El Camino Community College
PROGRAM REVIEW 2017
Fine Arts Theatre Department
DEAN: Dr. Berkeley Price CONTRIBUTORS: William Georges Ron Scarlata
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents SECTION 1 Overview of the Program ...... 3 SECTION 2 Analysis of Research Data ...... 11 SECTION 3 Curriculum ...... 19 SECTION 4 Assessment of Student and Program Learning Outcomes (SLOs & PLOs) ...... 24 SECTION 5 Analysis of Student Feedback ...... 27 SECTION 6 Facilities and Equipment ...... 34 SECTION 7 Technology and Software...... 36 SECTION 8 Staffing ...... 37 SECTION 9 Direction and Vision ...... 46 SECTION 10 Prioritized Recommendations ...... 48 Appendix A ...... 50 ALIGNMENT GRIDS ...... 50 Appendix B ...... 57 SLO/PLO TIMELINES ...... 57 Appendix C ...... 60 6-Year Curriculum Course Review Timeline ...... 60
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SECTION 1 Overview of the Program
A) Provide a brief narrative description of the current program, including the program’s mission statement and the students it serves. The Theatre Department offers students theoretical and practical training in theatrical performance including dramatic acting, musical theatre performance, improvisational performance, and technical theatre. The curriculum prepares students for either entry-level employment in the theatre industry or transfer to four-year degree programs in both dramatic performance and technical Theatre. In addition, the Theatre Department serves students by offering general education requirements such as theatre appreciation, dramatic literature, and acting for non-theatre majors thus fulfilling the general education requirements under Area C-1 for the California State University system and Area 3-A for the University of California system. These general education requirements assist students in building and developing life-long aptitudes and help form a foundation for improving their academic skills in other areas. Upon completion of the required courses, students will be able to perform various job functions associated with theatrical production and demonstrate basic skills in these areas. Students demonstrate their proficiency through classroom demonstrations, live theatrical performances, and the completion of essays and practical exams. Program assessment is measured by institutional data including grade distribution, success and retention, SLOs/PLOs as well as transfer rates. The Theatre Department also produces a number of live theatrical productions in which the students participate on stage, backstage, and as audience members. The Theatre Department at El Camino College dates back to the earliest days of the college. The production program at that time consisted of five to six productions per year, which included a full Broadway musical, children’s play, Shakespearean dramas, and comedies. Five fully-produced faculty directed productions were presented in the Campus Theatre and a full scale Broadway musical performed in the spring and then later in the summer on the Marsee Auditorium Stage. Today the Theatre Department produces four productions annually: student one-act plays and three faculty-directed productions which include a musical. The Theatre Department is supported by the Center for the Arts. The Director and Production Manager for the Center for the Arts work with Theatre Department faculty and the Fine Arts Division Dean on season planning and professional events that support our educational mission. Center for the Arts staff are our partners in the educational process. The professional staff works closely with the Theatre faculty in our technical production classes and with support for the production of our plays and musicals. Theatre Department has been addressing the changing demographics of our theatre students. In 2009 67% of our students served were in the 18 to 24 age range. In 2012 3
84.5% of our students served were in the 18 to 24 age range and that percentage has increased to 88.9% in 2016. In the past year the Theatre Department has also become keenly aware of the need to track student’s demographics in relationship to student equity. Student equity has recently become an important topic of discussion for our Theatre Department faculty. As the Theatre Department continues on with the next cycle of program review we will address the issues of equity in greater detail. The Theatre curriculum offers comprehensive and educational opportunities designed to meet the needs of students of all backgrounds who wish to increase their knowledge in the theory and practice of theatre. The curriculum is designed to serve theatre majors interested in transferring and pursuing BA degrees at established programs such as CSULB, UCI, USC, UCLA, CHUSD Cal Arts, and Chapman University, as well as general education transfer students, and vocationally oriented students. One of our key recommendations from our 2012 program review has still not come to pass. The Theatre Department recommends that we hire a third full-time faculty member to teach some of the acting classes as well as to direct our departmental productions.
B) Describe the degrees and/or certificates offered by the program. The Theatre Department offers an AA degree (26 units) that provides students with a comprehensive foundation in theatre. This is fulfilled through a structured program of theatre study in the areas of history, dramatic literature, acting, performance, technical theatre, and related crafts. In the fall of 2014 Theatre Department added an AAT (18 units) or transfer degree. One of the notable changes to our degrees and certificates has been the cancellation of the Certificate in Entertainment Lighting. The Theatre Department started offering the certificate in the fall of 1999 and offered it until fall of 2013. After consultation with the advisory committee it was agreed upon to stop offering the certificate due to the changes in technology and the wide access students had to this technology. Ultimately, the program wasn’t able to maintain a head count that made it feasible for the college to continue offering the certificate. The Theatre Department in consultation with the Film department is in the process of exploring a new interdisciplinary certificate program in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media. After considerable research into certificate programs offered by other local community colleges the Theatre Department believes this certificate to be innovative and forward thinking. The Theatre Department believes by offering this inventive certificate we will empower a new generation of storytellers to create and produce their own content. In a recent survey done for the purposes of program review the question was asked to all of the Theatre students if you’d be interested in the certificate program. The interest was overwhelming with a 61.48% rating.
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C) Explain how the program fulfills the college’s mission and aligns with the strategic initiatives.
The mission of El Camino College is to make a positive difference in people’s lives by providing a comprehensive educational program and services that promote student learning and success in collaboration with our diverse communities.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
1. Student Learning: The Theatre Department faculty enhances their teaching by using a variety of instructional methods to strengthen the quality of education and to help promote student success. The department offers traditional lecture, practicum, and performance courses in Theatre. By its very nature theatre fosters a learning environment and a sense of community through cooperation. An Associate or Transfer Degree in Theatre also prepares our students helping them develop “life skills” that will assist them to succeed in any career endeavor. Here are a few examples:
1. Improvisation: Theatre is live and students are in front of an audience that forces them to focus and think quickly. 2. Project management: A stage production is basically a business project and people work collaboratively in teams to successfully complete the task on time and on budget. 3. Understanding the human condition: Theatre majors appreciate that to become a successful actor you must learn the human condition intimately through observation and painfully detailed introspection. The better you understand the human being you are portraying from the inside out the better and more authentic your performance is going to be. 4. Presentation Skills: Because of their experience on stage, theatre majors tend to be effective communicators being able to communicate their message while at many times being a little entertaining. 5. Technology Skills: Since its inception Theatre has always embraced current technologies. Theatre students use advanced math, physics and computer technologies to program and design the technical elements of a production.
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2. Student Success and Support: The very nature of Theatre as a collaborative performing art form helps to strengthen and facilitate student learning success, and self-advocacy. In all of our theatre courses, from our lecture courses to our production courses, students work together to present projects and performances. We believe one of the missions of the Theatre Department is to assist our students by providing them a supportive environment that gives them the tools to succeed and to provide our students with the opportunity to participate as performers, crew members, and audience members in this outstandingly compelling art form. Many of the students who perform in our theatrical productions will not necessarily make their careers in the Theatre. For the students that do continue on with professional careers in the Theatre the education they receive at El Camino will assist them in achieving their career goals. For other students the Theatre is an opportunity for them to learn and practice the above-mentioned “life skills” that will assist them in any profession or work they choose. We believe this to be an invaluable experience for all of our students. The experience of participating, on stage, backstage, and as an audience member in a live theatrical production facilitates student learning and success in any field of endeavor.
3. Collaboration: Theatre relies on collaboration between students, faculty, staff, and administration both inside and outside of the classroom. Theatre exists and always has existed as a collaborative art form. Our students have the opportunity to work with and collaborate with our faculty and professional staff in our production and technical Theatre courses. Theatre faculty, professional staff from the Center for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Division works together in all aspects of our Theatre Department productions.
4. Community Responsiveness: The Theatre Department at El Camino College continues to partner with local high schools, colleges and universities to assist our students in achieving their educational goals and gaining workforce training thus helping to develop the needs of the community. For example El Camino College offers our local high schools theatre departments the opportunity to attend our Theatre Department preview productions for no cost. This brings local high school theatre students onto our campus every year. By bringing high school theatre students on to our campus we are increasing the awareness of these potential theatre students to the theatre program at El Camino
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College. The Theatre Departments production program brings over 3500 people on to our campus annually. We think this is an important outreach to our community. The Theatre Department productions of plays and musicals give our community audiences the opportunity to participate as audience members in live theatrical productions for a reasonable ticket price. Our Theatre productions also provide all of El Camino Colleges students the opportunity to view productions at a discounted price. For many students who are viewing our plays and musicals this may be their first opportunity to participate as an audience member in a live Theatre production. The annual musical production for example is the only interdisciplinary campus production that combines music, Theatre, and dance. For the students performing on stage, and backstage, the Theatre productions give them an opportunity to work collaboratively with professional directors, choreographers, conductors, designers, and live musicians growing their artistic and technical skills while creating rich memories they will take with them through their lives. On a larger scale, students experience our Theatre productions high production values as audience members and share in the accomplishment of their peers on stage. Students build on these experiences and often transfer to larger programs as they continue their education. This, in turn, contributes to student success and satisfies transfer credit requirements.
