The 野狼社区 University School of Theatre is the first and only American school to become a member of the World Theatre Education Alliance based in Beijing, China.
Dean Mark Parker, acting professor Lance Marsh and eight OCU theatre students attended the alliance鈥檚 International Theatre Festival last month at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. In keeping with the theme of 鈥淪hakespeare鈥檚 Comedies,鈥� OCU students performed a review of some of the funniest scenes and monologues from numerous Shakespeare plays. Marsh directed 鈥淐lowns, Lovers, and Women in Pants鈥� to explore a variety of roles.
鈥淏eing asked to create a performance from 鈥楽hakespeare鈥檚 Comedies鈥� is a wide and open-ended challenge, and left us with more questions than answers at first, the primary one being, 鈥榃hich comedy shall we focus on,鈥欌�� Marsh said. 鈥淚n the end, we got greedy and decided to do some of the best bits from all of them.鈥�
Leading theatre schools from Japan, Korea, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Austria, England, China, Greece, Bulgaria, Spain and Poland are alliance members. Parker said that in addition to the performance and masterclass opportunities, the festival served as an excellent networking opportunity for students.
鈥淭hey have created bonds with theatre peers all around the world,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is no telling where those connections will lead over the course of their careers.鈥�
Parker and Marsh plan to return in 2020 for the alliance鈥檚 President鈥檚 Meeting and plan to take another group of students in 2021 to the next International Theatre Festival performance. Parker noted that these activities are part of a broader OCU School of Theatre international experience. In the last 18 months, students have also studied abroad for a semester or for short courses, presented performances or attended conferences in Prague, Paris, England and Scotland. They also will be studying and performing in Cyprus this summer.
