Doane’s Theatre program stayed busy even during break and at the beginning of the new semester. In December, Doane’s Theatre program took a trip to Chicago, Illinois, and in January they took a trip to Des Moines, Iowa, in hopes of improving their craft, strengthening bonds and learning tools of the trade.
“If I did a breakdown, I would say 30% of our education comes in the classroom, 50% comes from on-the-job learning and 20% comes from seeing theatre and other people’s work,” junior Cody Lee Crist said. “While in Chicago we saw vastly different shows in different kinds of spaces to work in. For example, I was able to look up at their lighting grids throughout the show to see how the designer executed the use of their plot. I learned a lot about in-the-round lighting from a world premiere production we saw in Chicago.”
Lee Crist and the rest of the theatre department were able to take the trips through honor society Alpha Psi Omega (APO). At both Chicago and Des Moines, they participated in multiple workshops, saw other schools’ performances and learned about future careers in theatre.
“One really cool thing about to conference in Des Moines is seeing how the sets are constructed as the universities that bring shows get around 12 hours to load everything in most tours have around 24-36 hours to load in,” Lee Crist said. “A group of us are working on attending the USITT (United States Institute for Technical Theatre) this March, which is being held in Columbus, Ohio, where there will be more workshops with industry professionals and experiences we can learn from.”
Lee Crist got back from the trips and was filled with a sense of encouragement; he met multiple people in the industry, made connections for a postgraduate career and has new tactics to apply for future productions at Doane. The Doane Theatre program is poised to take the stage on Feb. 27, with their production of “She Kills Monsters.”