5. Institutional Effectiveness: The SLO and PLO process have allowed us to gain important information on how to assist our students by understanding their strengths and weaknesses. All of the Theatre Departments full time and part-time instructors have participated in the SLO and PLO assessment process. The information gathered from this process has allowed us to become more effective in serving our student’s needs. The department has also worked closely with the Fine Arts Division and the counseling office offering workshops designed to assist students in understanding how to achieve their academic and career goals. Unfortunately, the Theatre Department has not received a third full-time faculty member which we believe hinders our overall effectiveness.
6. Modernization: One of our recommendations from our last program review cycle was the modernization of Theatre 151 which we use as a black box Theatre for student workshop performances and the Student Directed 10 Minute Play Festival. We’ve abandoned that recommendation due to the plans for building a new fine arts complex that would incorporate a black box Theatre as well as a proscenium arch Theatre. The
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Department is looking to modernize some of its equipment especially our wireless microphone system. We are also asking for some other sound system upgrades and upgraded projectors with media servers as well as LED lighting fixtures. These modernization upgrades are discussed at length under facilities and equipment.
D) Discuss the status of recommendations from your previous program review. In general many of the recommendations from our last program review have been met, are in process, or have been abandoned. That is not so of our first recommendation the hiring of a new full-time Theatre faculty member. The Theatre Department believes this is still of utmost importance.
1. Hiring a new full-time theatre faculty member able to teach acting courses, provide direction for our plays, and provide instruction for the new certificate program in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media. Status: Not completed: this is still our number one priority.
2. Purchase software upgrade for computer applications class (CADD and visualization) to support Entertainment Lighting Certificate curriculum. Status: Abandoned due to the discontinuation of the Certificate Program in Entertainment Lighting.
3. Renovate Theatre 151 into a fully functioning “Black Box” Theatre to provide an additional public performance space that could also serve Dance, Film/Video, and Photography. This would provide students with greater opportunity to perform in a more intimate flexible venue. Status: Abandoned due to the plans for the construction of new Theatre facilities.
4. Add a third acting classroom, such as Music 132 to allow for more flexibility and student access to rehearsal in preparation for classroom performances, workshops, and Theatre Department productions. Status: Not Completed: The Theatre Department is still interested in trying to add a third acting classroom.
5. Align current curriculum to state C-ID descriptors to support student transfer success. Status: The Theatre Department has aligned most of its courses to state C-ID descriptors
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6. Explore strategies to increase student attendance at Theatre Department productions, such as lab fees, to improve student outcomes Status: Completed: The full time and part time Theatre faculty have completed this and Theatre attendance from our Theatre students has improved.
7. Develop three new courses, an intermediate acting course, a theatre history course, and a technical theatre design course to align with transfer model curriculum. Status: Abandoned: Theatre Department is looking to create a new certificate program that will include intermediate acting courses for the camera.
8. Coordinate SLO assessments and revise instructional methods as necessary to ensure consistency of rigor in lecture courses such as Theatre 1 and Theatre 4 to improve student outcomes. Status: Completed
9. Provide workshop-type production opportunities to provide more students with performance opportunities and also could feed students into our transfer and theatre majors. Status: On Hold
10. Encourage interdisciplinary opportunities with Music, Dance, Art, and Film/Video to encourage more student participation and better prepare students to perform in musical productions. Status: Active: for the first time in 2018 the Theatre Department musical is adding a section of dance. This means the musical will include a Theatre section, music section, and dance section. As also mentioned the Theatre Department is in consultation with the Film/Video Department in developing a new certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media.
11. Ensure adequate instructional time is spent on discipline specific vocabulary to improve student outcomes. Status: Completed
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12. Explore a process for creating opportunities for technical theatre students to work more closely with CFA staff on pre-production tasks related to Fine Arts productions to improve student outcomes. Status: Active: We have continued to explore and have added opportunities for our students to work with Center for the Arts Staff on preproduction tasks. 13. Restore more sections of core and introductory Theatre classes to build program, if enrollment trends allow. Status: Active
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SECTION 2 Analysis of Research Data
A) Head count of students in the program
50 Annual Program Participation 1,200 1,048 1,000 40 986
904 892 800 30 600 20 400
10Sections Annual
200 Enrollment Annual 38 44 45 38 0 0 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
Our annual program participation has declined by approximately 150 students since its high in 2014-15. This amount of decline seems to be in keeping with a campus wide decline in enrollment. The Theatre department is planning on creating a certificate program in acting for the camera which we believe will increase our overall headcount.
B) Course grade distribution:
The Theatre Department separates its courses into five individual categories. 1. Production courses such as THEA 270abcd Beginning Theatre Production, THEA 274abcd Musical Theatre Production, and THEA 175abcd Student Performance Production Workshop. These courses comprise the cast or actors for our Theatre department plays and musicals. Students in these courses are instructed in and demonstrate how to create and perform a theatrical character. Theatre department plays and musicals are live fully produced productions performed before an audience of students and community members.
2. Production courses for technical theatre students THEA 197abcd Technical Theatre Production, and THEA 297ab Advanced Technical Theatre Production. These production courses
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are also part of the live productions. In these courses the technical theatre students are taught to support the play or musical technically.
3. Acting courses which include THEA 113 Introduction to Acting, THEA 114 Fundamentals of Acting, THEA 214a Intermediate Acting, THEA 215 Improvisation, THEA 216 Acting: Audition and Cold Reading, THEA 217 Acting Shakespeare, and THEA 240 Fundamentals of Stage Direction. Acting courses prepare students to participate in our live productions as well assist them in building communication skills.
4. Our technical theatre classes which include THEA 184 Stagecraft, THEA 188 Fundamentals of Stage Makeup, THEA 185 Introduction to Stage Lighting, and THEA 189 Costuming for the Stage. Technical theatre courses instruct students in the elements of design related to live theatrical productions.
5. General theatre courses which include THEA 103 Introduction to the Theatre and THEA 104 Dramatic Literature. These courses provide a general education in the components of theatre as it relates to theatrical literature and occupations in the theatre.
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The Theatre Departments grade distribution has been fairly consistent over the last four years. One of the factors that affects the total numbers of A’s and B’s are the amount of students participating in our productions. Typically, our performers and technicians received A’s and B’s for the work they do on our live productions. This is due to the rigor needed for the students to produce a performance worthy of an audience. It is noted our production classes do receive a higher percentage of A’s and B’s. The distribution of grades for Theatre Appreciation and Dramatic Literature classes which are part of the fine arts electives have been consistent over the last four years. The Theatre Department’s acting and technical production classes have also maintained consistent grade distribution over the past four years.
C) Success rates (Discuss your program’s rates, demographic success characteristics and set a success standard for your program.)
The Theatre Departments average success rate for the past five years is 76.1%. The demographic success characteristics from 2012- 2015 have also been fairly consistent. In 2015 the Theatre Departments African-American success rate was 69.8%, Asian success rate was
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89.1%, Latino success rate was 77.3%, Pacific Islanders success rate was 66.7%, and white success rate was 90.5%. Success rate for our male students is 78.7% and female students are 81.4%. Breaking down demographic success characteristics by age, students 19 years and younger success rate was 79.1% students 20 to 24 had a success rate of 82.8% students 25 to 49 had a success rate of 69.2% and students over 49 had an 100% success rate. Notably success rates are lower for African-American students. Student success rate is also affected by student’s age. Students 20 to 24 have a higher success rate than students 19 and younger. Overall the average success rate for the Theatre Department is higher than the success rate of the college which is currently at 68%.
