Theatre Virtual Information Session

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Great.

Hi Catherine.

Hi Logan

Hi Tori.

Hey Mason.

Welcome, Anabella.

Hi Jacob, Joshua.

I Raymond.

Going to wait a couple minutes to be sure that everyone gets here before we begin.

Hi Steven.

Everybody wanted to check in on the chat box, so we know that you're here and we'll get going in just a minute.

Hi Catherine.

Oh, I'm so glad you saw this show. Yeah, I'm gonna talk a little bit about that that's, uh, it was quite quite an event for us.

Oh great.

Two, yeah, that was a great production. Would enjoy that was to work on.

Yeah, fun home.

But home is such a terrific process for us. I would log von. I would do that. Show again anytime is also the first time that we used automated scenery. So our automated turntable was an extraordinary experience for actors and technicians to work on. And that was made possible because of our relationships with theaters in Washington Ford theater and signature theater helped us with that technology. So it was really terrific. A great example of how we are connected to the Washington theaters and how they.

Help us teach our students and provide opportunities for them.

So I think we'll go ahead and get started. Everyone, thanks for joining us this afternoon. I'm Greg stall, I'm professor of theater and chair of the Department of Theatre and dance at the University of Mary Washington, also on the call. Today is.

John Reynolds he's the director of marketing and audience services for our Department. Runs on pretty much are arts administration program as well. We also have Adam more from the admissions office with us today and Adam can answer questions I can answer about the University and.

And anything else you you might seek information on as you move through this decision making process.

So I'm really glad you're here today. I wish that we could meet you in person on campus. Of course, the world is upside down and we miss the opportunity of greeting you on our beautiful campus. I was there last week just for an hour or so to check Mail and I walked through and the campus is so beautiful right now it is at its best in the spring. It's green, the trees are blooming and it's completely empty, so it's a little bit sad for us, but I'm glad that we're all safe and.

At least we can meet here, so here we are. You MW theater is the producing arm of the Department of Theatre and dance and a part of the University of Mary Washington and ours is a unique program that is particularly poised to launch students into careers in the professional theater. We offer a BA in Theatre and that's that's important distinction for us, and I'll talk a little bit about that. We also offer minors in musical theater, in Arts Administration.

And as I go through this presentation today, I hope that you get a real sense how students entered we are and how focused we are on the student experience at the University. And last night was a really great example of that. Last night we had a live stream performance of Much Ado About Nothing and that came about Becausr. Like many of you, perhaps all of you, our final production of the season. We left it behind when we transition to online classes, and so we stepped away from the theater.

And we had a show that was in the middle of rehearsals and we did not know really what to do when Mary Washington stepped away. We thought we might come back in April, and so we were in a holding pattern and then we discovered a couple weeks later that we weren't coming back. And so the faculty and staff got together and we decided to pursue this online streaming performance of Much Ado. And even though it was in uncharted water for us and.

And different territory. We knew it was the right thing for our students because they felt very unfinished about the process. And so the cast agreed and we jumped into this, not knowing much about how it would end up. And of course, it was an extraordinary success for us.

It was great because our actors were in rehearsal. Every night they got to connect with one another from all over the place. Of course, in their own homes and they continued rehearsing this show. And then we performed it for an extraordinary audience. Almost 1500 people, probably more than 1500 people, saw it last night on zoom in YouTube live, and that those folks were in 30 Seven states. DC and Puerto Rico, and in five different countries. It was just an extraordinary experience for all of us, and all came about because of our commitment to students.

And our commitment to helping them to get to the end of this process and have bring bring the show to opening night so our program is a BA. It's not, uh, be FA and that has a great distinction for us. It's very important for us that our students are very well educated and that's that's significant.

We tell stories about the world in the theater that's really important to us, be cause in telling stories about the world. You need to know a lot about the world in order to do that authentically. And indeed, as you do that authentically, you need to know about a lot of things. So so.

