Ogle Center
The Ogle Center and Theatre Department Transition to New Model for COVID-19
Professor Ashley Wallace teaches her Acting I course in the Robinson Theater, which has been reformatted for COVID-19. Each student has their own six foot circle to move and act in, with the stage allowing for a group of up to twelve students to share the space while still practicing physical distancing.
From Musical Theater to Operating Theater
This teaching style, while conceptualized for acting, has also been revolutionary for other performance and practicum based classes, from piano lessons, to woodwind courses and even to more scientific curriculum, like nursing.
Ogle Center Shifts Focus
Not only has the Ogle Center’s focus been moved to favor more campus-produced content, but the spaces throughout the building are being made much more inclusive to other departments beyond the performing arts.
“Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow”
Technical Director, Charles Nasby said, “So we’re still doing the theater thing, with a different barrier.” Nasby has even used the change in the other Ogle Center venues to create opportunities for technical theatre students to accrue real-world experience by acting as technical experts for the classes and professors utilizing the various performance spaces.
A New, “Sustainable,” Theatre Department
In order to both fill the downtime of lost shows and improve the theatre department’s sustainability and off-campus design capabilities, Nasby and his students have been working constantly to organize and catalogue the Black Box theater and storage room, making sure every prop and set piece can be quickly found through an electronic database and used to design sets from the comfort of home.
The Theater Department has also taken steps to pioneer an entirely new way to do shows, utilizing Zoom, camera footage, and careful editing to make a hopefully seamless performance that viewers can stream from home.