African-American 61.7% 94 59.9% 142 53.3% 135 69.8% 106
Amer. Ind. or Alask. Native 100.0% 1 50.0% 2 0.0% 1 0.0% -
Asian 92.9% 42 74.4% 43 85.1% 47 89.1% 46
Latino 78.0% 141 78.1% 219 75.4% 240 77.3% 194
Ethnicity Pacific Islander 66.7% 3 100.0% 2 100.0% 2 100.0% 2
Two or More 70.0% 20 54.2% 24 82.8% 29 94.1% 17
Unknown or Decline 100.0% 14 60.0% 5 100.0% 4 100.0% 1
White 92.0% 87 90.8% 65 81.5% 81 90.5% 84
M 76.8% 194 70.2% 262 71.7% 244 78.7% 230 Gender F 81.3% 208 75.8% 240 72.5% 295 81.4% 220 X 0.0% - 0.0% - 0.0% - 0.0% -
19 or less 78.5% 149 73.3% 210 78.5% 233 79.1% 187
20 to 24 76.6% 171 73.5% 211 68.4% 206 82.8% 204
Age Group Age 25 to 49 83.1% 71 68.8% 77 66.3% 98 69.2% 52
Over 49 100.0% 11 100.0% 4 0.0% 2 100.0% 7 15
D) Retention rates (if applicable, include retention based on placement method)
Overall retention rates have improved from 86% in our last four year cycle to 88% in the last four years. Retention rates are higher in production courses and the lowest retention rates are in our introductory acting classes, dramatic literature classes, and in some year’s theatre appreciation classes. Theatre Department retention rates are higher than the college average and Fine Arts Division average. The higher retention rates in our production classes are consistent with the nature of these classes. The Theatre Department strives to keep retention rates high by providing a stimulating classroom environment and an exciting production program that engages students and encourages participation.
E) A comparison of success and retention rates in face-to-face classes with distance education classes In 2008-2011, the Theatre Department offered two lecture courses in distance education: THEA 103 Theatre Appreciation and THEA 104 Dramatic Literature. Success and retention rates for these sections were not up to college standards. After a hiatus of two years and a reassessment of offerings, some faculty were reassigned who had more experience teaching online classes and success and retention rates improved. Unfortunately the Theatre Department was not able to maintain its distant education classes due to section reductions in 2012. After appraising our distance education classes the department has decided to create hybrid courses for THEA 103 Theatre Appreciation and THEA 104 Dramatic Literature.
Enrollment statistics with section and seat counts and fill rates F) Scheduling of courses (day vs. night, days offered, and sequence) Enrollment by Time of Day Fall Term 2012 2013 2014 2015 Day 77.2% 72.8% 77.0% 80.0% Night 6.8% 14.4% 0.0% 0.0% Weekend/Unknown 16.0% 12.8% 23.0% 20.0%
All of the Theatre Departments evening sections have been discontinued. Production classes which are scheduled as TBA classes do meet on evenings and weekends. Currently those classes are THEA 270 Theatre Production, THEA 274 Musical Theatre Production, THEA 175 Theatre
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Arts Showcase, THEA 197 Technical Theatre Production, and THEA 297 Advanced Theatre Production.
Fall Section Fill Rates
120% 105.4%
100%
96.4%
80% 88.8% 86.1%
60%
Percent of Seats Filled Seats of Percent 40%
20% 2012 2013 2014 2015 Theatre
Course Fill Rates 2012 2013 2014 2015 Theatre 105.4% 88.8% 86.1% 96.4%
Daytime 319 369 419 367
Evening 28 73 - -
Unknown 66 65 125 92
413 507 544 459
Cap 392 571 632 476
Enrollment 413 507 544 459
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J) List any related recommendations. 1. The Theatre Department is exploring creating a certificate program in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media. We believe this will increase annual program participation and fill rates. As mentioned earlier, student interest in this program is high and the Theatre Department is currently in the planning process for this new program. 2. Theatre Department would also like to explore starting to offer distance education sections to increase overall headcount as hybrid distance education classes.
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SECTION 3 Curriculum
Review and discuss the curriculum work done in the program during the past four years, including the following:
A) Provide the curriculum course review timeline to ensure all courses are reviewed at least once every 6 years. (See Appendix C.) Click here to enter text.
A) Explain any course additions to current course offerings. The Theatre Department is exploring the possibility of adding a Certificate Program in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media. We have been in consultation with the Fine Arts Division and the Film Department and have started discussions. We used the opportunity of the student survey which we produced for the purposes of program review to ask all of the Theatre students if they would be interested in this program. 61.48% of our students said they would be interested in the certificate program. The Theatre and Film Departments have been looking at our current curriculum inventory in both areas to see what classes are currently offered that can be added to this 18 to 21 unit certificate. After our discussions we felt that starting a search for an advisory committee would be the best course of action. We are looking at forming an advisory committee in 2018 and moving forward with creating the added classes. In our current discussions we believe that there are two film classes, Film/Video 122: Production 1, Film/Video 236: Editing, and two Theatre acting classes, THEA 114: Beginning Acting, THEA 214: Intermediate Acting 1 that can be used for the new certificate. We would create 3 to 4 additional classes to complete the curriculum for the certificate. One of these added classes would be a specific acting for the camera course. There would be the possibility of adding a series of production workshops. Both departments are looking forward to consulting with the advisory committee before articulating the certificate.
B) Explain any course deletions and inactivations from current course offerings. As mentioned earlier the Certificate Program in Entertainment Lighting was discontinued. The following courses have been inactivated:
THEA 190ab 2units Descriptive Title: Operation of Intelligent Lighting Fixtures
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THEA 191ab 2units Descriptive Title: Repair and Maintenance of Intelligent Lighting Systems
THEA 192ab 2units Descriptive Title: Setup of Intelligent Lighting Systems
THEA 193ab 2units Descriptive Title: Programming and Lighting Design with Intelligent Lighting Systems
THEA 194ab 3units Descriptive Title: Computer Applications for the Entertainment Lighting Industry
THEA 195 1 unit Descriptive Title: Industry Analysis and Portfolio Planning for the Entertainment Lighting Industry As mentioned earlier the Certificate Program in Entertainment Lighting was discontinued C) Describe the courses and number of sections offered in distance education. (Distance education includes hybrid classes.) The Theatre Department is not currently offering any sections in distance education. Two sections had been offered in the past THEA 103: Theatre Appreciation and THEA 104: Dramatic Literature. We are looking at exploring changing our two online offerings to hybrid courses. We believe it is important all of our Theatre students view our on- campus productions. These hybrid courses would have a component for tracking students attending Theatre Department productions through the current tracking process provided by the Center for the Arts.
D) Discuss how well the courses, degrees, or certificates meet students’ transfer or career training needs. 1. Have all courses that are required for your program’s degrees and certificates been offered during the last two years? If not, has the program established a course offering cycle? The Theatre Department is now offering a Theatre Transfer Degree approved at the Chancellor’s Office. Courses are offered to allow students to receive their transfer degree within four semesters. All courses needed for the Associate Degree in theatre are available to students on a four semester offering cycle. To assist our students in the completion of associate degrees the Theatre Department has created a pathway template.
