PRACTICAL
ARTS
Stevenson has long had a reputation for offering an exceptional education
that gives students a connection to their career aspirations.
It’s also known for the arts and cultural opportu- financial planning round out this critical course. In
nities it offers to the SU community as well as the Audition Technique, students learn how to choose
broader Baltimore audience. Today, the university is material that best fits roles they might audition
tying these two aspirations into its curricula for the for on stage and camera and then practice with
more traditional arts degree programs, allowing stu- professors, acting coaches, and casting directors. The
dents to explore their passions while giving them the course culminates in a showcase of the student’s
practical skills to take their first steps on an endur- best work.”
ing career path.
Theatre and Media
Performance
The theatre and media performance program is
training the entrepreneurial performing artist for
the 21st century, according to Ryan Clark, Program
Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Theatre.
“Students engage in a traditional actor training,
which includes scene study, voice, movement,
and theatre history. Additionally, students take
two levels of acting for the camera and voiceover
performance to prepare them for a wide range of
media performance opportunities.”
Clark notes that career readiness is key to the
program and cites two examples: Business of the
Actor and Audition Technique. “In Business of the
Actor, students create a career plan that aligns with
their interests,” he explains. “They explore regions of
the country where their unique performance skills
would be most marketable; resume, headshot, and
8
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VENTURES/FALL 2017
Clark has continued in the fine Stevenson
tradition of making live theatre an essential part
of the cultural life of the university. Each year, the
program produces three to four plays in two distinct
spaces, The Inscape Theatre and The Studio Theatre.
“Theatre is by nature a collaborative art,” he
says. “We have been diligently working with other
departments on campus to bring theatrical texts into
the classroom. For example, we are in our third year
of partnering with the English Department. Students
read one or more of the plays we produce in writing
and composition classes. We conduct workshops
with these classes in preparation of their seeing the
performance and then post-performance talk-backs
with the cast, designers, and directors to give non-
theatre students a window into the creative process.”
In October, Clark and Laurel Moody, Assistant
Professor of Nursing, will be working together on
a standardized patient simulation dealin