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In that, you're going to take half of your credits in theater if you major in theater, you're going to take half of your credits outside of theater, and that way you learn about everything you learn about history. You learn about science. You learn about philosophy. Plays are not about the theater, plays are about all of these other things, people and relationships, and our students need to absolutely understand that an absolutely undo well in all of that story making. So it's really important that you take these other classes, and that's why we're a BA program.

We want you to be fully educated in the world in order to to tell these stories with great authenticity.

Were grounded this liberal arts tradition, we think it's the best way for you to study theater. Some of you already in the process of choosing classes for the fall. We offer three freshman seminars first year seminars in the Department this semester, this coming semester. We have a first year seminar on contemporary female playwrights. We have a first year seminar on the mechanisms of storytelling. It's a terrific seminar about the technology and how we use technology to tell stories in the theater.

We have a great time. First year seminar, very popular when called it's alive. Horror on the stage that explores the issues of horror and violence on the stage.

But what is it? What is important for us is that, UM, I we, we believe that making theater is really the strongest way to teaching theater, and so our program is an experiential program at its core. Let's see here, I'm having trouble making this next slide come up.

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So I think we're there now, so our program is an experiential program and that means that we believe that the strongest way to learning about theater is the making of theater, and so from your very first semester, we're going to have you involved in theater making. That is significant for us be cause we want you to be both learning in the classes and learning in our studios, and also learning while you're actually applying the principles your your.

Learning about in classes so that application is very important. Every theater student takes theater practicum every single semester and that that practicum courses one credit graded course that gives you credit for the production work that you do in the theater. Whether you're working on the stage is an actor or backstage on the stage management team. All of that is really an important part of your education, and we have dozens and dozens of practical responsibilities of practicum. Program is.

Uh is also part of the general education program beyond the classroom for our general education program, and we want you involved from the very first semester indeed. Indeed, what you want to do is look at our practicum program. I think John will post the link to our practicum Handbook to explain to you what this is about and all the opportunities that are available to you.

But generally, one of the things that you should know is that we have a very lean core of required classes in in that lean core of classes you're going to.

Take a foundation set of of content that all of our theater students take, and then you're going to enlarge your education with electives. So what that is, is that you come out with a very specialized degree. If you're an actor, you're going to take the core set of classes, which is history and literature technology.

Design professional practices, acting, and then if you're an actor, you're going to take all the upper level classes in acting and that's going to be really significant to you because you're going to have a very, very specialized approach to your education. You don't have a degree in acting, but you absolutely have the content area in acting. We're quite quite specialized in that regard.

Likewise.

Likewise, we have other ways that you can specialize. You can specialize in a variety of different.

Variety of different.

I know how to do that variety of different areas, Administration, Arts Administration, theater technology, acting, design, stage management in musical Theatre we actually have minors in Arts administration in musical Theatre. We those are very, very codified miners that our students take that give them a very specialized, very specialized.

To do a senior project and that's an individualized project that is about the specially specialty in your major.

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Master for a second there. Can you just repeat that part about getting up to the senior project?

OK.

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Can you hear us Greg?

Can you hear me now?

How about that?

Ask great. Can you just repeat what you said about leading up to the senior project and how we get there?

You look you're absolutely I don't know why we can, we can broadcast Much Ado to 1500 people. But somehow I'm having trouble with the technology for this slide show anyway. All of our students specialized and by the senior year. You do a senior project that's a capstone project in the area of your interests. Many of those projects are related to production, so for instance, on our performance of Much Ado last night. We had nine students doing senior projects associated with Much Ado, there were four actors.

A couple of designers and Arts administration student and a couple of technicians and that senior project is is a major part of your education and it's all about what you are specializing in. While you're at Mary Washington.

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So our two specialized miners are in Arts Administration. Musical Theatre. If you are a musical theater student, we have a, uh, a collaborative program with the School of Music, the Department of music and the vocal studios there, as well as the dance area which is in our Department so that students take vocal instruction and dance. In addition to acting and foundation courses in musical theater. In our program to really get a solid foundation in musical Theatre.