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2. Are there any concerns regarding program courses and their articulation to courses at other educational institutions? The Theatre Department has reviewed its courses to align more closely with four-year transfer institutions, especially local CSU’s that are “impacted”. We have renumbered all of our theatre courses to align more closely to the numbering of lower divisions courses from local CSU’s. We have also addressed state C-ID’s in courses that have been recently reviewed. Theatre students need to develop all their performing abilities, including dance/voice and would benefit from interdisciplinary collaborations. A full-time faculty member who specializes in direction/music and/or choreography would facilitate interdepartmental collaboration and would add continuity to the program. Theatre Department updated all of their production courses to meet with state regulation regarding repeatability. The following courses were approved for limited repeatability: THEA 270abcd Beginning Theatre Production, THEA 274abcd Musical Theatre Production, THEA 175abcd Student Performance Production Workshop, THEA 197abcd Technical Theatre Production, THEA 297ab Advanced Technical Theatre Production. To address repeatability in our core production courses the department is participating in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) is a national theatre program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide, which has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of College Theatre in the United States. Adjudicator's from the Los Angeles district of KCACTF judge live dramatic theatrical performances at the El Camino college campus and rank students compared to other colleges in the area. The Theatre department offers three dramatic and one musical performance competition a year. More than 100 students will participate in these competitions. Total cost for entering all four productions and competing in the KCACTF is $1000 per school year. Students enrolling in these theatre production classes are actors who are studying the literary form of theatre and are competing in a live performance for adjudicators from the Los Angeles district of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Students are adjudicated and ranked by their ability to create the dramatized behavioral life of a character, while demonstrating a strong work ethic within a professional framework of collaboration. Students recognize, demonstrate, and are judged on their ability to show collaboration with the other actors and the director. The theatrical material the acting students are being ranked upon ranges from classical Greek comedies and tragedies, Shakespeare, American classics, and contemporary plays. Acting students use these competitive performance opportunities to build a resume and an acting portfolio, which will assist them in transferring to a four-year university. Students compete through participation in college productions which are judged in relation to other colleges. The adjudication process benefits students by offering them individual recognition through awards and scholarships in the area of acting. Dramatic acting students selected to compete at the regional festival will then have the opportunity to compete at a district level
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and finally a national level. At this time students will attend these festivals at their own expense. 3. How many students earn degrees and/or certificates in your program? Set an attainable, measurable goal related to student completion of the program’s degrees/certificates. Over the past four years, 13 students have received an Associate Degree in Theatre and 8 have received a Transfer Degree. The Theatre Department has noticed over the past decade that fewer students are opting for the Associate Degree in Theatre. This is one of the main reasons that we pursued and created the transfer degree. Many of our students take our core curriculum as part of their desire to transfer to four-year University or to enter the industry but never complete an associate degree or the newer transfer degree. Still, many of our courses do assist our students in transferring to impacted theatre programs. To assist our students in the completion of associate degrees and in the new transfer degree the Theatre Department has created workshops and seminars for our students providing them with a pathway template, access the counselors, and general information designed to help them complete their associate degrees and certificates. Many of our students transfer to other institutions as well as enter professional training programs such as AMDA. Some of our students also enter the workforce directly and never do transfer or receive a degree. Some of our students are pursuing a career in the Theatre; however careers in the performing arts are highly competitive. One of our key missions is providing students with a variety of skills they can take into any work environment. The Theatre faculty believes one of the most important aspects of the Theatre Department is how it impacts our students’ lives outside of their vocational training. We can never minimize the impact of the experience of working in a community and the success involved in putting on a production. Our student’s lives are dramatically enhanced by the memories they will take with them from their experiences working in the theatre. In fall 2013, the Theatre department initiated a Theatre Major Workshop. The department has made this an annual practice in order to keep students informed about the need for academic progress and degree completion. Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) reports degree completions, however, the data does not correspond with department records. The Theatre department would also like to work more closely with IRP to assist us in tracking and follow-up with our graduating and transferring theatre students. Some of our students also enter the workforce directly and never do transfer or receive a degree. The Theatre department needs to work with IRP to better track all of our theatre student alumni.
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The Theatre Department has kept the following list of students and where they have transferred to over the past 14 years:
Notably, one of our former students from the last cycle Ki Hong Lee has had a tremendous amount of success as a film and television actor. He had a starring role in the Maze Runner trilogy films and has worked on numerous television productions over the past four years. Ki Hong frequently comes back to El Camino College and speaks with our performance majors. This is wonderful opportunity for Theatre students to meet and talk with the true Hollywood actor. He’s been very generous with his time and lists El Camino College on his resume as his acting training program.
4. Are any licensure/certification exams required for program completion or career entry? If so, what is the pass rate among graduates? Set an attainable, measurable goal for pass rates and identify any applicable performance benchmarks set by regulatory agencies.
N/A E) List any related recommendations. 1. Hiring a new full-time theatre faculty member such as a director to provide students with a more rounded performance skill set to support student success in transferring and auditioning. 2. Create an interdisciplinary certificate program with the Film/Video Department in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media. 3. Create two new hybrid courses based upon the THEA 103: Theatre Appreciation and THEA 104: Dramatic Literature 4. The Theatre department needs to work with IRP to better track all of our theatre student alumni.
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SECTION 4 Assessment of Student and Program Learning Outcomes (SLOs & PLOs)
B) Provide a copy of your alignment grid, which shows how course, program, and institutional learning outcomes are aligned. (See Appendix A.)
C) Provide a timeline for your course and program level SLO assessments. (See Appendix B.)
D) State the percent of course and program SLO statements that have been assessed. 98% of the Theatre Departments SLO’s and PLO’s have been assessed in the last 4 year cycle. Of the 98% of classes assessed 92% met the standard. E) Summarize the SLO and PLO assessment results over the past four years and describe how those results led to improved student learning. Analyze and describe those changes. Provide specific examples. The Theatre Department has embraced the SLO and PLO process as a way for us to glean useful information on the effectiveness of our program. We believe the SLO and PLO process has been very successful for the Theatre Department and has stimulated useful discussions amongst the faculty and staff on how to improve the Theatre Departments overall success. The Theatre Department PLO process has been very effective in gaining useful data. The five individual PLO’s allow our faculty to look at program effectiveness in each facet of our Department. For example the data from PLO #1 which addresses our Theatre Appreciation and Dramatic Literature courses has shown the need for consistent terminology across all of the sections offered. This was an important discovery for the Theatre Department as many of our part-time Theatre faculty have different approaches to teaching these core classes. The PLO showed that the SLO’s had assisted the faculty in understanding the need for consistency across all sections. For PLO #2 and #3 which focuses on our acting and technical Theatre students viewing and analyzing our current live productions, the Theatre faculty commented how important it is for the institution to continue to support the Theatre Departments productions. Our students in the Theatre Department benefit from seeing well produced college-level Theatre. This allows for the Theatre students viewing the productions to have a common experience that they are able to evaluate and discuss. This common experience of a particular production allows for the various Theatre classes to be assessed and evaluated. For PLO’s #4 and #5 which are focused on our performance students both onstage and backstage it was shown how very important it is to maintain the quality of our productions and that the Fine Arts Division needs to continue to support the Theatre production program. In the performing arts there is only so much that can be learned in the classroom. Performance is a very important part
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of the educational process in all Theatre Departments. During production students work in a community in a very focused manner to produce a production that is then viewed by an audience of other students and community members. Theatre production, producing theatrical plays, is an extremely important part of any undergraduate Theatre training programs for both performers and technicians. The SLO and PLO process has sparked conversations from our faculty on how to better approach assessments, teaching strategies, methods, and better ways of empowering students through performance.
F) Describe how you have improved your SLO/PLO assessment process and engaged in dialogue about assessment results. Most notably from our last assessment cycle the Theatre Department has rewritten all of their SLO’s to include three assessments per course. This greatly improved our ability to gather and analyze data regarding our individual courses. For instance our Theatre Appreciation SLO’s now allow us to focus on terminology. When faculty have met and discussed the outcomes from our assessments having more specific data has helped us improve the assessment process. One of the issues that our department does have due to the large amount of part-time faculty is the ability to keep our part-timers current on software being used to upload SLO’s. To help our faculty meet their SLO deadlines the full time faculty has streamlined the process with templates that the part-time instructors can use for their assessments. The full time faculty then input data into Trac Dat. Once the data has been entered the full-time faculty then prints out the Trac Dat information and distributed to the entire Theatre faculty. Changes are being made in all areas of our Department to help improve the effectiveness of our program. Some of the key action plans are detailed in the below recommendations.
G) List any related recommendations. Theatre faculty has discussed improving teaching strategies for the courses based on some of our assessment results. The following are some representative examples for improvement. 1. One of the strategies discussed was the need to possibly generate more descriptive preparation materials for each of the productions our Theatre students see. Each instructor is told about our productions, but there is no generalized preparation for the different sections. This may help standardized SLO’s across several sections. For example, The Laramie project being a theme based docudrama has specific narrative qualities that can be challenging for students. This production project may have benefited from a more standardized introduction. Theatre faculty in all our courses are now starting to prepare our students for each individual production they view. We also look at standardizing play reviews across like sections (THEA 103,104).
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2. It is important that teacher/directors carefully stage all scenes and musical numbers and record all blocking so actors use the most communicative body positions. Even though actors will be using microphones, performers need to be taught the importance of projection and articulation. Microphones still need a certain level of energy and clear articulation to support the vocal aspects of a performance. (THEA 270, 274, 175) 3. Theatre faculty recommend due to the advanced level of this course (Theatre 240), the pre-requisite for this course should include an audition/interview with the instructor. Also, the current requirement, the successful completion of THEA 114, should be strictly enforced. 4. The college needs to continue to provide tools for the students to be able to complete our technical Theatre classes. As tools age and break the college will need to continue to replace various scene, costume, and stage lighting shop tools. As new tools become available with new technology it would be appropriate that the college provide these new tools for our students. (Theatre 84, 88, 90, 94) 5. The best way to improve acting technical skills is do vocal work with the class on a regular basis, including exercises in vocal production and articulation. The Theatre faculty will also distribute instructional hand-outs covering stage terminology and demonstrate effective stage positioning techniques to all faculty across all acting sections (THEA 114,214,113,216,215). 6. The college and Fine Arts Division needs to be active in publicity and recruitment for the theatre program so that students with strong acting abilities and interests are encouraged to participate in our theatre productions. (THEA 270, 274, 175)
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SECTION 5 Analysis of Student Feedback Provide a copy of any feedback reports generated by Institutional Research and Planning or your program. Review and discuss student feedback collected during the past four years including any surveys, focus groups, and/or interviews.
