On Sept. 16 and 19, AU put on livestream performances for the department of musical theater and dance department that reached over 1,000 views.
Kris Rinas, the director of studio and technical operations at AU, led the film students in capturing the events.
“We took our broadcasting cameras from the studio and took them into Reardon and we controlled the broadcast from our control room in the Broadcast Center while everyone else was on stage,” Rinas said.
Director of the Musical Theatre Program, David Coolidge, was in charge of putting together the entire event.
“For the past several months, the musical theatre program, in collaboration with cinema and media arts and dance, has been developing two concerts featuring the music of New York City composer and lyricist team Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler,” Coolidge said. “These two concerts are part of the AU Main Stage Theatrical Season.”
Coolidge went on to praise the work of Rinas and his film students.
“Fortunately, Anderson University is blessed with a cinema and media arts program that is forward thinking and eager to collaborate,” Coolidge continued. “These performances would not have been possible without the expertise of Kris Rinas and Jack Lugar, along with their enthusiastic students.”
According to Rinas, the project was a very collaborative effort.
“We had a crew of eight,” said Rinas. “Professor David Coolidge sat in the room with us and spoke to his students from a monitor connection. Coolidge and I worked together to make sure everything we did worked well for television.”
Preproduction for the stream took place in mid August. Early stages of production also began around that time for the cinema and media arts students.
“In July, Professor David Coolidge approached Jack and I about the option of collaborating together on performances with the COVID-19 restrictions,” Rinas said. “At the time, we didn’t know what we could do or how we could do it, but we agreed that it was worth investigating.”
Dancer Aleksa Lawry touched on how different it was to perform during a pandemic.
“I’ve never performed directly for a camera before in a recording studio,” said Lawry. “It’s just one of those ways COVID has made things different, but I can honestly say that it’s an experience I’ve never had before that few dancers can claim to have and for that I am incredibly grateful.”
Coolidge explained that the event was well-received.
“Feedback from our audience has been extremely positive,” said Coolidge. “I believe this collaboration will open the door for new opportunities to spread the message far and wide that amazing things are happening in the performing arts at Anderson University.”
According to Coolidge, both concerts will be available to view online for seven days following their original performance date. Links are accessible through AU’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance Facebook and YouTube pages.
Photo by Jack Lugar