"Theater is a collaborative effort"...

A major part of my duty in covering the production process of Much Ado About Nothing is attending weekly production meetings. The first two meetings that I sat in on proved that making a theater production is indeed a “collaborative effort” as said by the production’s Costume Designer, Andre Harrington.

Before the meeting begins there is usually some random banter between the production members…several humorous conversations occurring at one time sprinkled with smirks and laughter. As soon as the clock strikes 10:40am, it is straight to business. “Alright lets get started” Harlan Jeglin firmly says as he lightly glances the faces at the table. Harlan is the technical director of the production…a seasoned veteran with CSUSB’s Theater Dept with 22 years of service in the theater art’s profession.

The meeting promptly begins. Taking turns, each member in the production meeting gives their respective reports, presenting questions and occasionally wondering off in funny conversations. Everyone in the production meetings runs their concerns, questions or ideas across Terry Smith, the Director of this production. If it makes Terry happy…all is well. The atmosphere in the first 4 production meeting is relaxing…everything seems to be running smoothly…so far.

Introductions...

My time at Cal State San Bernardino is coming to an end...finally. After 5 years of college I can safely say that I’m ready to move on and a little tired of the school scene. I’ll be graduating with a B.A. in Mass Communication, but when I first began college my goal was to be an actor. I took some theater arts classes and thoroughly enjoyed myself. After about the fourth theater arts class I changed my mind and wanted to pursue a job in journalism.

When telling people I was a theater arts major I always received some kind of strange reaction. It was as if people assumed that theater was a subject that was to be left behind in high school or chased after in Hollywood. The average student was just blind to how much work goes into theater and how much one can benefit from it.

After watching the Theater Arts Department execute the cult-classic, Rocky Horror Picture Show in Winter of 2005, I was stunned at the intricacy and the detail that could be found in an on-campus production.. It was then when I realized that Cal State’s Theater Department was the real deal and that people would be oblivious to this fact if they hadn’t seen any of the department’s productions…so…

This Fall quarter make it a priority to catch CSUSB’s Theater Department remake Shakespeare’s classic…Much Ado About Nothing.

This blog is intended to illuminate the production process and show the collaborative effort needed to make this play and to make it a successful one!