Student Resources

Theatre & Dance Department Update

This informaiton was sent via email on July 23 to all Theatre students, from Professor Matt Moore

Dear Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance Community,

We are writing to you in an effort to further the process of transparent communication about the state of the Department and our planning for the fall. Here we hope to clarify what has been happening. You will receive detailed information about curricular changes and planning for the co-curriculum in separate emails shortly.

First, we apologize for the lack of formal communication over the last several weeks. Troy’s precipitous departure has left us without a chair as we face multiple challenges and struggle to implement new initiatives — curricular re-planning in light of the pandemic, the anti-racist action plan, launching a new curriculum, the list goes on. The sudden absence of a department chair has meant that we needed to investigate exactly where we stood in multiple arenas that Troy had been managing. It has also meant that there is no clarity about who is responsible for what. Because all of the remaining faculty are severely overcommitted, we have elected to divide the chair’s responsibilities for the year, rather than ask one person to step into this enormous role under the current circumstances.

Today we completed negotiations with the Provost to designate temporary responsibilities in different areas of departmental leadership. We are working in our groups to make decisions and communicate them to you right now. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we reorganize in ways that will allow us to excel this academic year.

At the same time, we understand the extraordinary stress that has been placed on all of you as you make decisions about coming to campus, enrolling in classes, and as you try to envision what the semester may look like. We know you have questions. We hope that this and forthcoming emails will answer some of your questions, and that you are all in contact with your individual advisors. Tuesday's acting Town Hall seemed very effective, and you can count on more events like that, both for other cohorts and for the entire community. If you could not attend, or are not an acting concentrator, you will receive key curricular details that were discussed at the Town Hall in an email very soon.

The most important things for all of you to know right now: Jim VanValen has accepted responsibility as the Theatre Program Student Liaison and will function as the point person for all student concerns. I (Matt) will be assisting Jim and can also be contacted directly. Jeffrey Peterson is now in the role of Director of the Dance Program, and we are grateful for his nimble and astute leadership. Student concerns related to Dance can be directed to Jeffrey.

Please continue to check your email regularly as we approach the beginning of classes. Please reach out with questions and concerns. We sincerely appreciate your investment in our community and your resilience in this moment of uncertainty. We hope to see all of you (online or otherwise) soon, and wish you health and strength in these strange times.

Best,
Matt Moore (on behalf of the Department of Theatre & Dance)
mattmoore@muhlenberg.edu

Theatre Curriculum Updates

This informaiton was sent via email on July 23 to all Theatre students, from Professor James Peck

Dear Theatre Majors in the Classes of ’21, ’22, and ‘23,

I am writing with some updates about the Theatre Curriculum in light of the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. I apologize that this arrives close to the time of re-registration. As you probably know, Troy Dwyer recently went out on medical leave. Since then, we have been figuring out how to move forward as a program. Yesterday afternoon, it was determined that I will oversee the area of Curriculum for the Theatre major. So I am writing you now with several updates. If you have questions about what’s below, or anything else related to your studies, please be in touch with your academic advisor. They’ll probably know the answer, and if not they’ll refer you to me.