We also have a collaborative project with the College of business for an arts administration program, a growing program that has an extraordinary job potential for our students. Students take courses in the College of business and they take classes in theater and together those form a bona fide Arts Administration Minor.

But as I said, theater production is at the very core of our major. It's so important to everyone that we are. We are making theater together. We are collaborating, collaborating, and that we're building your skill set. That's that's really important. You've got to learn by doing. What matters here is that the skills that you take away when you leave.

The University, it's really important that's what's going to launch you into a career. That's what's going to give you a very solid foundation for working as well. We have very high production values at the University of Mary Washington and our we have extraordinary design and technology staff that realize the world's for our play. The costumes for our characters, and that's important. I would really encourage you to take a look if you have time.

At our production archives on our website, Becausr on those archives will give you an idea. Some of the shows that we've done in the past several years and at the level that we are doing them this season we opened with the reduced Shakespeare complete works of Shakespeare. Abridged revised, we went to fun home, which some of you saw. I'm so glad that you saw it.

But then we are in the winter. We did ordinary days, a lovely little chamber musical by Adam Guan and then Much Ado about nothing.

Our student center program is at every level on what's important to us is that we're listening to students and we are communicating with students and we're both learning from each other. So in our Department we have Department representatives to the faculty who sit in on faculty meetings and contribute from a student perspective. and I also convene a leadership forum, which are the student leaders in the Department, so we have a Studio 115 committee that runs, runs our theater.

Our small theater, which I'll talk about in a minute. We have Alpha Psi Omega which is our theater honor airy. We have play by play which is a student play reading group.

And our Department will representatives and they meet with me twice a month to talk about the Department. Help me to plan events and also to give us feedback about the direction of our program. We are very committed to an ongoing conversation with our students and we want our students to have a large voice in the Department. And indeed they do.

Our uhm.

Program here, let me see here. I'm trying to.

Get this to advance against. We have six full time faculty. We have six part time faculty. We have five full time professional staff and we have 30 four student employees who make everything happen every single year. That significant to you because a program like ours, you know we have faculty dedicated to acting to directing to arts administration to all of the design areas we have part time faculty who contribute to the students education in their professional fields. So we have.

We have specialists who come in who are working in the field who then teach classes for our students. So for instance, Casey Koliba, who is a nationally known fight director. He comes in and teaches sage combat for us because Casey comes in and teach for us, are sick, and then at the end of the semester sit for a certification exam and be certified in any one of the modalities that he's teaching. Rape your hand to hand broadsword, whatever it is, and they.

2 then can get a professional credential by taking a class of them. Brandon printer gas runs our stage management program. Brandon is an equity stage manager who works at Ford's theater signature theater, the Kennedy Center, the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington. He runs our stage management program, which is really significant.

Uh, for students and actually launches a lot of careers. And because of his professional connections, they get extraordinary training as well. And so that's not all we have are. Playwriting faculty is are working playwrights whose works are produced around the country and the like. If a significant student employment program, our students really help us to create the season every every year, so those students work in the costume shop, the scene, shop the arts.

Management office and the box office really doing extraordinary work on our behalf.

Let's see here. We produce in two theaters.

Trying to get to the next one here.

There we go. Maybe it's coming so we have client theater which is our proscenium stage upstairs. It is a 233 seat theater, and we have Studio 115 is in the first floor of our building. I hope that those are showing for you. I'm not sure that they are, they're not showing on my screen.

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John, maybe you can tell me if they're showing.

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OK great OK so so on the left is is a client theater. On the right is Studio 115, so client theaters where the Manesar Mainstage Theater. That's where the faculty and guest directed productions are every year. So extraordinary theater that was renovated in the last 10 years has state of the art systems is a beautiful, beautiful space to produce theater. Beautiful for our audience as well. Downstairs we have Studio 115 and that's a.

