Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2020 - 28

Screenshot of the digital control center for Pitt's graduation ceremony. | Courtesy of Eben Patrick Alguire.

Event: Sunday, April 26, 2020
10am
Theatre Arts 2020 Graduation Outline
Attendance Verification
Duggan
Granshaw
Clarke
Boyd
Toth
Buchannan

O'Malley
Mullen
Bupp

Walker
Croot
Oliver

Pryor
Vila-Roger

Downs
Gilmer

Standby slide video
ALL
Members of graduation enter waiting room.
GILMER
Allow entry into Zoom meeting. Remove unwelcome guests.
ASHLEY
Teams Standby for welcome shot.
Cue Switch and AMD
Standby mute all
Welcome shot to Zoom speaker AMD
ANNMARIE
Welcome Graduates, Parents, Family, Friends and Faculty.
I first want to take a moment to thank the Theatre Arts staff for their wiliness to take the fearless leap into putting this Celebration
together. This would never have happened without them.
I would also like to take a moment acknowledge those who are currently battling this virus, that has kept us separated today. The
circumstances we find ourselves in and the challenges that this has brought, has tested us. I know we are strong enough to stand
up to this test however hard the adjustment has been. I also want to send healing thoughts to all who are battling illness and
condolences to all that have lost loved ones.
Insert Quote
Even though we find ourselves in trying times there is great cause to CELABRATE today. The hard work of each graduate lead
to today and should be celebrated, congratulated, and honored. I have seen their hard work on a daily basis, I have seen their
perseverance, and resilience and all should be very proud of their accomplishments. Thank you to all the family and friends who
championed the students along the way. Your support was a valuable source of encouragement to their success.
Graduates, in these unprecedented times your walk towards your passion will present challenges and likely even obstacles that
were not there just a few weeks ago. I know your work ethic, so I know you have the fearless determination to take the steps
needed to find your way through, around, or over anything set in front of you. There is a saying "Faith is not knowing what the
future holds, but who holds the future" You are each proof of the future and I have faith you will go forth with skills learned and
with these abilities help continue to the tell the stories that connect us all. I have seen you all find a way to "make it happen" and
I know that you will continue to find ways to bring your talents to the world. We are Pitt Theatre and we know hard work and the
greatness which comes from that work. We know that collaboration makes us all stronger and that together we will conquer the
future and create art that will inspire and nurture humanity.
Go forth
Be Proud...
Be Brave...
Be Determined...
Most important be yourself... you are enough.
I Congratulate each of you on the accomplishments you have had to get here today. I look forward to watching as your potential
takes you into your future. It will be a privilege for all to watch your contributions inspire. Congratulations class of 2020
Cue Switch Humphrey Video
We now have a few words from Vice Chancellor Dr. Kathy Humphrey
Humphrey Video

The first page of the Pitt graduation ceremony prompt book. By scripting live remarks and
incorporating all cues on a shared document, the production could run smoothly. | Courtesy
Eben Patrick Alguire.

28 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | SUMMER 2020

still reach an audience while we are all
stuck at home.
The University of Pittsburgh's journey into livestreaming started about
two weeks after the university moved
to remote learning. It became clear that
students would not be back on campus
for graduation, so Annemarie Duggan,
chair of the Department of Theatre Arts,
charged the department with figuring
out how to create a live graduation for
seniors, their friends, and their families.
The fallback plan was to just host a large
Zoom meeting, but the ideal would be to
have some amount of production value,
including musical performances, multiple speakers, photographs, and a graduate slideshow.

Show Planning, Adapted

First, the team divided tasks and created a show outline. The speakers would
write out and send in their speeches early
to create a script of sorts. The team also
created a series of photobooks of our
shows and backstage work, generated
title graphics and full screen messages,
coordinated a few musical performances,
and roughed together a show order.
Show programming used a combination of software: "vMix," a studio video
vision mixer out of Australia, Zoom for
producing feeds, and YouTube for transmission to the audience. (OBS is another
free open source software that operates
similarly to vMix.) The graduation "room"
was through Zoom, as our university had
an enterprise license and every student,
faculty, and staff member could easily run
it. YouTube allowed a stable streaming
platform and free access to the event for
audiences.

Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2020

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