RSA theatre trips enhance classroom learning

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Rosebud School of the Arts took learning out of the classroom and out of Alberta in February, on its annual theatre study trips. The first-year class spent ten days on Canada’s west coast, and the second- and third- year students spent fourteen days in Toronto and New York City. Both groups focused on seeing theatrical productions and participating in theatre workshops.
“The trips are trying to take the students’ awareness from a regional understanding of theatre and trying to put it on a national level,” said Nathan Schmidt, Rosebud School of the Arts’ (RSA) Head of Acting, who led the Toronto-New York trip. “To expose the students to larger centres of theatre and the professionals that work there.”
The Toronto-New York students saw thirteen shows together, and some saw up to five more on their own. The shows included Marriage of Figaro at the Canadian Opera Company, where Rosebud-born Keith Hamm plays viola, and a Russian-language production of The Cherry Orchard. They took a playwriting workshop with Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, toured BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and shared conversation with an RSA graduate working at Sanctuary Ministries, which serves people experiencing homelessness. The students also did “a wicked cool workshop” with STREB Dance Company, Schmidt said. “They explore impact and falling and positive space kind of interaction. They’re throwing themselves 30 feet in the air and landing in their faces.”
For Justin Lanouette, a third-year student, the highlight was seeing Wicked on Broadway. “We had a great cast … and it was just fantastic,” he said. “The lights and the singing — everything was amazing.” He also enjoyed a workshop with The Humanist Project, where “Literally everyone in our class had a breakthrough in their acting,” he said. “My instincts just took over and I was just being really free.”
Lanouette was inspired to be surrounded by theatre professionals, whatever the quality of their work. “It’s really great to see other people doing great work, but as an artist, it’s also great to see people doing not-so-great work,” he said. “We grow both ways.”
He found it challenging to attend live theatre with New Yorkers, because their theatre etiquette is different than he’s used to. “They’re talking the whole time and making lots of noise and just shuffling,” he said. Yet individual New Yorkers were always kind. “New Yorkers appear often to have this really hard shell,” he said, “but as soon as I would say, ‘Thank you so much,’ or “You’re doing great work,’ they would turn on a dime and be like, ‘Aw, thank you, that’s lovely. It’s great to hear.’ ”
RSA’s first-year students started their trip in Victoria and Chemainus, seeing shows and taking workshops in dance, songwriting and voice and body, before taking the ferry to Vancouver for more, including a monologue workshop with RSA graduate Lucia Frangione. “(Frangione) has lots of insights to offer,” said Cassia Schramm, the RSA staff member who led the trip. Even during the workshop, Schramm said, “It was neat to see (the students’) monologues become clear.”
“It was a huge highlight for me to be able to experience such a variety (of theatre),” said Anna Dalgleish, a first-year student. “To be able to go and just consume this smorgasbord of art.”
“I very well may graduate from here and start auditioning for these theatres that I’m seeing,” she said, “It really brings what we’re studying here and it makes it reality. … It reminded me of why I’ve chosen a path that by no means guarantees success. … But it is so worth it.”
Traveling together also brought personal rewards, she said. “You get used to living with each other in this environment (of Rosebud), but it was kind of neat getting to know everybody again in a whole new place.”
Her classmate Mikayla Whitehouse agreed. “The really special thing about Rosebud is that you’re really a relational school,” she said. “(The trip) was just one more way that we could grow together as a class and not just in learning our craft, but in learning just how to relate to each other and how to do life together.”