Possible black box space largely set up in the proscenium style, and that Studio 115 is completely programmed by our students. So there's a Studio 115 committee that handles all of the programming and decision-making for that space, and in that space we could have 8 to 10 projects every semester, and they range from play readings to fully produced works, and that's that's quite quite impressive. The level of work that happens down there.

Incline theater we generally do four productions a year, so we're working both upstairs and downstairs, and so students are always always very busy. The Studio 115 committee they seek advice from the faculty, but oftentimes you know they don't need our advice because because what they've learned in the class is an in through theater practicum has helped them to run that space as their own. We really love. We really love that that Little Theatre.

In addition, we have. We have ancillary spaces that are important, part of important part of our program. They include Wonder Bread Studio which is our rehearsal space. Off campus is, uh, is actually a renovated warehouse space that we have all of our rehearsals in for our mainstay shows we have a scene shop that is adjacent to the theater, a costume shop beneath the stage and electric shop adjacent to the theater.

We also have a craft and I laugh.

Where we also do prop making in DuPont Hall which houses houses are theater and off site. We have a 5000 square foot warehouse full of furniture that we have in stock that we pull for our productions as well. We have extraordinary prop storage. We have literally thousands of props on in storage in our facilities as well as thousands of costumes in wardrobe storage.

The Department is also supported by the management office and the box office that are completely run by our our theater management students arts administration students.

OK.

So one of the great things about studying at the University of Mary Washington is that we are 50 miles away from Washington DC and Washington DC is a world class theater city. What that is for us is that is that you you can actually go see theater while you're studying theater. We believe that's an important part of the theater. Students education is seeing theater. So every theater class you take, you'll go to the professional theater in Washington.

And as as as part of that class, you'll see a different production, so sometimes our students are going to three and four productions a semester, and that's important. You need as a theater student to be seeing theater in order to be seeing what's happening in the world of theater an what's the standards are and what you're aspiring to do with your own life. So we have a great great theater in Washington. We also have terrific relationships with those theaters, and we rely on them. They rely on us. Sometimes they borrow furniture and props from us.

Um, and it's a great working relationship and many of our students go on to work for those theaters or Internet, those theaters and so that is that is terrific. Bridging that gap with the professional world is an important part of theater education, and it's an important part of it should be an important part of any.

So any decision you make about about going to, um, going to a college or University is how they're going to launch your professional career.

So that professional career is significant and we start talking about your professional karere when you arrive at Mary Washington, but even even more so for us. We know we know that that conversation becomes more critical as you're going through our program. So in your junior year, you're going to take a class theater 400, which is professional identity in practice. And in that professional identity in practice course.

You're gonna you're going to do some serious work on getting the documents ready for a job search, figuring out how it is, you find a job really, some fundamental questions about trying to figure out what it is you want to do when you graduate, and that prepares you for your junior senior year to do internships. If you would like. And also to begin looking for a job in that senior year, another upper level class that we teach that's really important to our students in terms of.

Building professional careers is ideas in performance. We teach this class every other year. It's open only to juniors and seniors, and it's in ideas and performance that we really do introduce. The notion of bridging the gap between school and your career. So this ideas in performances are research class of a seminar, and students pursue a vocationally centered research project. During the course of the semester.

We taught that class this semester and as part of that class, the students spend 10 days in New York, NY city, and they pay a portion of the expenses associated with that. We haven't terrific undergraduate research program at the University of Mary Washington that helps as well to cover some of the costs, and we also are fund raising arm. Friends of theater. Umw theater also helps cover some of the costs for our students. So during that 10 days.

In New York City, are students interview working professionals. They connect with our alumni working in New York who also open their doors to their connections. And because because of that they begin building a network of connections as well. So this past this past spring break, we actually came back from New York. Just days before Broadway shut down. But while we were, there are students in those 10 days.

