Following the COVID-19 emergency shift to online teaching, The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) professors Stirling Shelton, Professor of Technical Direction and Steve Miller, Associate Director of Theater Operations knew they didn’t want a repeat of the spring 2020 going into the fall of the 2020-2021 academic year. Their plan? To find a way to work around the obstacles and provide their students with the best learning options imaginable. Joined by fellow faculty, Mark A. Halpin, Associate Professor of Scenic Design and Kathryn M. Miller, Technical Theatre Specialist, the group found a way to offer all their technical classes in-person lab work and skills-building projects.
“The thought of teaching on Zoom for an entire year was off putting,” explains Miller, “I watched the students spiral in at the end of the previous school year and couldn’t do that again. How does one teach technical theater from behind a screen? So, we wrote some safety protocols for teaching in person during a pandemic and never looked back. We built some sets and installed them, came up with skills-building projects, installed stock automation pieces to see how they work, made a light and automation show, learned about projections, made an in-house 3D flying rig, and on and on. It wasn’t “real theater” but it was a really good year.”
In addition to CDC recommended precautions, tools were sanitized, temperatures were taken at the top of all load-ins and strikes, and the University of Cincinnati’s COVID app was checked. Anyone who went out of town, or were knowingly exposed, had to quarantine until they receive a negative test result. All departments for load-in were treated as pods (sets, lights, sound) and did not share the theaters during load-ins and tech periods. Air flow studies were done for all three theaters to ensure that the prescribed air changes to remove COVID airborne particulates were enabled.
The initial plan was to put on full shows and record to video, however that became problematic as casts started to contract COVID and productions shut down. For educational purposes though, the technicians still installed and struck the constructed scenery for Good Trouble, Say What You Want to Say, and the school’s Opera Gala. Some fine tuning of the plan for the spring of 2021 therefore acknowledged that other departments had decided not to produce indoor theater. So instead, three students were chosen to design their favorite shows for CCM’s largest theater, Corbett Auditorium. The Corbett space was selected as it would allow for the largest volume of air and distancing as possible, since once designed the technicians then built the shows, including an enormous Little Shop of Horrors. For Little Shop, Sedona Ishe designed and oversaw the build of an in-floor tracking system in Corbett which allows for 22’ of tracking up to 50’ wide. The show’s flower shop set was on a turntable that tracked onto the stage. The other two shows designed and built were Light in the Piazza, also on a turntable, and The Laramie Project.
Halpin recalls, “When I proposed mounting productions separate from performances, it seemed crazy at first—and in a normal year it definitely would be! But setting aside our normal way of thinking made it look more like a win-win: performers got to do things in recording studios and outdoor venues where they could practice their craft safely, and the design and production students got to design, paint, prop, TD, build, rig and light scenery in a way that was pretty close to what they’d be doing in a normal year. As they practiced their skills, even Stage Management and Sound Design got involved. Giving these projects a photocall as with normal productions helped keep our students’ portfolios from having lockdown-shaped holes in them.”
Additional projects realized by the CCM Senior students also included: A build requested by the undergraduate opera performers of a very large, student designed set for a video production of The Magic Flute. CCM student Thomas Iodice took on a complete redesign and replacement of the CCM shop’s flat storage room which included drafting, constructing, trial assembly, and installation. While student Maya Eberhardt worked on a Mark Leary(esque) giant mobile that was initially designed for one of the cancelled fall 2020 productions. “This was a 20’ version of one of his paddle mobile designs. Steve [Miller] purchased a real mobile to reverse engineer it. Then we researched materials, stuff we don’t work with regularly, then designed a build and rigging plan. It was an amazing result,” notes Eberhardt.
Meanwhile the sophomore students also did some deep dive projects, including assembling and programming a stock 8’ x 16’ stage lift that was teched in the shop and then installed in the theater. The students also each took on a damaged or broken prop furniture repair project, among which were two tables, a desk, a reconstructed chair, and danceable ladder-back chairs with rush seats. These projects developed their expertise in furniture joinery, proper construction, glue, upholstery, and finishing.
Another project was not only educational but also has the potential to turn a profit. The High School Props rental projects had CCM students design the more difficult props from the three most popular high school rental shows of 2018-19: Addams Family, Shrek, and Mary Poppins. The project, managed by CCM student Paige Rogozinski involved 30 props students and technical directors building the props and also determined packaging for shipping.
Miller describes the faculty’s thoughts behind the project, “For the prop projects I was really focused on helping the student have portfolio pieces in a year devoid of “standard” productions. Even with the projects happening on stage the props were limited to dressing. I knew I wanted them to be show based because that allows for a research and design component. When we decided to assign a student designer to the project that allowed for design conversations akin to what they were used to in previous productions. We rent props out year-round to local high schools. After having a few conversations with various directors and some research; the technical directors, faculty designers and I settled on Shrek the Musical, Mary Poppins, and The Addams Family. These shows provided a range of styles and allowed us to discuss the needs of the show and the need to be respectful of the intellectual property of other designers. My hope was to create a package that solved most of the troubles or trick issues with each production rather than a fully evolved complete rental package. I think it gave the students the opportunity to flex their design muscles while having to think critically to identify any potential issues that the end user would face.”
The successful, though unique 2020-2021 academic year’s projects saw a range of work as noted previously with everything from 3D flying rigs, giant LED clocks, pneumatic ping pong ball shooters, and motorized LED-lit wearable wings, all of which contributed to the CCM students getting hands-on knowledge and skills experience even without fully produced productions. The faculty were impressed by the students work and proud to offer a fulfilling educational experience to the students. Shelton concludes, “Here at UC-CCM we believe that student learn best when they ‘learn by doing’. The virus destroyed the Standard Operating Procedure for teaching theater students. So we had the freedom to try something else. We let our students’ imaginations run wild and determine what stories they wanted to tell, and most importantly, HOW! It was cool beans. And we did it safely!”
About the author: Irene Byrne Ohl, Founder, piVot2 is a 1982 graduate of CCM’s Opera-Musical Theatre Technical Production program. Now in the Third Act of her professional career, she is the HEART- hunter of the entertainment industry’s design|build sector. Her goal is growing and strengthening the bridge between technical theatre university program graduates and expanding employer talent landscape. Irene’s master search skills fits talent to team. Irene lives in Larchmont, NY with her husband of 37 years, Ted Ohl – a principal with Schuler Shook Theatre Consultants’ new NYC office. She loves to travel, meet new people and get 1% better every day.
Click here to see some of the CCM project work and read some thoughts from the students involved, including Benjamin Beardon, Ashley Crockett Guido, Ethan Fleek, Josh Gallagher, Aaron Graham, and Brenna McKenna.