A) Describe the results of the student survey in each of the following areas:
1. Student Support 1. The Theatre Department was pleased with the results of survey question #1. 87.54% of our students responded with strongly agree and agree. No students disagreed or disagree strongly. El Camino Colleges Theatre Department increases a student’s understanding of our culture through studying the past and analyzing the present. We sometimes look at our quantitative data as educators and measure success rates as completions and transfers. We believe one of our missions is to help students achieve all their academic goals by allowing them to experience the world they live in through this truly powerful art form.
2. Our Theatre instructors are always available to meet with our students helping them stay the course.
3. We would be disappointed if a majority of our students did not believe in the opportunities to participate in class. Even in our lecture classes we provide opportunities for students to work collaboratively to present projects and performances.
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4. This answer reflects one of the Theatre Departments primary missions. By students having the opportunity to feel a sense of community in the department we believe this is an essential part of teaching “life lessons” that our students will take with them in all of their future endeavors.
5. Theatre faculty value and respect all of our students.
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2. Curriculum 6. Theatre faculty is in continuous discussion on how to better our range of courses.
7. The Theatre Department could improve on its scheduling of courses making more courses available to our students at different times.
8. The Theatre Department is satisfied that students are able to obtain classes they need.
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9. The Theatre Department is pleased with the answer to survey question #9.
3. Facilities, Equipment, and technology 10. The results to this question inform the Department that we need to work more closely with the library ensuring that students have all the resources they need to succeed in our program.
11. Several of the Theatre Departments classrooms used for Theatre 103 and 104 have outdated projectors and computers. It is a constant challenge for instructors in these classes to use this equipment. The classrooms are used across the Fine Arts Division. The Theatre Department would recommend updating all of its smart classrooms.
12. The new Theatre complex to be built as part of the master plan is still in the planning stages. In the meantime the Theatre Department could use equipment updates which are covered under facilities and equipment.
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4. Program Objectives 13. The Theatre Department is satisfied that we are on track with making students aware of all of our course outcomes.
14. Just about 35% of our students have been cast in our Department productions. Although we did not do a survey on our last cycle this appears to be an increase from the previous cycle. One of the Theatre Departments goals from our last program review was to increase student participation in our Theatre productions.
15. Almost 35% of our Theatre students have also participated in productions backstage. The Theatre Department is proud of our Theatre student’s willingness to work backstage on our productions. Many of those crewmembers are performance majors who may have been 31
for example cast as the lead in play number one and then work as a crew member for play number two. Theatre programs many times have a problem with performance majors being willing to commit their time to work backstage. This survey shows that our Theatre students are willing to be a part of production not only on stage but also backstage.
16. More than half of the students surveyed are not Theatre majors but rather students in our general education sections. It is apparent from the results of the survey that a great majority of our students 70% are interested in performance opportunities. This leads us to consider how we can add more performance opportunities for our students.
17. Data also shows that over 60% of our students would be interested in working backstage for our productions.
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18. The Theatre Department asked all of their students if you’d be interested in a Theatre and Film Department certificate that would focus on acting and production for the camera. There was significant interest in this program with 61.48% of our students responding that they would be interested.
B) Discuss the implications of the survey results for the program. Overall, the Theatre Department was encouraged by the results of our survey. We believe the Department is serving our students educational needs. The positive results confirm the Theatre Department, The Fine Arts Division, and El Camino College as a whole is providing a positive experience for our students. There are still many areas for improvement, but we believe we are certainly on the right track and have improved our overall support from our past program review cycle.
C) Discuss the results of other relevant surveys. N/A
D) List any related recommendations. 1. Create a new certificate program in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media 2. Examine our course scheduling to provide more offerings at different times. 3. Look at offering more performance opportunities for our students.
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SECTION 6 Facilities and Equipment
A) Describe and assess the existing program facilities and equipment. Theatre department facilities include the Campus Theatre, The Campus Theatre Scene Shop, Campus Theatre Costume Shop, Theatre 151, and Music 6. The Campus Theatre, Campus Theatre Scene Shop, and Campus Theatre Costume Shop are all under the supervision of the Center for the Arts. These performance venues and support shops are used by other departments on campus for performances and presentations. The Center for the Arts supervises all aspects of usage, equipment, and staffing for the spaces. Theatre department uses these venues for our Theatre Department productions. Theatre 151 is used as an acting classroom, a classroom for technical Theatre courses, and is used once a year at the end of the spring semester for our Student Directed 10 Minute One Acts. Music 6 is used as an acting classroom. The Campus Theatre Scene Shop is used as a classroom space for the theatre’s Stagecraft classes and the Campus Costume Shop is used as a classroom space for the Theatre Departments costuming classes
B) Explain the immediate (1-2 years) needs related to facilities and equipment. Provide a cost estimate for each need and explain how it will help the program better meet its goals. The Theatre Department works closely with The Center for the Arts when purchasing equipment for use in our theatrical productions. One of the pressing issues due to the continued expanded use of radio frequencies by local cable companies and the like is a need to reinvest in wireless microphones. This is an interesting dilemma. Wireless microphones work on specific frequencies that allow our performers to where belt packs and in turn these belt packs transmit wirelessly to a base unit. Unfortunately as more frequencies are being used by the world the frequencies available to our microphones have been greatly diminished. This means that microphones purchased 8 years ago no longer work effectively because of RF Conflicts. One Channel of Wireless Microphones Cost $2800. The Theatre Department Currently Owns 24 Channels and all of those channels will eventually need to be replaced. The Theatre Department with the Center for the Arts needs to invest in new wireless microphones to continue to provide adequate sound reinforcement for all of our campus Theatre productions. The Theatre productions could also benefit from a new speaker line array in the campus Theatre. Although this technology is about 15 years old in the past four years it is become much more cost-effective. Costs for a line array speaker system for the campus Theatre are $18,000. This will improve the quality of sound for all of our productions. In the areas of stage lighting the Theatre Department would like to invest in 22 new LED lighting fixtures. LED technology has also reduced in price considerably over
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the past four years. A single LED fixture costs $925. The Theatre Department would like to add 22 new fixtures. Projected scenery has continued to become an important part of Theatre design. The Theatre Department currently owns 2 media servers that were purchased eight years ago. The Department would like to invest in 4 additional projectors for the purposes of projecting scenery. Two of these projectors would be 10,000 lm $19,780 each, and 2 would be 7500 lm $5600 each. Various lens kits would also need to be purchased at a cost of $9000 for all 4 projectors.
C) Explain the long-range (2-4+ years) needs related to facilities and equipment. Provide a cost estimate for each need and explain how it will help the program better meet its goals. The Theatre Department currently uses the before mentioned Theatre 151 and Music 6 as the primary acting classrooms. The addition of a third rehearsal space would allow for students to have more support for student based productions and allow the Theatre department to have more flexibility in offering and adding additional acting classes. With only Theatre 151 and Music 6, it is difficult to have as much growth as the department would like to see. Adding a third rehearsal classroom would allow for more flexibility and student access to rehearsal in preparation for classroom performances, workshops, and Theatre Department productions. The Theatre Department would need to provide a set of rehearsal cubes and rehearsal doorways which will be built by the scene shop at a cost of approximately $1000 in materials. Labor for this would have to be allocated by the Center for the Arts full-time staff including the scene shop foreman and theatre technicians. Another issue the Theatre Department is having with our acting classroom spaces is sound transfer from Music 6 to the Recital Hall.
D) List any related recommendations. 1. 24 channels of wireless microphone. $67,200 2. Speaker line array for the Campus Theatre. $18,000 3. 2 @ 10,000 lm video projectors. $39,400 4. 2 @ 7500 lm video projectors. $11,200 5. 4 additional lenses for video projectors $9000 6. 22 LED lighting fixtures. $20,350
7. New rehearsal cubes and rehearsal doorways. $1000
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SECTION 7 Technology and Software
A) Describe and assess the adequacy and currency of the technology and software used by the program. The Theatre Department has continued to upgrade some of our technology and software. The Center for the Arts recently received money to upgrade our lighting control consoles. The Theatre Department uses these lighting control consoles for our productions. The lighting control consoles and associated equipment will remain current for approximately 7 to 10 years. The media servers purchased eight years ago are now reaching the end of their ability to be upgraded. We can use these media servers but their projection quality is low in relation to current technology. They also don’t have the ability to use mapping technology. Mapping technology has grown in the last five years and it’s become standard in Theatre design projection. The intelligent lighting fixtures being used at the college range in age from 18 to 6 years. These fixtures are adequate and the Theatre Department with the Center for the Arts keeps them maintained for our productions.
