CCM Drama students continue to learn what it takes to produce their own theatre pieces as they prepare for the 2011 TRANSMIGRATION: A Festival of Student-Created New Works taking place February 17-19 throughout CCM Village. Tickets become available a 12 p.m. next Monday, Feb. 14. The third-annual festival allows the audience to sample four different 30-minute vignettes produced by small groups of Drama majors, who create all aspects of their productions from start to finish.
“TRANSMIGRATION is about the lessons learned making original theatre with a small ensemble that are lasting,” said Richard Hess, chair of CCM Drama and director of TRANSMIGRATION. “The festival was created in response to the original theatre companies and original work being created by CCM Drama students throughout our 27-year history. Our alums and current students have continued to create original pieces – the examples are legion.”
Some of the companies formed by current and former CCM Drama students include Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Satori Theatre Group (Seattle), The Lost Theatre Company (New York), Cincinnati Outdoor Classics and Stokastik Theatre Ensemble (Los Angeles). Although several of these companies were formed prior to the inception of TRANSMIGRATION, students have long been given the encouragement to venture out on their own.
“We’re always told that if there’s not work out there then we have to make it – it’s one of those rules that is ingrained in us,” said junior Hope Shangle. “Through transmigration and through our professors making us very confident of our choices in the performers that we are, then we can be brave going out in the real world and saying: ‘People want to hear what I think.’”
Aside from the theatre companies started by CCM students, other Drama majors are producing original works outside of their school curriculum. Junior Alec Silberblatt, who has participated in transmigration since he was a freshman, is taking the behind-the-scenes experience he’s gained and preparing his own one-man show that he plans to take to Fringe festivals around the country this summer.
“I worked with Cincinnati Outdoor Classics last summer, and what I learned there and certainly what I’ve learned in Transmigration has applied to creating my own piece of theatre,” said Silberblatt.
The lessons students learn from Transmigration come from the process of collaborating in groups of 8-10 people to develop a concept, story, characters and script for their 30-minute shows. Beyond the plays, students must also construct a set, costumes, lighting design and marketing campaign for their productions, all on a budget of $75.
This year’s TRANSMIGRATION festival will feature The Casablanca Complex by Project: Theatre Project, Plugged In by As Seen on TV, The Network by The Conscious Collective, KBLB – The Bloob by Pan-Atlantic Theatre Ensemble, In Limbic by Scarlet Fever Productions and Labeled by Society. Click here for more information on each individual production!
Audience members will have the opportunity to customize their theater-going experience by choosing to watch up to four different productions, which are performed simultaneously and in non-traditional spaces throughout CCM’s Corbett Center for the Performing Arts.
Dates and Times:
Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 19 at 2 & 7 p.m.
Location:
Various locations throughout the CCM Village, including:
Cohen Family Studio Theater
Room 3640 Corbett Center for the Performing Arts
Room 3650 Corbett Center for the Performing Arts
Tickets & Information:
Admission is free, but reservations are required and can be reserved by contacting the CCM Box Office at 513-556-4183. Tickets become available Monday, February 14 at noon. Limit two tickets per order. Parking is available in the CCM Garage (at the base of Corry Boulevard off of Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. For complete reservation and parking information, visit ccm.uc.edu.
Drama Studio Series Sponsor: Neil Artman & Margaret Straub
CCM VILLAGE NEWS ARCHIVES 