Hannah Baity, 18, and her ensemble were nearly performance ready for their next play in a year-long theater program when things took a turn at the end of March.
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
How Theater Programs Are Adjusting to Online Learning
Hannah Baity, 18, and her ensemble were nearly performance ready for their next play in a year-long theater program when things took a turn at the end of March.
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6 comments:
I personally feel that it is very difficult to do theater school online. It is hard to replicate much of what people love about theater and why they are doing it. Personally, I believe that is is very difficult to translate a theater conservatory schedule onto Zoom in a way that can be sustainable to students' general well being. This article talks mostly about high school theater and I feel like as that is generally very unstructured it must be so difficult to translate online. For me, high school theater was a community. I did it because I enjoyed theater but also because of the people I did it with. I feel like online this is the thing that will suffer the most, the loss of community. I don't really know how to replicate it online and I'm sure many people are attempting too, but I really don't think that online theater school for high school or for college is ideal in the slightest.
I agree with the sentiment of the article insofar as theatre and theatre education are both immensely difficult to accomplish in remote settings. The in-person hands on nature of so much that we do doesn't translate well into this new format. More than that, though, the collaboration and social aspect of in-person learning is something we've lost. Holding a discussion over Zoom is nigh impossible, whether through lack of engagement or conflicting audio. However, there are a few hidden gems to online learning that I have discovered. Taking notes on a zoom lecture can be great, as I can screenshot diagrams and examples to supplement what I've copied down, or google clarifying information on the fly. Additionally, the ability to view what my instructor or professor is sharing on my own computer screen instead of squinting at a projector is a godsend! Although online theatre school is by no means ideal, I think we have to embrace the old adage of 'the show must go on' and do our best to adapt to the situation in order to retain what sense of sanity we have left.
From my perspective, I truthfully am enjoying online learning, so much so that I was excited to find out that I could do all my coursework remotely. Now, that is my own personal experience unique to what I am looking to get out of this program, and understand that is not shared by all even within PTM. If I were in undergrad, I would have probably taken a gap year, but now as a grad student my education is much different. The experience of putting on productions is something that I was fortunate enough to do often when I worked part/full time as a shop carpenter. That is not to say I can't improve on these skills, I absolutely can and continue to do so, but my personal education is not tied necessarily to production. The opportunities, however, to assist the former lead engineer at Hudson Scenic, or learn performer flying from the guy who literally wrote the book on it are unbelievable! For me, those opportunities are unparalleled in my educational journey, and are only possible because of the online world. I do look forward to being back in Pittsburgh and the opportunity to put on productions again (I don't know what I would do if we were in a similar situation next year), but this has so far been a worthwhile experience.
I actually think it's very difficult to learn theatre online. I definitely cannot imagine having to sacrifice your theatre program in a high school where theatre may not be a priority. The challenges that high schoolers are facing currently is definitely damaging to their mental health. To me. learning theatre online in college is equally as difficult. I think it can work for a certain amount of time but them after that you are sacrificing the quality of education the students are getting as well as the mental health of those students. I notice in my classes that my professors will throw in comments on how they would be teaching this one thing or we would be going deeper into this certain area however it is not possible due to the fact that we are learning online. There are some things that are perks to learning online and make the experience still worth it, as you can search up things you don't understand without the pressure of asking what they mean or the fact that learning online challenges you to look at your own space differently and work with what you have to do your art. Ultimately those challenges allow you to become a better artist and be better in your craft once you have access to more. I also think learning online forces teachers to go slower and really insure that the foundations are strong, allowing for us to build on top of those foundations better as our training continues. Ultimately as much as the process of online school sucks, it is forcing us to grow as students, artists, and people.
I think it’s really complicated to take a major that’s so physical and reliant on the spaces we have and try to teach about that through a computer screen. It’s difficult doing online school already and sitting in front of the computer screen for too many hours a day, only to be given a lot of busywork assignments by your professors that make you sit in front of a screen for even more time. A pretty active and interactive major became a boring desk job. I don’t mind having a couple of my classes be online and I think some cool opportunities have come out of the online learning, like how we can learn 3D CAD from a guy at Hudson Scenic, or have Alumni come and talk to us about things in the real world/ post college. But having almost everything like this isn’t my thing and I don’t think the quality of education is really the same. Figure drawing over a zoom call isn’t nearly the same as being in the actual space to do it, and it’s not as enjoyable when you can’t see any of your classmates or build things in the shop with the crew. I was so close to taking a gap year this time around, and the only reason I didn’t was because I wanted to be able to graduate with my friends.
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