Theatre Design & Technology - Oct 1973 - 28

A WAY IN
MARGARET EZEKIEL

CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY

The pressing need for change in higher education is
reflected in the experimental programs across the country.
Innovative programs in established universities as well as
new universities are to be found from the East coast to the
West. One can name Hampshire College, New York Empire
State College, Minneapolis State College, and the University Without Walls, to mention a few. The programs are all
different, but all are seeking to meet the criticism of
higher education voiced by the Carnegie Commission on
Higher Education and many educators concerned with the
new student.
For the past several years the writer has been interested
in using the theatre to attract "high-risk" students, the
probable drop-outs, to college and to keep them there.
The projected experimental program is based on the students spending the first and second years in intense
technical training and the last two or perhaps three years
on the academic requirements for a Bachelor's Degree.
This program would also give some students the opportunity to get a 2-year certificate or associate degree and
training in the theatre and/or other related fields, if they
do not wish to continue. The student motivated to pursue
a higher Degree would be, at the end of his first two
years, a valuable worker in the scene shop, costume shop,
or as a stage manager in charge of all technical aspects of
performances in the college auditorium. With this training he should be able to obtain financial aid while fulfilling the academic requirements for the degree he seeks.
The question that immediately comes to mind is: Are
there jobs for non-degree, non-teaching technicians, carpenters, electricians, and costumers?
The writer turned to the U. S. Institute for Theatre
Technology for help. The Institute's Committee on Theatrical Presentation was already interested and agreed to
sponsor a survey of college and university theatre departments to ascertain the number of non-teaching technicians
presently employed, their degree status, and the future
availability of such positions. We composed a questioA'
naire and mailed it to the 1,625 college theatre departments listed in the 1970-71 AETA directory.
Collation and tabulation of the data was carried out by
Ann Folke Wells, Presentation Committee Chairman, and
Felice Proctor, Lock Haven State College, with the assistance of the Committee.
This article will cover the rationale leading to the
survey, the instrument used, the results, two year techni-

cal training programs at other colleges, a proposed four
year program, and the need for this experimental theatre
arts curriculum at the college level.

THE RATIONALE

Theatre as a means of educating the high-risk student
With a new college population, "swinging door,"
"attrition," "retention," "drop-out," and "high risk" are
phrases which educators hear too frequently, especially in
the developmental programs at many colleges. Could
theatre be a means of reaching the "high risk" student and
keeping him in school? We may define him briefly as the
first member of his family to go to college and as coming
from either an ethnic background or the black inner city.
He generally comes to college so that he can find a better
job.
The proposed four-year program is a simple but revolutionary attempt at a solution. This plan would reverse and
expand the usual college curriculum by offering courses
and experience in practical work in the first two years and
fulfilling the academic requirements for a Bachelor's
Degree in the last two. The natural excitement and
glamour of the theatre, T.V., and film is surely a magnet
to attract the "new" student. He may not be ready for the
vexations and boredom so often experienced in English,
Western Civilization, Biology 101 and even, alas, in Theatre or Film Appreciation. These courses also may disappoint and frustrate him. Frequently they present a
difficult textbook, a long reading list, required written
reports and examinations. The usual freshman requirements "turn him off" by postponing practical work in his
field of interest until he has declared a major at the end of
the second year. By then it is too late. The student has
"dropped out."
In the suggested program, through work on productions
of plays, films, and musicals, he will see the concrete results of his efforts and will find the satisfaction of working
with a team in creating an exciting event, in which he has
been a necessary contributing member. The reinforcement
is immediate. He will be able to say within a few weeks of
starting on a production, "I helped to build that wall.
This production could not have gone on without it, without me." He will be able to learn as he will be in a productive environment; he will achieve an ever-increasing
measure of success; he will live in the stimulating surroundings of shops, stages, and studios.

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

OCTOBER. 1973

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