• I’ll start with two points of clarification:
  1. There has been some confusion about what the different modes of course delivery mean for students studying online. Any course being taught in the Fall can be taken online. Even if the course is listed in Capstone as being taught in a hybrid format or in-person, you can take it online. In the first Town Hall for Acting students, Holly and I were unclear about this (because we weren’t entirely clear ourselves), so we want to be explicit about it in this email. It might be more satisfying to take a course specifically designed to be taught online instead, but you won’t be inhibited from taking a class designated as hybrid or in-person. If you have questions about what the modality might mean in a specific course, we encourage you to write the instructor.
  2. In-person and hybrid classes will follow protocols for social distancing. Like the Dance program, we’re following the recommendations of DanceUSA. This means there will be 10 feet between people at all times, and everyone will need to wear a mask throughout the class.
• In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are instituting variances to some of your graduation requirements in order to ease your path to graduation. These are all designed to support your continued path through the major while maintaining its essential structure.
  1. We are going to be much more flexible about how you can fulfill the Theatre Scholarship requirement. You are still required to take five Theatre Scholarship courses, and one of them must be a Writing Intensive. However, the other categories (such as Dramatic Literature, Theatrical and Aesthetic Theory, etc.) can now be regarded as recommendations rather than as strict requirements. This will make it much easier to fulfill this component of the major. As part of the Theatre program anti-racism initiative, you will see that we are increasing the number of courses focused on minoritized theatre traditions. We particularly encourage you take advantage of these new offerings.
  2. We are adjusting the graduation requirements for the Acting and Directing Concentrations.
          In Acting, you are still required to take four units of Acting Studio classes, one of which must be Acting I. However, in light of the pandemic we have decided to count several other Acting courses toward the Theatre major. Acting courses taken at the 100 or 400 Level can now be applied toward the Acting Concentration. The Verse requirement is eliminated (though still recommended). So, examples of courses that can now count toward the major are: Voice and Speech, Intro to Physical Theatre, Intro to Musical Theatre Performance, Advanced Topics in Acting, Stage Combat, Audition Workshop.
          Acting classes taken in study abroad or study away programs can also be counted. In accord with the typical College practice, you can still transfer in only a maximum of two units toward the major as a whole. Please note that the requirement is four units in Acting Studio, not four courses. (Holly and I were vague about this in the first Acting Town Hall, and apologize for that.) These changes are retroactive, so they apply to courses you have already taken. If you have questions about how these adjustments to the Acting Concentration affect your particular situation, please be in touch with your Academic Advisor.
          In Directing, Acting I will now be the pre-requisite for all Directing courses. To fulfill the Directing Concentration, Concentrators must take Acting 1, two Directing courses, and one additional Theatre Studio class (in Acting, Design, Directing, or Stage Management). If you opt for Design, it would be a Design course in addition to the Creativity and Collaboration course that is already required.
• This last section applies only to students enrolled in Acting 1 for Fall 2020.
       As you may have noticed in Capstone, Holly and Jim Van Valen are teaching their sections of Acting I (mostly) in-person; Larry Singer and Drew Richardson are teaching their entirely online. If you either need or hope to switch to a different mode of delivery, here is the process to apply to do that:
  1. If you are enrolled in an "in person" section but need to take the class online (either for health reasons or because you will not be coming to campus), we will figure out a way to move you to an online section. In this case, please write Gianna Neal an email by Tuesday, July 28 to let her know. You don't need to give reasons; you just need to indicate that you need to move to an online section. You should also tell Gianna the times of the other courses you are planning to take in the Fall semester. Gianna will collect this information, and she and I will work with the Registrar's office and you to figure it out. These sorts of changes will get top priority.
  2. If you are enrolled in a section of Acting I, but the time for one of your other classes has been switched such that the two classes are now meeting simultaneously, you should write to Gianna by the 28th and explain your situation, again including your full course schedule. I'll try to move you to another section, particularly if you are doing a double-major. These sorts of changes will get the second priority.
  3. If you are in an online section but prefer to take the class in-person, you should write to Gianna by the 28th to let her know you hope to move to an in-person section. These will be the pool of folks I use when I switch people from the first two categories. However, I want to be clear that it is unlikely everyone who wants to move to an in-person section will be able to do so. These requests will be the lowest priority because unlike the two categories above, you still have the opportunity to take the course.
          If you can't be moved and you don't want to take Acting I online, we will offer Acting I in the spring, and you can wait and take it then, hoping some sections will be offered in-person. That said, I want to emphasize that there is no guarantee we will be able to offer in-person sections in the Spring at all. I would encourage you to stick with the course irrespective of the mode of delivery.
          Looking to the spring, we want to let the students in Acting I know we will not be offering Acting II, at least by that name. Instead we will be offering an array of Acting courses appropriate for sophomores that are similar to what has been Acting II. The courses will have new names, truer and more specific to the content emphasized by each instructor, and the bulk of the seats will be reserved for Sophomores. These will count toward the requirements of the Acting Concentration. This means that Acting II is no longer required for the Acting Concentration. This will give you a great deal of additional flexibility in planning your schedule going forward. Again, if you have questions, talk to your Academic Advisor.

