Southwestern Magazine | Spring 2021

benefits they will reap when they can sing as a group again. “Our students are amazing, and I knew they would be open to trying something new, or else I would not have done it,” she remarks. “But I think I had a bit of a pleasant surprise at just howmuch they seemed to enjoy it.” In December, the Chorale performed a handbell concert in the Lois Perkins Chapel for SU’s beloved Candlelight service, which was streamed on YouTube to positive feedback from the campus and beyond. RETHINKING LIVE THEATRE The Theatre Department also introduced clever adaptations that provided students with opportunities to develop new skills. Costume Design students learned how to digitally render on university-provided iPads, and the Devising Theatre class explored digital performance and technologies as preliminary work toward a larger grant-funded project that culminates in a production they will take to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (the largest arts festival in the world) in 2022. Associate Professor of Theatre Sergio Costola predicts that virtual theatre is a new form that will outlive the pandemic, and the goal of SU theatre faculty is to train students in new technologies so that “by the time they graduate, they are ahead of the game.” The department’s major undertaking was pulling off a sociallydistancedproduction that the campus community could physically attend. It required the construction of a brand new outdoor stage, careful consideration for health and safety protocols in every element of the preparation process, and the selection of a play that could accommodate costume and scenery limitations as well as contactless acting. They landed on the play Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins—a modern adap- tation of the 15th-century morality play Everyman —and planned to incorporate projections and recorded perfor- mances to limit in-person interaction. Rudy Ramirez, associate artistic director of the Vortex Theatre and the founding artistic director of Avante Theatre Project in Austin, was brought in to direct. “OnethingthatthepandemicdidfortheTheatreDepartment was it brought people together because it required a village to really make this happen,” says Desi Roybal P'21, chair and professor of theatre. As the stage was built by an outside contractor in order to eliminate tool sharing, Ramirez coordinated with the Athletics Department to plan nightly rehearsals on the track and field around football practices. Cast members learned how to do their own fittings and cared for and commuted with their costumes to and from performances, and the crew methodically sanitized equipment after each show. The sound crew puzzled through buffering audio in a wide- open field next to a highway, the lighting techs adapted with late autumn’s dwindling daylight, and everyone had to proactively plan around inclement weather that could push the production back days. Despite the unpredictable obstacles of working outdoors, Everybody came together successfully. The department has ideas for improving the process with their springproduction, but theyareproud tohave created a safe and fun live experience under unprecedented circumstances. Says cast member Adam Kral ’24, “We took it as a gift to both ourselves and our community that we were finally able to bring theatre back to a world that needed something that was enjoyable but wasn’t on a screen, because that’s what we’ve all been stuck looking at for the past few months.” APPROACHING ART IN ALTERNATIVE SPACES Faculty in the Art History Department worked extensively throughout the summer to thoughtfully design engaging remote classes, and the Studio Art Department strategized how to make projects more transportable between the studios and students’ dorms or else translatable for those attending remotely. Abiding by the one-hour health and safety time restrictions for being in a classroom, typical two-and-a-half-hour art courses were divided into fully virtual segments followed by in-studio segments. Technical assistants helped to broadcast remote professors into the studio spaces using projectors. First-year art student Grace Biltz ’24 greatly appreciated the hybrid class format. “It allowed you to be in the comfort of your roomwhile also allowing you to have that valuable in-person experience and enjoy other people’s company,” she says. Courses such as drawing and painting were somewhat easier to transition to remote settings, but ceramics 3 2 | SOUTHWE S T E RN