B) Explain the immediate (1-2 years) needs related to technology and software. Provide a cost estimate for each need and explain how it will help the program better meet its goals. Media server technology has continued to improve over the past six years. In order to meet our production needs a new media server will allow us to continue to train our students. The Theatre Department would like to invest in a new media server package which is currently being used on many professional theatrical productions and television events. The cost of this is $28,500.
C) Explain the long-range (2-4+ years) needs related to technology and software. Provide a cost estimate for each need and explain how it will help the program better meet its goals. Continue to support above-mentioned technology.
D) List any related recommendations.
1. Media server technology package. $28,500
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SECTION 8 Staffing
A) Describe the program’s current staffing, including faculty, administration, and classified staff. The Theatre Department includes two full-time theatre faculty members, Fine Arts Division administration, and staff provided by the Center for the Arts. The Center for the Arts staff who directly supports the Theatre department include: the Center for the Arts Director and Box Office Staff, the Center for the Arts Production Manager, the Campus Theatre Scene Shop Foreman, the Campus Theatre Costume Shop Foreman, and full-time Center for the Arts Theatre Technicians. The Center for the Arts staff provides technical support for the colleges Theatre Department productions and supplemental instructional support for the Theatre Department technical classes and productions. It should be noted the Theatre Department and the Center for the Arts work together as educational partners in the classroom and in production. The addition of a third full-time faculty member will greatly assist us in growing our program especially with the addition of the proposed new certificate program, Certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media. Below are biographies from our full and part-time faculty as well as members from the Center for the Arts Staff that work closely with the Theatre Department. We are very proud of the expertise of all of our faculty and staff. Biographies of Full-Time Faculty: RON SCARLATA A respected director and theatre instructor for over thirty years, was nominated for the BRAVO award for outstanding educators in the arts, and was selected for the Torrance Cultural Arts Commission award for Excellence in Drama. An alumnus of El Camino College, he has a BA and MA from UCLA, and has studied and performed with the Festival Theatre throughout Europe. In addition, he has studied with some of Hollywood’s finest coaches and directors including Michael Shurtleff, Jose Quintero, and Lee Strasberg. He has directed over 85 productions, including such titles as Oliver and The Crucible. He has performed a wide variety of roles; his favorite, Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha and various classical roles with the L.A. Shakespeare Festival. At El Camino, Mr. Scarlata has directed such productions as One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, You Can’t Take It With You, Tom Jones, Guys and Dolls, Funny Girl, Quilters, Once In A Lifetime, Prelude to A Kiss, The House of Blue Leaves, Once Upon A Mattress, Biloxi Blues, Six Degrees of Separation, The Man Who Came To Dinner, Paradise Hotel, The Music Man, The Skin Of Our Teeth, Oklahoma, The Miracle Worker, Fiddler On the Roof, Man Of La Mancha and Sweeney Todd. Mr. Scarlata is also known for sponsoring annual Theatre tours to London and Broadway for the past thirty years. He is one of the faculty sponsors for the ECC Student One-Acts and was a founding member of the Board of
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Directors for the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities. In recent years he has served as Artistic Director for the ECC musicals, Bye Bye Birdie, Cabaret, Into The Woods, and Hairspray.
WILLIAM GEORGES a theatre professor at El Camino College for 20 years, he has a BA from Kent State University, MFA from California State University Long Beach, and is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829(IATSE). Professor Georges currently serves on the Fine Arts Division curriculum committee and SLO committee. He served six years on faculty Senate and was a part of the education policies committee. In his 38 year career in the theatre he has designed, acted, danced, composed music, and directed over 300 productions for International City Theatre, Orange County Shakespeare, The Pasadena Playhouse, The Laguna Playhouse, Southern California Musical Theatre, Musical Theatre West, A.R.T., California Repertory Company, Grove Shakespeare, The Long Beach Playhouse, Pasadena Dance Theatre, Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre, Staatsoperetta in Dresden, Germany, The Shanghai Drama Institute, People’s Republic of China, Ohio Ballet Theatre, The Players Guild of Canton, Canton Ballet and many other companies and colleges both in and outside the Southern California area. Bill also is the owner operator of South Bay Sandbox Studios a commercial recording studio in Torrance California. He’s had the pleasure of producing music for former El Camino college students as well as professional clients from all over the world. His policy for working with former students is to waive his fees giving them an opportunity to have a high quality professionally recorded broadcast ready song or album for distribution. Selected Quotes from Reviews of William Georges: Kiss Me Kate – MUSICAL THEATRE WEST – LA Times – “William Georges’ lighting is first rate.” The Crucible – INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE – LA Weekly – “Most remarkable is Bill Georges’ haunting score that drives us headlong into the horrors that Miller so eloquently details.” My Boy Jack – INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE – Back Stage West - “Bill Georges’ haunting light and sound design is another prize feather in his cap.” The Sweepers’ – INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE – LA Times - “Bill Georges’ lighting and sound is excellent” As You Like It – SHAKESPEARE ORANGE COUNTY– Orange County Register – “William Georges’ original music is a charming addition, lending songs to the forest scenes that sound like authentic 17th century tunes. Their combination of guitar music and multipart harmonies has a quietly melancholy effect.”
Biographies of Part -Time Faculty: JERRY PRELL has been working as a director, actor and teacher for over thirty years. He was Dean of the Musical Theatre at the Hartford Conservatory, and the founder and former Artistic Director of New England Actors’/Academy of Theatre (NEAT). Directing credits include: The Laramie Project, Lysistrata – the jukebox musical, Nine, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie, The Boys from Syracuse, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Pippin, Fiddler on the Roof, The Apple Tree, Side by Side by Sondheim, Nunsense, No, No, A Million Times, No! -- for the Mystic Summer Melodrama, and for NEAT, Beyond Therapy, one-acts for NEAT’s Short & NEAT Festival at the 38
International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut, and Domestic Chaos at the Samuel French One-Act Play Festival in NYC. Some of Jerry’s television acting credits include; The Young & The Restless, The Bold and The Beautiful, Hill Street Blues, Cheers and others. Jerry has worked in feature films and on stage in New York, Los Angeles, regionally and in Europe. He is the recipient of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s Arts Award and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts Distinguish Advocate for the Arts Award. Jerry teaches theatre courses at El Camino College, LMU, Cerritos College, Los Angeles City College and CSULB. He is a graduate of Carnegie Melon University (BFA) and California State University, Long Beach (MFA).
CAROLYN ALMOS has taught at El Camino since 2005. She holds a B.A. from Whitman College and an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts. An actress, writer and producer, Carolyn is a founding member of Burglars of Hamm, a Los Angeles theatre company and playwriting collective that has been called “The Talking Heads of LA theatre – arch, geeky, high-brow and hip” (LA Stage Magazine) and “Maybe the closest thing LA has to the Pythons.” (Backstage West) The Burglars recently completed a commission of a new comic musical for Center Theatre Group titled “Broadus”, about John Broadus Watson, the father of Behaviorism. Aside from her work with the Burglars, Carolyn has performed with many other Los Angeles companies, including Orphean Circus, Bootleg Theatre, Moving Arts, Playwright's Arena, Echo Theatre Company, The Road Theatre Company, Frantic Redhead Productions, LA Women's Shakespeare and The Virginia Avenue Project. Filmed work includes roles in Disney's "The Country Bears"; and 2012 Slamdance selection “Ok, Good”. Awards and honors include performance awards from DramaLogue and NY Fringe Festival and playwriting awards from Backstage West as well as numerous nominations for LA Weekly and Ovation Awards. Carolyn also teaches at Loyola Marymount University. Carolyn became a published playwright when the Burglars' musical 'The Behavior of Broadus' was picked up by Samuel French.
LUKE YANKEE is a critically acclaimed director, actor, playwright, producer author. He served as the producing artistic director for both the Long Beach civic light Opera and the Struthers library Theatre. On Broadway, he worked as assistant director on Grind with Harold Prince, The Circle with Sir Rex Harrison, Light up the Sky with Peter Falk and New York City operas Brigadoon with Tony Roberts. Off-Broadway, he directed High Fidelity with John Davidson and Morgan Fairchild at the Promenade Theatre and The Cherry Orchard at the York Theatre with Cynthia Nixon. As a director and producer of special events, Luke has worked with such luminaries as Quincy Jones, Stephen Sondheim, Alec Baldwin, Barry White, David Henry Hang, Annette Bening, Neil Simon, Barry Manilow, Melissa Norman, Dick Clark, John Grier, Roman Downey and many others. As an accomplished playwright, his latest play The Man Who Killed 39
the Cure recently received a sold-out Ron at UC Irvine and is currently semifinalist for the Eugene O’Neill national playwriting conference. He has an MFA in writing for performance arts from UC Riverside.
