benton-Mueller said.
“Students do not have to memorize anything, but they can’t be casted if they do not audition,” Benton-Muller said.
Benton-Muller wrote a show performed this fall called “TCC South: The First 50 Years.”
Students on SE Campus who are interested in being in a production must be enrolled in Theatre Practicum.
“Students may audition for a show as a student of practicum,” SE associate professor Pert Durapau said.
Students interested in being involved backstage or onstage are encouraged to take the practicum course, she said.
“It serves as a place where we get to apply what we have learned in other classes and offers that important production experience,” Durapau said. “It is, in essence, a laboratory for theater arts.”
Durapau said they approach picking shows for each season with both the students and audience in mind.
“We approach each season considering what we believe would offer great potential for growth for our students while providing our audiences with a variety of experiences,” she said.