Thank you for taking the time to review these updates. Again, if you have any questions, please contact your academic advisor.

We all wish you the very best in this complicated moment. We are impressed by your dedication to your education, and excited to see you soon.

Sincerely,
Jim

Dance Program Update:
Re-Registration, Attendance Policy, Audits

This informaiton was sent via email on July 20 to all Dance students.

Course Changes & Re-Registration

You do not need to re-register from scratch! The courses you have already registered for are still on your schedule. However, there will be a period for re-registration, for students who wish to revisit their schedules.

Here's the timeline:

• July 21: Updated Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 course schedules are available to students
• July 21-24: Advising of returning students, if necessary
• July 27: Seniors drop/add date July 29: Juniors drop/add
• July 31: Sophomores drop/add

Considering the guidance you've received from the Registrar, you are welcome to take a normal 4 or 4.5 credit course load this fall, as long as you are in good academic standing and are comfortable doing so. If you're thinking of taking a Winter Term course, there will be no additional cost to you if your load is 3 to 4.5 credits this fall. If you are interested in taking a Winter term course, please look through the offerings on Capstone when they are published tomorrow, and consult with your advisor about how to register.

In the revised course schedule, released July 21, you'll see a designation for each course to let you know whether the course will be taught in-person, online, or in a hybrid of the two.

Your instructors may email you to let you know more about the delivery modality of your course. For hybrid and online courses, they will provide more information about the types of learning experiences they envision in a particular course. If the course is listed as in-person, that may mean additional information isn’t necessary at this time, and you may not hear from them. Regarding any in-person instruction, please refer to the email sent July 2 for additional information about our program’s protocols regarding distancing, cleaning, testing, etc.

Only a couple of scheduling changes will be announced to Dance courses. Jeffrey will be in touch directly with the few students whom those changes will affect.

Dance studio courses will be limited to 60 minutes this semester. Two important health considerations inform this change. The first is that it allows sufficient time for cleaning and disinfecting all surfaces within the studios between classes. The second is that 60 minutes is an appropriate limit for continuous intense physical activity, as airflow into and out of the body will be somewhat limited by your mask.

Attendance Policy

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the term “attendance” has new meaning.

For purposes of this semester, "attendance” means "participating" in class activities, whether in-person or online. If you find yourself needing to isolate or quarantine — either mandatory or voluntary — and you're unable to attend class, your instructors will work collaboratively with you to determine alternative methods to participate in required class activities.

This approach to participation will acknowledge that students who are isolating may not be able to access course materials "in real time" — for example, by logging into a Zoom call — and may not have access to sufficient space for full physical participation in dance activities. As long as you are participating, according to this standard as more specifically agreed upon by you and your instructor — and as long as you communicate promptly with your instructor — remaining physically distant will not affect your grade.

Audit Policy

For the Fall 2020 Semester, there will unfortunately be no auditing of dance technique courses. Due to the complexities of adjusting to the pandemic, the additional approaches to teaching that will be required of instructors, and the complications that hybrid and online teaching formats, the faculty of the program has made the difficult decision to forgo audits for the semester.

Dance Program Practices & Policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

A version of this message was sent via email on July 2 to all Dance students.

The Dance Program believes in the moving body as a source of inspiration, wellbeing, and support. In the wake of the pandemic and the parameters that will be placed upon your experience as movers this fall, the Dance Program would like to take this moment to communicate a commitment to supporting your dancing self.

This upcoming semester will include many new norms and so all of us (students and faculty) must do our best to not compare our experiences to how it could be under different circumstances, or to the experiences occurring in other classes. Each instructor is taking special care to process their course goals and their unique registration numbers, space constraints, and other personal and professional limitations in order to arrive at the best possible approaches.

That said, dance technique offerings this fall could be offered all in person, hybrid in person and online, and/or completely online, and the mode of delivery may change throughout the semester. Overall, our individual and collective flexibility in entering this new experience will go a long way toward generating balance in body-mind-spirit as we move together. As always, all Muhlenberg dance technique courses will reveal a commitment to the physical experience of dance training.

All of the planned guidelines below are being shared at this time in order for you to have a clear handle on the fall semester. These are derived of the DanceUSA guidelines, available here: Return to Dancing and Training Considerations Due to-COVID-19 and COVID-19 FAQ for Dancers and Dance Companies Returning to the Studios, combined with Muhlenberg College protocols as currently understood.

As the pandemic continues to evolve, these protocols and guidelines will likely need to evolve as well. And once we have gathered together again in person, they will be continually revised to promote safety. The faculty and staff will be in constant communication with you about any and all changes.

Specific Policies

• Masks: Campus Policy will be that if you are anywhere on campus, a mask is required — indoors or in most spaces outdoors. Considerations for dancers wearing masks:
  • A mask will make it harder to breathe during exercise initially, and dancers should self-monitor for symptoms of: lightheadedness, dizziness, numbness or tingling, and shortness of breath
  • Monitor the intensity of your class/workout as you get used to wearing a mask during exercise.
  • Your body will adapt over a few weeks to wearing a mask.
  • If you start to feel dizzy, imbalanced, or over-fatigued, stop your activity and rest.
  • You may not remove your mask during class. If you do need to remove your mask, dispose of single use masks in the trash or place a reusable mask into its own sealable bag, wash your hands and/or use an alcohol based hand sanitizer, letting it dry for 30 seconds, and then replace it with a clean one.
  • Dancers will likely require multiple masks to get through the day. If your mask becomes saturated with moisture from breathing or sweat, you need to change into a dry mask, because a wet mask is less efficient at filtering bacteria and viruses.
  • You should change your mask following physical activity (likely after each dance or studio class) and must wear a clean, fresh mask every day.
  • All reusable masks should be cleaned, ideally in a washer with hot water and soap and then dried in a dryer prior to next use. Ironing on the highest setting can also disinfect after washing and drying.
  • There are now multiple commercial reusable mask options available for use during dance/exercise.
• Social Distancing
  • No hands-on corrections. No partnering or other activities that require the space between people to be less than 6 feet.
  • Barre:
    • Dancers need to stand at least 6 feet (2 meters) apart.
    • Dance places on the barre will be marked with tape.
    • Dancers will be required to wipe down the barre before and after each use (wipe supplies will be provided).
    • Dynamic exercises with larger movement should be avoided to minimize air turbulence in the room.
  • Center Work:
    • For stationary center work, dancers should be able to maintain 8- to 10-feet distance.
    • Normal breathing should be encouraged over forced breath cues, as forced exhalation spreads larger droplets farther distances.
  • Across the Floor: the usual structure of organizing to go across the floor must be reimagined. Based on the guidelines below, social distancing marks around the entire perimeter will be provided, in order to facilitate these guidelines.
    • Dancers must avoid following right behind each other; it is safer to work next to each other. If dancers travel directly behind each other, they are in the slipstream, where droplets remain suspended. To avoid contact, dancers need to allow even further distance.
    • Dancers will maintain 6 feet distance apart standing side by side in one line and allow each group to complete the combination to the end of the room before the next group starts.
    • Dancers should be reminded to maintain a distance of at least 6 feet when waiting to go across the floor and after completing the combination.
• Shoes:
  • Shoes can be a potential transmitter of disease. Street shoes should be removed prior to entering any studios. Dance shoes should not be worn outside of the studio.
• Cleaning:
  • At a minimum, floors and any other areas touched by anyone will be cleaned before the next class — Jess Bien is spearheading the effort to hire a staff of studio cleaners to ensure that between each in-class meeting, all studios are cleaned thoroughly, including floors, door handles, and barres.
• Music:
  • Sound equipment will be cleaned before and after use.
  • Consider the volume of music. The louder the music, the louder the instructor will have to project, potentially causing droplets to travel further.
• Temperature checking:
  • All dancers will have their temperatures checked once every day via no-touch thermometer on their way into the studio. If temperature is less than 100.4° F, students will receive a stamp on their hand to indicate that they are ok to dance that day. If temperature is greater than 100.4° F, then the individual must go back to their dorm and follow College protocols.