So 16 performances and in total the 15 students interviewed 180 working professionals. They all have separate research agendas and they pursued that on their own. So it's an extraordinary extraordinary class and part of our program that leads to the fact that we have terrific outcomes in our program. We want our students to be working in the theater when they graduate, and we work with them while their students in order to make that happen. So we work with students on audition prep on portfolio.

Prep we send our students to auditions at the Southeastern Theater company straw hats. We do everything we can both to help them get internships and to help them get jobs. But our record for placing students in the field is really significant. We have amazing professional outcomes in our in our program. I'm going to introduce you to some of those. Some of those alumni this afternoon.

So 1st I'm going to talk about Madeline lacrue hey um, and show she'll come up here she is. So Madeline left our program she was interested in hair and makeup design and so she eventually pursued a graduate degree in hair and makeup design at the North Carolina School of the arts. And after, after getting your graduate degree, she went right to Broadway. Join the Union, as is consistently working on Broadway shows in the hair and makeup room, and she's worked on a number number of Broadway shows. Continues to work.

And just when we were there in March, you know, I talked with Madeline and now she's she's doing some television work and she's actually the head of the hair room for the good fight, which is a very popular series.

We also have a students who work in Arts Administration. A number of them. It's a really terrific field in so Tiffany Tiffany Hazlet Parker is one of our graduates and Tiffany has has had a great karere working as a producer. She started in the nonprofit regional Theatre. She worked for their New York Theatre Workshop. Actually, the summer, that rent won the Tony Award. She was at that theater and that's that's where it was born in New York Theatre Workshop.

But she has since transitioned into a television and it's worked on a number of very notable projects, and now Tiffany is a producer on the marvelous Mrs Meisel.

Our stage management program is also particularly strong. Those students get really amazing personal attention. An mentoring from Brandon Prendergast, who runs that program, and we sent a great number of students into the professional world. One of them is Devin Day. Devin is a stage manager. Just just.

10 years out of school and she has a half a dozen Broadway credits to her name and is a terrific stage manager who started started in our program an worked her way up and now is a Broadway stage manager.

We also have performers who work professionally. We have we have hundreds of people who work all over the United States. Really all over the country in the Professional Theatre. An related industries, but a lot of people recognize Broadway as the most visible part of our part of our industry, and one of our more recent grads. Anissa Felix.

I really has has had an astounding karere since leaving Mary Washington having been in now 3 Broadway shows Motown on Sunset Blvd in summer. The Musical and now is doing a lot of television work. Recently she was on a couple of episodes of pose, so you might recognize Anissa when you're watching TV. But we also have students who work in the technical theater and of various capacities.

And those folks find themselves very employed after leaving Mary Washington and one of those students is latent kutchinsky.

Um Layton is left left here, Mary Washington as a stitcher, and has become a Draper Draper. Is is someone who really takes a designers designs and translates it into patterns and fabric for costumes that the actors wear so lame work for the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington. She worked for the Washington Opera, the New York City Ballet and now she really has the dream job.

For Drapers and she works for the Metropolitan Opera building costumes and as a Draper at the Metropolitan Opera, working with exquisite fabrics and world class designers. Amazing amazing productions.

One of our very successful alumni, of course, is Natalie Joy Johnson and Natalie. Natalie is a Broadway star. She's really a Broadway legend. She started really her acting career in New York.

Yeah, with a really breakout role in bear the musical that sort of pop musical and that's what got her notice their first New York Times Review. And from there she went to Legally Blonde. Did the National Tour of Legally Blonde after the Broadway run did kinky boots for many years before it closed and next season on Broadway fingers crossed. Depending on how the season unfolds, Natalie will be bringing A roll and Lynn Pica.

New musical to Broadway. A role that was written for her and is going to be quite quite exciting time for her. I just can't wait to see it.

