06.04.08 - Young Company Theatre Camp Moves to OCU

Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s Young Company Theatre Camp has moved to the Oklahoma City University campus.

The camp is geared toward artistic teens who want to supplement their theater arts training.

Some of the area's leading artists and educators conduct workshops and direct camp performances. The camp performances serve as pre-show productions for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park's main stage production.

Camp options include: a two-week option at $325 a session- June 16-28 — Session 1 — "Romeo and Juliet” and July 21 to Aug. 2 — Session 2 — "All's Well that Ends Well;” or a one-week option at $200 a session -- June 16-21 — Session 1 — Scene Showcase and July 21-26 — Session 2 — Scene Showcase.

For more information, e-mail
mandee.chapman-roach@oklahomashakespeare.com, or go to www.oklahomashakespeare.com.

02.27.08 - Lend Me A Tenor Lands 5th Place Alternate for American College Theatre Festival

CONGRATULATIONS TEAM TENOR!!!!
The cast and crew of Lend Me A Tenor performed their hearts out on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008, at the Regional KCACTF Festival at Sam Houston State Univ. in Huntsville, TX, and were selected as an alternate (came in 5th place in the entire country - only 4 plays are selected to advance)to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. That's 5th place out of 600 plays across the nation!

Before Act I ended, the audience was applauding, as intermission ended and the lights were going down to begin Act II, the crowd was clapping again and even before the curtain call started, the audience was on its feet for a standing ovation. It was an amazing performance by TheatreOCU’s cast and crew with an outstanding audience of 500 cheering theatre students, faculty, and staff from the region.

We also want to congratulate AVIVA PRESSMAN and DUKE ANDERSON for making it all the way to the final round to advance to the Kennedy Center for the Irene Ryan Award. Excellent work!!

In addition, the committee and Gregg Henry were very complimentary of the production and the production’s values and extended a special invitation to our own Marty Moreno, (Tito Merelli) who was invited to Washington as a special guest of the national committee. CONGRATULATIONS MARTY!

02.07.08 - Theatre Students Excel at Regional Conference

Oklahoma City University Theatre students won several awards at the recent Southwest Regional United States Institute of Theatre Technology Conference and Design Exhibition at West Texas A&M University.

The conference includes an adjudicated exhibition for student members. Students from five states exhibited design and technical work for the adjudication by working professionals and faculty.

OCU student Mitchel Crossley presented his Properties Design from TheatreOCU’s production of Lend Me A Tenor (OCU’s Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival regional entry) and won third place. Megan Skinner was awarded third prize for her sound design for TheatreOCU’s production of Lend Me A Tenor.

Elizabeth Nordenholt placed second in sound design and Brandt Gentry won third place in scene design.

Mary “Bridget” Bode won first place in stage management and second place scenery design.

OCU students Anthony Bullock and Megan Skinner were nominated for Student Director at Large for the region. The election will take place in March at the national conference.

08.06.07 - PHENOMINAL DEPARTMENTAL GROWTH!

The past three years have been an exciting time of building and revitalization as the Department of Theatre has undergone an EXTREME MAKEOVER. We have been charged with building a program that matches the strengths of OCU's nationally recognized programs in Music and Dance & Arts Management.

During this time we have made numerous changes. We have implemented new recruiting strategies (we now attend auditions such as the North Texas Drama Auditions, Booker T. Washington HSPVA Showcase, TETA, SETC, MWTA and USITT). We have reformatted our season selection process; we now have a system in place that will expose our students to a four-year rotation of styles that they will encounter in the professional world. These styles include Shakespeare, American Classics, Chekhov, Farce, Modern Classics, Greek/Roman and recent Broadway productions.

As a result, the number of theatre majors has risen from 30 to 120 in three years. We will bring in two more classes of approximately 50 students and then maintain an enrollment of 220 majors (amongst the BFA, BA and MA degrees).

The Administration at OCU has recently made a significant commitment to support and sustain this growth. In Fall 2008, we filled five new full-time faculty positions for the Department of Theatre.

Explosive growth and opportunity is what you will find at Oklahoma City University. These are exciting times to get on board with TheatreOCU. We are well on our way to becoming the best theatre training program in the region.