 |
|
|
| 
|
The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal Academic Advising and Live Theatre: An Effective Collaboration Diane J. Leos, Penn State University “Tomorrow you move to University Park!” “There are forty thousand people on that campus. Do you think anyone will care about you?” “Your new roommate will sacrifice live chickens in your closet!” “There are a million classes and you have to pick just five!”  Members of the University Park Theatre Ensemble, wearing jeans and matching green
T-shirts, perform a skit that includes the preceding lines. The Ensemble has been described as “a
theatre company of talented undergraduates in the School of Theatre. The company
addresses social, health, and academic issues important to the campus community. Using
theatre rather than conventional learning modes, the Ensemble helps raise students'
awareness of issues significant to their health and welfare.”The Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) has long appreciated the power of drama. DUS is Penn State's unit of enrollment for students who want to investigate various options before choosing a specific major. Each fall, during the orientation process, DUS students acquire some of the information they need by viewing a live performance that includes the scene noted above. Last year, in fall 2002, approximately 850 first-year students packed into a large lecture hall where they listened intently to the actors. Formally incorporated in 1992, the Ensemble is sponsored by Penn State's Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Division of Undergraduate Studies in consultation with University Health Services and Residence Life. Its eight student actors, replaced one by one through an audition process as they graduate or move on to other commitments, perform in classrooms, residence halls, auditoriums, lounges, and anywhere else they are invited to deliver their message. Some of their skits are adapted from existing material, some are original, and others are a combination of the two with an occasional ad-lib born of a strong knowledge of the material and the audience.  Barry Kur, professor of theatre and the Ensemble's artistic director, says, “Our audience
members are mostly young adults who are experiencing a new degree of independence.
They have never been given as much of an opportunity to make life decisions on their
own as they have at this point in time.”“So our primary goal is to empower them to think about these important life issues, whether it's their academic life or their social and health life. And the first stage of that is to empower them to confront the issue and discuss it, to make them responsible for whatever decisions they make. That's the educational part of it, but not in the traditional old-school sense of 'open up the lid and pour it in.' What makes the theatre so terrific a teaching tool is its immediacy and its human factor. “I'm not anti-technology, but students today spend so much time in front of a computer monitor they can easily turn on, immediately surf to another site, or turn off. When they come into the theatre, in this communal environment, in this moment of time, they are confronted with something and they have to deal with it. Even if they choose not to raise a hand and participate, they are human-to-human dealing with it.” Individual professors, specific colleges (such as the Eberly College of Science and the Smeal College of Business Administration), and others, in addition to the group's sponsors, use the services of the University Park Ensemble. Performances include “The Academic Dishonesty Project,” a highly interactive program written by an honors student with some assistance from the Biology Department and Professor Kur; “Drink, Drank, Drunk,” on alcohol awareness; “CONDOMonium,” about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV; “The Date,” a dramatization of differing perceptions of sexual assault; “Body Loathing/Body Love,” concerning eating disorders; and “Advising Scenes,” three skits that highlight advising issues. Evaluations completed by audience members following each performance corroborate the fact that live theatre not only provides entertainment but also creates an effective learning experience. “Advising Scenes” is the program presented to new DUS students. “The initial scene is a broad-stroke sketch,” says Professor Kur, as he describes the first-year orientation program. “It's a spoof, an exaggerated nightmare a student might have right before coming onto a large campus and beginning college life.” Scene two examines the student-adviser relationship and depicts an adviser meeting with a first-year student who is clueless about scheduling classes. A senior who is frantic about a graduation problem interrupts the two. This sketch stresses the vital importance of working closely with an appropriate academic adviser each semester. The third and final scene, “Home for the Holidays,” follows a student who breaks some startling news to her parents. She wants to switch her major from engineering to art. Her father, who had planned on his daughter joining the family's engineering firm, is appalled. The student's mother, who just wants her daughter to be happy, had been hoping she would stay with engineering and a supposedly secure future. Many crucial issues are raised and discussed, and numerous questions are answered during this live performance. The actors, seasoned students themselves, stay in character during and after the performance. Professor Kur draws the audience into the experience by encouraging questions and comments. Academic advisers from the DUS staff add to the actors' responses when further details or more clarification can be of help. Eric R. White, executive director of the Division of Undergraduate Studies, recognizes the value of incorporating live theatre into the array of tools used to achieve effective academic advising. “It becomes obvious while watching the students listen to the Ensemble's actors, in seeing their alert body language, and in hearing their questions and comments afterwards,” he says, “that they have become engaged in the process. Although a live performance's more obvious connection in a collegiate setting may be with health and social issues, its use to enhance academic advising has become a well-received and well-proven fixture in our own overall program.” Anyone who wishes to have more information on the collaboration of an academic advising unit and a theatre troupe may contact Dr. White at 814-865-7576 or erw2@psu.edu. Those who want to know more about the specific activities of the University Park Theatre Ensemble may contact Professor Kur at 814-863-1453 or bxk1@psu.edu. About the Author Diane J. Leos is senior undergraduate studies adviser in the Division of Undergraduate Studies at Penn State. She can be reached at 814-865-7576 or djl3@psu.edu. Published in The Mentor on April 14, 2003; revised September 22, 2008, by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies Available online at www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/ Privacy and Legal Statements | Copyright | © The Pennsylvania State University | All rights reserved | |