Integrating Production and Curriculum In The Liberal Arts Setting

Abstract

COMMENTS ON PROCESS Integrating Production and Curriculum In The Liberal Arts Setting Patricia VandenBerg Blom We had problems. The faculty was overworked; the students were restless. More immediately, who was going to supervise the student-directed lab bills? For years this responsibility had been assumed on a non-credit (read "volunteer ") basis by the Director of Theatre. As the new hire in that position, I knew that I could not do a good job of supervising the lab bills in addition to all of my other responsibilities. I refused to do so and asserted that none of my colleagues should be expected to volunteer for the job either. Confronted with the likelihood of student outrage if their directing opportunities were eliminated, but having no faculty volunteers to allocate to the cause, my department was compelled to hunker down and get creative. One of the benefits of directing a theatre program under the auspices of a Department of Communication Arts and Sciences is that some of my non-theatre department colleagues came to the problem of theatre production/curriculum with few, if any, preconceived notions. Their innocence gave us fresh insights and more than the student-directed lab bill issue was resolved. Our departmental deliberations convinced us that in order to alleviate student and faculty burnout we had to more effectively integrate production and curriculum. We have now created a system by which all of our productions come out of classes. Students receive at least partial academic credit for work on any of the four productions we do annually. Faculty workloads are more reasonable. In addition to relieving the burnout problem, our solutions have resulted in some pedagogical benefits. While our plan is very specifically geared to our program and institution, I believe that variations on these solutions could be used in numerous contexts. Calvin College is a private, liberal arts college. The Theatre program employs three theatre faculty as well as a staff technical director, costume designer, and costumer. We produce four theatrical productions per year: three are faculty or guest-directed, and the fourth is the previously mentioned student-directed lab bill. We serve our own majors as well as many students from other fields. 149 150 Patricia VandenBerg Blom Fortunately, we did not have to start from scratch in integrating production and curriculum at Calvin. Our major fall and spring productions had long come out of a class called Theatre Production. It is a curious hybrid whose precursor was a drama club. During the 1960s the former Director of Theatre cleverly plotted a strategy whereby the students in the class receive 1/4 credit hour per term for participation. (This parallels the choirs and band at Calvin.) Students audition/interview for the class. If accepted, they can participate all four years and are able to accumulate up to two full course credits toward graduation. The group normally numbers around seventy and represents students from many majors. The class becomes a company of sorts which produces the major play each term. Only those in the class are allowed to audition for, or to crew the two mainstage plays. Competition to get into the class is stiff, drawing around 115 applicants for 20 positions each fall. (The other 50 places are already taken by students wishing to remain in the class.) In addition to producing the plays, the class meets once a week for one hour, and the instructor receives one course teaching credit per term for producing the plays and leading the class. There are some drawbacks to this plan, but we have found that the benefits outweigh the problems. One obvious drawback is that there are students on campus who would like to participate in mainstage productions but who either are not accepted into the class or do not audition because they don't have the time or the inclination to make the commitment to the course. (There are numerous other production outlets for these students, however, both within the department and sponsored by the student-run Drama Guild.) Another problem with the system is that directors are limited in casting to those who have been accepted into the class. The benefits, however, are many. The class sessions...