We have folks at work in all parts of the theater. Um Jess Johnson diva was was one of our stage management students who has since gone into production management and she works now at Northern Stage in Vermont to work for many years in New York as a stage manager. and I did a summer summer job in Vermont, fell in love with Vermont, move there full time and took a job at the at Northern stage and is building quite quite a great life with that theater.

As well.

Also, in New York we have producers who work in the Arts administration side David Ryan spry, one of our graduates is major producer working for the John Gore company and David David has his hands and lots of things including including the national tours of almost every single Broadway tour that goes out through Broadway across America. But his company has investments and as part of the producing team.

Of of practically every every Broadway show that sort of hits hits the boards in New York, and David Ryan's pride just built that karere. He's a very interesting example of the value of the liberal arts. So David, in our program explored lots of things while he was a student. Here he worked in lighting design. He was an actor. He worked in the musical Theatre. He also worked in Arts administration office and when he left left.

Come here as a graduate. He found his way into arts administration and in producing and really absolutely loves, loves his job.

So the great thing about the University of Mary Washington is that we are completely focused on our students and were completely focused on careers and we really want folks to be successful. One of the things that are graduates say when they leave us and we do lots of surveys when they leave us one of the things they remark on is the thing that they think that they get in our program, that some of their peers don't get in other parts of the University, and certainly other peers that go to.

Go to other universities. Is this extraordinary, hands-on approach from the faculty with our students? And So what that means is that we are there to guide our students, and that's very important to us, and that doesn't stop when you graduate. We have our graduates calling us all the time for advice and to check in. And then because of that, our graduates are also involved in our students lives. And they're very generous with our students.

In helping them to establish their own careers, so I will have, you know, I have a call from Natalie Johnson when she she has a has an offer or project and she wants to bounce some ideas off of me and she's she's been out of school along time. But she still feels like Mary Washington is their home and that's exactly what we want. Her want her to feel and so that's that's important that mentoring relationship will make all of the difference to you as you as you launch your own professional career.

We are. We are a very strong community hours. Students are lookout for each other. They are celebrate each other success and I'm very, very proud of that. We want folks to feel comfortable in our Department from the time that they arrive, so that indeed they can do their very best work so that that's that's that's significant to us. So that's.

It in a nutshell and what I'll do is I'll take some.

Make some some questions from you, Ann John. You may have to voice some of the questions for me because my chat box is not really working very well, but I see Catherine's asking are there any programs or activities for students not pursuing majors or minors in theater? So that's a That's a great question. Our program is open to all students, so our auditions are open to all students. Theater practicum is open to all students. All of our classes are open to all students. You do not have to be a major or a minor in order to be active in theater.

And that some, and that's that's significant. In fact, many of our classes count in the general education program, so we find students who are interested in theater, but maybe don't want to major in theater, taking our classes and maybe working on productions, but not not doing a major or minor. We also have a number of students who are at student employees who are not theater majors or musical theater miners. And so, yes, there is a great place for you in the program. So there is some questions about the musical Theatre minor.

Musical Theatre minor is, uh, is a really great great minor. So you take 2 classes in musical Theatre performance in our program and those are two three credit classes you can actually. The way the curriculum is set up. Take those multiple times for credit. There are very few classes at the University that you can take multiple times and get additional credit score, but those are two classes because those are performance classes and you can do that. So you take those two foundation courses over over a year or two years.

In addition to that, you take 4 credits and dance. That usually translates into four dance classes and you take 4 credits invoice and that can be class, voice or private voice because of our.

Cause of our relationship with the music Department and the vocal studios. Their musical Theatre miners get sort of 2nd priority in getting private lessons and the first priority is is vocal music majors. The second priority is musical theater minors. Indeed, most of the vocal studios are.

That the three voice teachers there teach mostly musical Theatre students. We have a lot of students in that program and they are taking really terrific, terrific, getting terrific instruction in our music Department. In addition to that, you take voice and body movement, which is a vocal and physical technique class, and you take acting in the program as well. So that's a great program. Oftentimes students to the theater major, and then do the musical Theatre minor, but we have a handful of students who are majoring in something else are majoring in history and also doing the Musical Theatre Minor, and that's.

