Theater Pre-Orientation


Each year we invite those First-Year students who have expressed an interest in theater to join us for a three day pre-orientation program immediately preceeding college orientation. Students have all agreed that this has been the best possible introduction to Skidmore's Theater Department.
Pre-Orientation is a wonderful opportunity to get to know one another, meet the faculty, and to find out about all of the opportunites in the department. We have discovered that students enrolled in this program become fully engaged in all of the activities of the department as soon as the semester begins.

The Skidmore College Department of Theater is committed to the principles of liberal arts studies. All of our productions are informed by our studies in other disciplines. Whenever we produce a seminar or studio production we seek to combine the intellectual and practical aspects of theater production as fully as possible. Students participate in a weekly seminar class through which the production work is synthesized with the liberal arts. These seminars deal with the study of pertinent theatrical, literary, philosophical, social, political, and economic aspects of the play and its themes. We often involve guest speakers, many of whom teach in other disciplines on campus.

During Pre-Orientation we hope to introduce new students to these important principles.
The program is run by faculty members of the Skidmore Theatre assisted by sophomore and junior peer advisors who have become committed theatre students.

Here are the Scheduled Activites for Last Year's Program

  • Introduction and theatre games with Marie Glozbach.
  • Introduction to the Skidmore Theater Program and Tour of the Theater
  • Discussions with faculty members from the Theater and other departments about the department's fall productions
  • Scene work based upon the fall productions - faculty members and guests explore the staging of scenes with groups of students.
  • Audition workshop. The faculty give some helpful tips to students planning to audition this semester and offer monologue coaching.
  • Visit to Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Massachusetts to see their current production. In past we've seen such productions as The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Antony and Cleopatra. After the performance members of the cast often meet with students and share some pizza.
  • Theater Company Meeting. An introduction to Skidmore's unique organization for producing theatre.
  • Theater Dinner.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE (2010)

WED., Sept. 1

ACTIVITY


10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Sign-in at Residence Hall
Secure IDs & residence hall keys
Skidmore Shop is open 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (buy your books early)

9:00 am – 1:00 pm

Information Walkway – Case Center
Representatives on hand from various Student Services Offices

11:00 am – 12:45 pm

Lunch at the Murray Aikins Dining Hall

12:45 pm
BE ON TIME!!

Meet Theater Peer Advisors under Case Walkway & Walk to Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater

1:00 – 5:00 pm

Welcome, intros, group theater exercises – with Marie Glotzbach & Peer Advisors – JKB Mainstage Theater

1:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Parent All-College Orientation – The Arthur Zankel Music Center

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

President’s Reception for Parents of News Students

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

All parents depart campus at 5:00 pm
Pre-orientation students have dinner in Dining Hall



6:15 pm – 7:15 pm

Introduction to Theater Pre-orientation Weekend with discussion about Skidmore Theater – our mission, our goals, your learning goals in JKB Mainstage Theater.    
Lary Opitz, Professor and Chair of the Theater Department with Professor Carolyn Anderson, scenic designer Gary Wilson, and Senior Theater Majors, JKB Theater


7:15 pm

Tour of the JKB theater with Gary Wilson (scenic designer) and/or David Yergan, Lighting Designer and Technical Director
Meet in the Theater Lobby

7:30 – 8:15 pm

 


8:15 – 9:30 pm

 

 

7:30 – 9:00 pm

The Skidmore Audition Process and Tips – Black Box
        Lary Opitz, Professor & Theater Department Chair

AUDITION COACHING 
Actors bring a memorized, contemporary, 2-minute monologue.  We will talk about auditions and help you with your monologue
Theater Faculty: Opitz, Anderson, Becker, Bouchard

OR

DESIGN TECH WORKSHOP
Design, Tech, Stage Management information session with Gary Wilson and/or Dave Yergan

THURSDAY., Sept. 2

ACTIVITY


7:00 am – 9:00 am

Breakfast at the Murray Aikins Dining Hall
DON’T BE LATE FOR OPENING MORNING SESSION AT JKB!

 

9:00 am – 10:15 am

PANEL:  Beckett, JKB MAINSTAGE THEATER
Perspectives and Open Discussion
With Carolyn Anderson, Professor, Department of Theater; John Anzalone, Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures; Reginald Lilly, Professor, Department of Philosoph


10:30 am – 12:30 pm

Exploring BECKETT and Presentations
Group projects, scene, acting exercises
Theater Faculty

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

 LUNCH   (Dining Hall)

 

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

PANEL:  THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, JKB MAINSTAGE THEATER
Perspectives and Open Discussion
With Alma Becker, Senior Artist-in-Residence, Department of Theater; Dan Curley, Associate Professor and Department Chair, Classics Department; Shirley Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Language and Literatures


2:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Exploring COMMEDIA and Presentations
Group projects, scenes, acting exercises
Theater Faculty


5:00 pm – 6:00pm

Theater Company Meeting for First-Year Students   
David Yergan
JKB mainstage theater

6:00 pm

 THEATER PRE-ORIENTATION GROUP DINNER ä
We will have tables and chairs set up inside the Lobby of the JKB

9:00 pm

Pre-Orientation Outdoor Movie Night, OUTSIDE THE TANG
Meet other first-year-students on other Pre-Orientation Programs.

FRIDAY., Sept. 3rd

ACTIVITY

8:00 am – 9:00 am

 Continental Breakfast in Dining Hall
Only one hour for breakfast, so don’t be late and miss out!

9:00 am – 9:30 am

 WARM-UPS, JKB LOBBY


9:30 am – 10:45 am

Ensemble Composition Workshop: Meet in JKB Lobby.  Groups collaborate on a specific composition exercise with Anderson, Becker, Barbara Opitz and Peer Advisors.


10:45 am – 11:15 am

A preview of Shakespeare & Co. production
Lary Opitz, Professor & Theater Dept. Chair, JKB mainstage theater


11:30 am

Bus trip to Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Mass. 
(We will be loading the bus Upstate Tour bus in the back of the JKB building). Peer advisors will be joining us.  BOX LUNCHES will be provided.

2:00pm

Production of RICHARD III at Shakespeare & Co., Lenox, Mass. 

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm approx.

Talkback with Shakespeare & Co. production cast and/or director.
Pizza party in Lenox on the lawn

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Bus trip back to Saratoga Springs from Lenox, Mass  


8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Explore Saratoga Springs,
The Peer Advisors will bring the group downtown to explore the City of Saratoga Springs!

CALL 580-5430 or 580-5431 WITH QUESTIONS AND FOR ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION