02/15/08

With the growing number of available theater courses Baker University has to offer, the interest is growing for both students and faculty involved in theater as a whole.

Senior Ashley Pike said there have been a lot of noticeable changes in the theater department since her freshman year at Baker.

“With so many different classes being offered with an emphasis in theater, I think Baker is definitely expanding its course offerings, which in turn, brings in more student and faculty interest to the theater department as a whole,” she said. “Having classes such as Acting I, Acting II and Costuming and Makeup, I think we are going further and further into the direction of actual acting, rather than the theory of acting.”

Having taken a number of offered theater courses, junior Kyle Dyck said there is typically a designated order a student goes in according to the level of interest they have in theater.

“The Theatre Experience is the entry-level course, then Acting I, which is the first step of getting a taste of acting, followed by Voice and Movement and Acting II,” Dyck said. “There is also one called Stagecraft which is an entry-level class to shop because you basically build of lot of stuff that is used for the sets of plays.”

Out of all the classes she has taken since her freshman year, Pike said her two favorites have been Costuming and Makeup and Acting II.

“Costuming and Makeup is something that I love to do and something that is really interesting to me,” she said. “I am in Acting II this semester and really enjoy it because it isn’t like any other class I have taken here before.”

Currently enrolled in the Theatre Experience course taught by Bruce Woodruff, chair of the theater department, freshman Jennie Warren said she is an exercise science major and really has no interest in theater.

“They teach you about the audience’s perspective and what the actors expect you to get out of a play, but we don’t really focus a lot about getting up and acting ourselves,” she said. “The only reason I took the Theatre Experience class was because it was one of the requirements for Baker.”

Going beyond the entry-level offered course, Dyck said one of the major benefits of actually being a theater major and experiencing the majority of offered classes is the end result.

“There are currently at least two Baker graduates that have full-time careers acting in Kansas City, and I plan on doing the exact same thing after I graduate,” he said. “The connections Baker has in the professional field is amazing, and I am fortunate to have had all of the practice I have had so far.”