Absolutely the case as well.

So rain is asking about the theater major, so the theater major is a core set of classes, and so you're going to take technical production, which is a technical theater class. You're going to take theater history and literature. That's two semesters, a survey of history and literature you're going to take an acting class, so that's one semester of Acting. You're also going to take a upper level design classes design class, either lighting design, costume design, or scenic design.

You're going to take professional identity in practice, and that is the career readiness class you take. Your junior and senior year. You take theater practicum every semester, and theater practicum is that one credit course you get for you. Take and get credit for your production work, and then you do a senior project. So that's a core of about 30, depending on classes you take. 36 or so credits, and then you take up to 60 in theaters. So then if you're interested in Technical Theatre, for instance, you're going to take additional technical production classes and.

Additional electives in the areas that you're interested in and that then can get you up to 60 credits in theater, but that cord that cord that everybody takes is important to us. Even though you may not be an actor, you may be a designer. We believe it's important that you take an acting class because because you need to know the process of the actor or actors have to take design classes. We want you to have a really.

Solid Educational Foundation as well.

What other questions do you have?

Let's see, are you able to double minor if you get a musical Theatre minor?

Sure, sure thanks John so you can. You can double minor. It is depending on what your major is. It's fairly easy. We have a great number of students who actually major in theater and get the minors in both arts administration and musical musical Theatre there heading all their bets there, they're getting themselves.

Very prepared for.

The for the world of work and we also have students who major in meter that made minor in Business Administration an Arts Administration or we have major theater majors who minor in music and musical Theatre. You can absolutely double minor all over the University. You can double major as well. You can take the theater major major with something else, which many of our students do. It just sort of depends on what that major is.

That we've got, Steven has asked, can students hold something like an open mic night? He and his friend did it in high school and his friend goes to Mary Washington and he wants to continue the tradition in college.

Right, so I think there there are opportunities to do that in the best way to do that is through the Studio 115 communities in the studio puts out open calls for projects every semester, so you can. You can put in a proposal to the studio committee, say what it is you want to do, what that event is going to be like, and then as a result of that you can. You can get us.

Time slot, you'll get some Technical Support and then you can pull that off as well. There are other big is also all over the University that you can do that in as well, so it's not just in our Department but through the student activities office. There are ways to do that, so I think that that's an absolutely great thing that you could possibly do.

OK, Mason wants to know, um, what acting techniques we focus on in the Department.

Yeah, so um, our techniques are largely Meisner, Ann, Hagen based so we are trained in in what is what is known as American realism. Its post Stanislavsky American realism, which is what most universities teach today. We don't teach a standard Meisner or standard Hagen.

It is you know is uh a mesh of those we have multiple people who teach a lot of people who teach acting in our program and that's important because we want our students exposed to a variety of different techniques and why was Hagen trained actually actually studied with Buddha Hagen at very, very early in my career and that's that's important we also teach Lesak and we as a vocal technique.

We talk about the requirements for the Arts Administration Minor.

Come and we also teach Fitzmaurice as a vocal technique. So really, what's important for an acting student is that you find the language and technique that works for you, and you pursue that with a vengeance.

So there's administration minor is is based on two foundation courses in that are taught out of theater. One is principles of Arts administration. In the second courses, resource strategies in Arts Administration. So those are the foundation courses that are the overview of the field that give students very specific techniques. An content in theory in Arts Administration.

In addition to that, our students take the accounting beginning accounting class in the College of business, and they take one more class in the College of business, either a marketing class or a management class.

Then finally they take either 3 credits in theater practicum, working in Arts Administration Program, or they do a professional internship for three credits, either in the summer or during the academic year, and that's and that's what's important. Many of Arts Administration students also end up working in the Department. They work in our box, office or arts administration office, once again, like every other part of our field. The skills and experience you have or what's really important.