Thank you all for your flexibility and patience, and for taking the time to familiarize yourself with these guidelines.

What's Happening with Fall Theatre & Dance Courses?

This informaiton was sent via email on June 30 to all Theatre & Dance students.

In the interest of the health and safety of all of our students and faculty, there will be changes to the curriculum in both Theatre & Dance for the fall semester, some of which will entail re-registering for classes.

Our first priority is that our students, faculty, and staff are as safe as possible, and also that they feel as safe as possible, so that they can concentrate on the work at hand. Our second priority, also extremely important, is to provide high-quality educational experiences that keep you on track to complete your degree on time. We will do what we can to ensure that changes are implemented as fairly as possible.

The faculty and staff are working to determine what studio and scholarship courses we'll be able to offer this semester, and whether they will be available in-person, online, or both. Studio technique courses will be available this semester in both theatre and dance. Assuming the college stays the course of an in-person opening in August, studio courses will be available both in-person and online.

We promise, you'll have plenty of opportunity to become familiar with changes to the fall curriculum, consult with your academic advisors, and make sure that your curricular needs will be met. We're very grateful for your patience and your flexibility.

What's Happening with the Departmental Performance Season?

This informaiton was sent via email on June 30 to all Theatre & Dance students.

In late June, a decision was made that we will not be able to safely offer traditional in-person theatre and dance performances during the fall semester, and that all productions scheduled for the fall semester will be postponed or cancelled. You may have read that the Broadway League came to the same conclusion, and that Broadway will be dark through the end of 2020.

At this point in the progression of the Coronavirus pandemic, it has become apparent that it will not be possible to safely rehearse and perform theatre or dance in the usual manner, and there are no adaptations currently available that would enable us to stage performances as we typically do.

Here are a few details. These are subject to change, and they're based on the assumption that we'll be able to return to something like normal operations for the spring semester.

• We're not anticipating that it will be feasible to produce a full-scale musical during the 2020-21 academic year.
• There will be at least two dance productions scheduled in the spring. Details are to be determined.
• ’Berg Fringe is still on the agenda for spring. Details are forthcoming.
• New Visions productions scheduled for the fall semester have been postponed to spring, and will be presented in tandem with Fringe.
• The Wolves has been postponed to spring. Casting will be revisited this fall.

No other decisions have been finalized. These decisions will also take into account the department's work to fully establish anti-racism as a fundamental departmental value.

Performance plans for the fall are still developing. We are committed to supporting student performance initiatives, but right now (as of July 21) the faculty and staff's focus is on preparing for the start of fall classes and on continuing the department's anti-racism initiatives. Feel free to email the department with ideas, comments, and questions!

These videos give you a first-person look at how to get from point A to point B in the world of Theatre & Dance. Thanks to Mia Shmariahu '19 for the video assist!

1. Baker Center for the Arts —> Trexler Pavilion
   
   1. Empie Theatre
   2. Baker Theatre
   3. Studio Theatre (Black Box)
   4. Box Office
2. Trexler Pavilion —> Baker Center for the Arts
   
   1. Box Office
   2. Studio Theatre (Black Box)
   3. Baker Theatre
   4. Empie Theatre
3. Brown Dance Studio
4. CA 226 — The Tap Box (Center for the Arts)
5. Dance Wellness Center & Pilates Studio
6. Hillside House & Rehearsal House
7. Lav Lounge / Lavender Lounge / Green Room
8. Theatre & Dance Offices
9. Scene Shop & Environs
   
   1. Scene Shop
   2. Damon Gelb's Office
   3. Eric Covell's Office
   4. Loading Dock
   5. Dumpster
10. Other Tech Locations in the Center for the Arts
    
    1. the Vault (electrics)
    2. Paul Theisen's Office
    3. Prop Storage
11. Bonus Round! The Baker Closet