HOLLY JEANNE SNEED Holly is a Theatre Arts faculty member at California State University, Fullerton, El Camino College and Cerritos College. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA, a Master of Arts in Organizational Management from The University of Phoenix and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting, Theatre Arts from California State University, Fullerton. She also serves as Associate Producer for CSUF @ Grand Central Theatre in Santa Ana. A generalist, Holly teaches courses ranging from Introduction to Acting to Audition Techniques to Introduction to Theatre to Creative Dramatics to Drama Into Film and Cultural Diversity in Theatre. Holly is a proud member of SAG/AFTRA. Her performance credits include The Laguna Playhouse, International City Theatre, Shakespeare Under the Moon, Santa Barbara Shakespeare, Court Theatre, Old Lyric in Logan Utah, Summer Repertory Theatre in Santa Rosa, Long Beach Studio Theatre and Performance Salon at CSULA. Film credits include Distortion, Skidmarks! The Movie, Troublemaker, Two de Force, Barracuda and Bollywood’s I am Singh. She can be seen online in The Strange Life of John Perez, Nat and Olga and with Streamline Health Services. She is featured in music videos by Christian TV, SeaWolf and Bowling for Soup.
MATHEW TALBOTT is a professional actor, director and writer and holds an MFA in theatre from Wayne State University. He is a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA. He is an adjunct faculty member in the theatre departments at Santa Barbara City College and El Camino College. At El Camino College, he teaches acting classes and has directed two plays in The Campus Theatre, As You Like it, and Rumors. He is also a documentary film maker and his work can be seen on The National Geographic Channel in the film Bomb Hunters, Afghanistan.
AYLA HARRISON is an LA-based writer and arts educator. Her plays have been developed and produced at the Francis Ford Coppola New Play Festival, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project, La MaMa, Counting Squares, and the Aurora Theatre. Ayla is the recipient of the Army Archerd Fellowship in Theatre, Film & TV Writing, the Marianne Murphy Women & Philanthropy Playwriting Award. She also writes for film and television; she recently sold a teen horror-comedy feature to DreamWorks. As an educator, she has developed theatre and film studies curriculum on playwriting, dramatic literature, film analysis, Shakespeare, theatre history, and digital media. She has designed comprehensive arts programming for The Shakespeare Theatre and the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design. Mrs. Harrison holds an MFA in Playwriting from the UCLA School of Theatre, Film & Television.
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She has taught Theatre Arts courses in the Fine Arts Department of El Camino College since 2013.
SCOTT ALAN SMITH Serves as the Associate Artistic Director of the award-winning Road Theatre Company and has been the Festival Director of the Theatre's annual Summer Playwrights Festival (the largest new play staged reading series in the nation) since it began in 2010. At The Road he has directed: The Lyons (Ovation Recommended), Melissa Arctic (LA Times Critic's Pick), Sovereign Body, That Good Night, Lady (4 Ovation nominations including best play and 5 LA Weekly Award nominations including best director), New York Mets (ADA nominated), So Nice to See You (1 Dramalogue award), The Petoskey Stones. At Pepperdine he has directed The Yellow Boat, Almost, Maine, These Shining Lives, Three Days of Rain, Bus Stop, Proof (with Michael O'Neill), The Roads to Home. Other directing credits include: Bus Stop (at Spokane's Interplayers Theatre - People's Choice Award), Tabak (The Met), The Adding Machine, Lynette at 3AM, Mr. Happiness, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Bringin' Home the Girl. Scott is co-author along with Adam Paul of King of the Moon which ran Off-Off Broadway, in Los Angeles at the Groundlings Theatre and HBO Workspace. He co-wrote and produced the film version which was made for FOX Searchlab and premiered at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. He directed Ed Harris at Disney Hall, and Heart...Beat for the Boston Court's Music at the Court series. Acting credits include Dinosaur Within (Theatre@Boston Court - Stage Scene L.A. Award), Apollo (Taper Too), Richard III (with Alfred Molina), King of the Moon, Kindertransport, Detachments, The Memorandum, The Water Engine, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Rose Tattoo and has appeared in over 100 television and film projects. Scott earned his MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Pepperdine University and also teaches at CSUN and UCLA. He is member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, SDC and the Actor's Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit, and is also a proud alumnus of the Director's Lab West (Class of '05).
KIM DESHAZO WILKINSON teaches Costuming for the Stage, and has also taught Dramatic Literature at El Camino. She designs all of the Dance productions and Theatre Department presentations at the College. Her B.A. is from University of Mary Washington, in Virginia – her home state. The M.F.A. Graduate degree was given by Northern Illinois University just outside of Chicago (DeKalb, IL). She also teaches Costume Crafts and Designs at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita. She has designed at Long Beach City College; Cal State Dominguez Hills and Mt. San Antonio College. Kim is the Resident Costume Designer for International City Theatre in Long Beach and has worked with them for fourteen years. She has worked with the Hollywood Bowl on their Staged Summer Musicals for the last thirteen years. An Ovation Award Nominee, other local theatres that have showcased her work include the Falcon Theatre, Shakespeare 41
Festival/LA, Theatricum Botanicum, L.A. Opera, The Odyssey, Andak, Opera a la Carte, Pasadena Dance Theatre, and Long Beach Opera. Industry work in the L.A. area includes projects for Nike, Adidas, Skechers, Cherokee and Diesel clothing as well as commercials for AFLAC, Best Buy, Target, Disney, Jack in the Box, Luxor Hotel, Hewlett Packard, Little Caesars, DIRECTV, McDonald’s, and Mattel. Television and film credits range from Ozzy Osbourne’s Variety show and a pilot for Bobby Flay, to work for the Academy Awards Show, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.
MICHELL JANG has had the privilege to gain a versatile set of skills and knowledge within all the disciplines of technical theatre over her fifteen years of industry experience. Born and raised in Southern California, Michelle worked professionally as a freelance stage technician on a variety of productions and venues in Los Angeles until she moved to the Bay Area to pursue a higher education at the University of California, Berkeley where she graduated with high distinction and received her BFA in Theatre and Performance Studies with an emphasis in technical direction. After working for years all over Southern California and the Bay Area, Michelle decided to establish herself in Orange County and her passions led her to the Disneyland Resort. At Disneyland her expertise, leadership, and work ethic resulted in her being chosen as part of the Walt Disney Imagineering team sent to Shanghai, China to make dreams come true by opening the latest Disney theme park. Since returning back to the United States, Michelle continues to pursue and work on projects with the latest, most innovative technologies available in the field. She recently trained and received her Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT) certification to become an even more valuable, well rounded technician. She is excited and privileged to return to the El Camino family in her new role as faculty technical director and hopes to continue to build upon her skills so that she can provide the best education and industry guidance to the already gifted student body.
Biographies of Full-Time Center for the Arts Staff: RICK F. CHRISOPHERSEN DIRECTOR CENTER FOR THE ARTS As Director of the Center for the Arts at El Camino College, Rick Christophersen works in collaboration with the Dean of Fine Arts, Dr. Berkeley Price, to provide overall creative direction, leadership, operation, organization and supervision of the Center. He assures the programs, operations and services of the Center meet the college curricular goals while meeting diverse community needs. Rick specializes in all areas of Arts Management that include performance season planning, artist management, event planning, marketing, personnel management, facilities management, budget planning and projection, donor relations, board development, fund raising, destination travel management, long range planning, and goal setting. Rick represents the college at campus wide administrative meetings, donor events, performances, and regional and national 42
conventions throughout the nation. Prior to his tenure at El Camino College, Rick previously served as the Director of Administrative Operations for the Chapman University College of Performing Arts, which is comprised of the Conservatory of Music and the departments of Theatre and Dance. Rick is a California native and holds an M.A. in Arts Management from Claremont Graduate University and undergraduate degrees in Music and French from Chapman University.
NANCY ADLER, PRODUCTION MANAGER is in her 22nd year as Production Manager for El Camino College Center for the Arts. Prior to that, she spent 17 years as an Equity Stage Manager in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and on tour across the United States. Her stage managing credits include Les Miserables and Cats at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles, two years on the Cats bus and truck tour; A Chorus Line and Can-Can for the Long Beach Civic Light Opera, Stardust with Toni Tenille and Hinton Battle at the Wilshire Theatre, and numerous productions at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC). In Chicago, Nancy stage managed for Steppenwolf Theatre Co. with John Malcovich, Joan Allen and Glenne Headley among others. Nancy was the assistant to director, Bob Fosse for Sweet Charity at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, starring Debbie Allen and Bebe Neuwirth. Nancy has also worked in film and television as a second AD, and as a commercial casting director, as well as a theatre director in Los Angeles and Chicago. Nancy is the recipient of a special Ovation Award for producing the Ovation Awards show for three consecutive years. Nancy is a proud union member of Actors’ Equity Association and Directors’ Guild of America.