Great, Um, Ellie has asked if this session is available later. Perhaps that's a question for.

Oh, I think we've lost him.

Uhm, I believe that we're recording this, so I think that the session should be available later for you.

Right in.

Yeah, go ahead.

I I love.

I know I'm also very willing to meet with anybody who who has specific information I can meet on zoom, or I can do a phone call for anybody who wants any specialized information that I don't cover today. Or if you get off of this session today and you have questions arise, you can just email me g.skull@umw.edu and all arrange all, arrange another time to talk with anybody. I can also talk with parents if you were visiting the campus, I hope.

Often often and talk with you and your parents. and I can do that as well and you zoom. So I'm John. John will type out my email address in the chat and you can bring it back.

Also, Grace is asking when is next season going to be announced?

Yeah, I wish I could tell you that we're we're we're on we're on pins and needles so as you know this is an unfolding situation and right now we are ever hopeful that we're going to land back on campus at the end of August. And we're going to start with great enerji

Words towards next season.

Be cause we have not been told exactly what it's going to be like. In fact, we don't really know what it's going to be like in the in the fall. You know, there? Maybe we may come back to school, but there may be social distancing requirements in the like that would greatly affect our work. We're holding off on the announcement of our season but has admitted student and hopefully if you decide that you're coming to you and W and I certainly hope you will.

We will begin communicating with you, um, as soon as you pay your deposit, we then we then treat you as a first year student and then any communication that goes out with for theater students. We include first year students. So students we announced that we will. We will let you know.

Good Mason has asked him. He says my high school had an improv team that was very connected to the theater Department. How close are the two at Mary Washington?

Yeah, so many of our students are involved in the improv club. It's an improv group that performs on campus we, I think, a member of our faculty is the faculty advisor, but faculty advisors for clubs that we don't do much, but the improv group has performances regularly. We have a lot of theater students who are involved in that club. We don't sponsor them, but certainly we support them as much as we possibly can.

OK, does anyone have any other questions?

For Greg.

It.

Yeah, so if if there are many anymore questions, I just encourage you. If you have other questions and you want to email me, please please do that. Please be in touch with me. I'm happy to give you any information you can. You need the reality here is is that you need to go to a school that you feel like you can do.

Your very best work. I think the University of Mary Washington is a terrific terrific theater program. We have great support from the administration. We have great support from the local community. We have great support from our alums and I think that that gives you a very solid foundation to study theater and then to launch into a professional career. This is in some ways a lot of people don't know about our program, which is, which is unfortunate because our outcomes are so great.

But the reality is, is that once you arrive here, you can hit the ground running. You will be involved from your very first semester and we want you to be so if there aren't any more questions. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Real quick Jacob Joshua did ask and you touched a little bit on this just now, but how open or classes to people who don't have a broad theater education or a foundation for a theater education?

That's that's a really great question.

You know you you should come to college and you should explore things you don't know a lot about. And if you're interested in theater but you don't come from from a strong theater program in high school or you can't became interested in theater late in high school, you you should know that all of our programs are all appliances. Everything we do is geared towards.

Students, and that means that you are here to learn the theater practicum, for instance, which is of course that supports productions. You may be very interested in running the light board for a show or programming the light board, or running on being a sound engineer, but you've never done it before, but you're interested. The only requirement we ask of you is that you have a real desire to learn and that you will work to do your very best.

So classes are open to people who don't know very much. Our practicum positions open to people who don't know very much, and that's what we want. We want you to come here, and we want you to learn, so I would not at all let that stop you.

Great, that was all we had.

Great, well thanks everybody. I'm certainly stay in touch with us. Let me know if there's anything you need in order to get you to the University of Mary Washington. Everybody says stay healthy, safe and strong and hopefully I'll see you in the fall.

By everyone.