"SO YOU were accepted to the University? You probably came for the drama, right?" Laugh all you want at this seemingly false statement -- it is nothing new for students to make fun of the University's arts programs. Many students do not even seem to know they exist. But students should take a closer look at the department before ridiculing it, and realize that the Drama Department's productions are some of the University's most cultural and enlightening events, and worth attending.
Many students who dismiss the Drama Department as sub-par are ignorant of its accomplishments. If students bothered to attend the plays the department produces, they would likely have a different perspective on its strength. Students have no excuse not to attend these productions, because they can purchase tickets for free using Arts Dollars -- and do you know anyone who has ever run out of Arts Dollars?
Despite the fact that students receive 75 Arts Dollars every year -- and each play only requires using six or seven of these -- Drama Department productions often are not sold out. Most shows run for at least two weekends, and there are so many different productions being performed that just about every week, students should be able to find the opportunity to see these plays. Since students' money is already going towards funding these productions, students should go see what they're all about. Then students would discover the quality of the Drama Department's productions.
Throughout the school year, the Drama Department puts on several Mainstage productions, and several student-driven Laboratory Series productions. A season selection committee spends several months designing a season and choosing which plays to perform. "We solicit play ideas from the grads and undergrad majors early in the year and then proceed to sift and cull until a four-play season is discovered that offers variety in style, tone and message," Drama Department Prof. Richard Warner, Head of Acting, said in an e-mail interview.
This ensures that the Drama Department presents plays that provide challenges for everyone involved in the production, and that appeal to a variety of audiences as well. Prof. Bob Chapel, Chair and Director of Theater, says in regards to the play selection process, "The most important issue is what educational value they [the plays] will have for our students." By attending plays, students can see various genres of drama presented onstage, and enlighten and entertain themselves at the same time.
In addition to the plays performed by members of the Drama Department, guest performers and technicians visit the University, bringing their ingenious visions with them. "Each year, through the Provost's Office, a certain amount of funding is provided for guest artists ... we are able to bring a number of guest artists in acting, directing, design or playwriting," Chapel says.
In September, the Helms Theatre, in conjunction with the Women's Center, sponsored "Jodie's Body," written and acted by South African Aviva Jane Carlin. Performed in the nude and with very bare scenery, Ms. Carlin presented her one-woman show about women, standards of beauty and apartheid, drawing such emotion and interest out of the audience members that a long standing ovation hardly expressed their passion.
Viewing Drama Department productions also gives students a chance to see how their fellow peers interpret major dramatic works. Plays read in English classes suddenly take on a new life when brought to the stage. Often, the way a director or actor interprets a scene or a stage direction can make the audience see the work from a point of view not imagined before. Many of the plays performed by the Drama Department are incredibly complex, and how the cast and faculty interpret them is intriguing and provocative.
In keeping with this tradition of choosing complex plays to perform, the department will present Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author" from Nov. 16 to 18 and Nov. 29 through Dec. 2. Warner, the show's director, promises that his cast and crew have several tricks up their sleeves, including bringing the play's setting, 1920s Italy, up to present day, and relating it to University life. A new interpretation of a play has quite an effect on the audience, and should be entertaining and interesting to watch.
Laura Tetlow, a student in the MFA graduate acting progam, says of the Department, "As you wander the halls [of Culbreth] at almost any hour of the day or night, there are constantly groups rehearsing ... always with a positive attitude and enjoying the experience of the creative process." The drama department not only exists -- it is alive, buzzing with creative spirit and energy, and thriving here at the University. Go and check it out for yourself.
(Michelle Drucker is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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