BRYAN BATES has been working as a Theatre technician for the last 27 years. In addition to his work here at El Camino College he was the lead Flyman for the inaugural season of the Champagne theatre in Branson Missouri in 2004, where he had the opportunity to work with the Lennon Sisters and many of the old Lawrence Welk TV show personalities. Bryan continues to work at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica including shows such as “Born for This” which was produced there over the summer of 2017. Bryan believes that having an opportunity to work with both student and professional performers and technicians provides a diverse experience for our students here at El Camino College.
ANDY WOLSKI was first hired at El Camino as a student worker during my first semester of classes in the fall of 1983. In the fall of 1987, three full-time Theatre Technician jobs were created, and I was hired as one of them. During these last 34 years, I have worked with major touring shows, musicians, dancers, and distinguished speakers, as well as college activities and performances that have been presented here at El Camino. While I’ve spent most of my career here, I have occasionally taken part-time work outside of El Camino. I worked as Light Board Programmer for more than 30 musicals for the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, several convention center and corporate party events for Special Event Lighting Company, and many
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other load-ins and strikes too numerous to remember. My favorite assignment here at El Camino is working with the students in our Lighting and Stagecraft classes. I get to help guide them in their laboratory work setting up for the Theatre Department plays, and impart some of my many years of experience to them.
KENNY LEFORT has been involved at El Camino College for over 35 years, first as a student, and now currently in his 30th year as a full time audio and Theatre technician for the Center for the Arts. Kenny has been privileged to work with numerous artists throughout the years including Ella Fitzgerald, Wynton Marsalis, David Benoit, Willy Nelson and Ziggy Marley to name a few. Some of his recent sound design credits include “42nd Street”, “Guys and Dolls”, “Godspell” “Peter Pan”, “Thoroughly modern Millie” and “Sweeney Todd”. In addition to his work as a designer, Kenny is a musician, composer and recording engineer. He can be seen playing bass in pit orchestras around town in various productions such as “Guys and Dolls”, Rent, “Mary Poppins” and “Peter pan”. He also enjoys playing with the worship team/Gospel choir at Oceanside Christian Fellowship in El Segundo as well as various music projects around town. He has performed throughout the southwestern United States, at New York’s legendary “CBGB’S” and as far away as Tokyo, Japan.
B) Explain and justify the program’s staffing needs in the immediate (1-2 years) and long- term (2-4+ years). Provide cost estimates and explain how the position/s will help the program better meet its goals. As mentioned before, the department is currently staffed with two full-time instructors, one of whom specializes in acting/directing and the other in technical aspects of theatre production (stagecraft and lighting). With 8 part-time faculty teaching one or more classes each semester, the department’s FT/PT ratio, 56:8 in fall 2015 and 42:2 in fall 2016, is well below the 75:25 target goals. A retirement is anticipated in the next 2-5 years and there is an urgent need to ensure smooth transition for a program that plans its productions 1-2 years in advance. This position request is for a full-time theatre instructor to teach courses in acting/directing as well as to direct some of our productions each year in order to provide our students with the same number of performance opportunities afforded to lower- division majors at 4-year schools. The instructor’s load would be drawn from the following courses: Theatre Appreciation, Dramatic Literature, Introduction to Acting, Fundamentals of Acting, Intermediate Acting, Acting: Audition and Cold Reading, Acting Shakespeare, Fundamentals of Stage Direction, Beginning Theatre Production, and Student Performance Production Workshop. A full-time theatre position, formerly held by Professor Joseph Bonanno, has never been replaced and currently 50% of course offerings are taught by adjunct Theatre faculty. It has been difficult to maintain a pool of adjunct instructors with qualifications and experience in teaching the different types of courses required of theatre majors, particularly directors with the requisite educational qualifications. Recent 44
regulation and accreditation changes require adequate full-time faculty leadership in matters of curriculum, student learning outcomes, program review, planning and committee representation as well as mentorship and support to theatre majors in achieving their educational goals.
C) List any related recommendations. 1. Hiring a new full-time theatre faculty member such as a director to provide students with a more rounded performance skill set to support student success in transferring and auditioning.
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SECTION 9 Direction and Vision
A) Describe relevant changes within the academic field/industry. How will these changes impact the program in the next four years? The Theatre Department realized that it’s Certificate Program in Entertainment Lighting was not serving the educational needs of our students. When the program began in 1998 we were at the cutting edge of offering students the opportunity to work with intelligent lighting. In 2017 most of our technical Theatre students arrive with a firm grasp of how this technology works. The Theatre Department did analyze the program and discussed moving into other forms of entertainment technology training. After doing research it was noted that Citrus College, starting with El Camino College’s model, is an extremely well-funded and successful program. We are working with several of the faculty members at Citrus College and have recommended a few of our students into their program. After analyzing many of the area community colleges certificate offerings the Theatre Department discussed the possibility of doing a certificate program in musical Theatre. It was discovered that many programs like Fullerton College do an excellent job with their certificates. The Theatre faculty noted that there were no programs in the area that were currently focused on acting and production for independent filmmaking and providing content for social media. With the advent of social media thousands of young artists are making small films being produced and then distributed online in various forms. We think this is an excellent direction for us and fills a need that no other colleges in the area are currently addressing. As mentioned before in 2018 the Theatre and Film departments will form an advisory committee with the idea of starting a Certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media by 2020. We believe this certificate will be incredibly popular and beneficial. As noted before in our Department survey 61.48% of our students said they would be interested in this program. We believe this program will greatly impact our fill and transfer rates as well. The idea is that by offering students an education in how to create, produce, and distribute their content online we will be empowering them to not only to work as storytellers but to also start their own small businesses. The new certificate will also be extremely useful for the college as a whole. As our students develop YouTube channels, expand their twitter feeds, and other forms of media distribution, El Camino College’s online footprint will increase dramatically. We believe this type of entrepreneurial certificate is an excellent addition to our traditional film and Theatre courses.
B) Explain the direction and vision of the program and how you plan to achieve it. The creation of a certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media is one of the Theatre Departments number one goals for the next cycle. The Theatre 46
Department will start by creating an advisory committee and researching various top code options. Upon the recommendation of the advisory committee the Theatre and Film Departments will create the new courses that will be needed for the certificate. As previously noted there are 4 courses which we believe to be already in place for this new certificate. We will also examine the need for funding for any equipment that may be needed. Fortunately the Theatre and Film Departments have excellent resources so we believe that the overall funding for this program will be manageable. The idea also will be to use equipment and technologies that will be available to our average students. Keeping this in mind we will be using everything from cell phone cameras to prosumer equipment. The Theatre Department will have a better idea of the overall needs once the advisory committee is in place. Adding a third full-time faculty member will greatly assist us with the creation of this certificate program. The Theatre Department would like to continue to improve our relationship with our local high schools. As mentioned before the department invites local high schools to preview night of our theatre productions. High school students are not charged and have the opportunity to view our plays or musicals. The department faculty is looking at ways in which we can improve our relationship with local high school theatre programs. Another goal over the next four years is to improve student success, completion statistics and transfers. We are starting to examine strategies to assist our students in completing an Associate of Arts Degree and the new Theatre Transfer Degree. Data from our PLOs/SLOs confirm students’ desires to complete either an AA or transfer degree. To help with this the Theatre Department will continue to facilitate and create workshops and seminars focusing on associate degree completion and transfer degree completion.
C) List any related recommendations. 1. Create an advisory committee for the purposes of creating a new Certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media 2. Creating new courses for the certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media 3. Creating a certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media 5. Hiring a new full-time theatre faculty member such as a director to provide students with a more rounded performance skill set to support student success in transferring and auditioning. 6. Improve transfer rates and degree/certificate completions through organizing major workshops, participating in high school outreach efforts, and new curriculum.
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SECTION 10 Prioritized Recommendations
A) Provide a single, prioritized list of recommendations and needs for your program/ department (drawn from your recommendations in sections 2-8). Include cost estimates and list the college strategic initiative that supports each recommendation. Use the following chart format to organize your recommendations.
Recommendations Cost Strategic
Estimate Initiatives
1. Hiring a new full-time theatre faculty member such as $90,000 A director to provide students with a more rounded performance skill set to support student success in transferring and auditioning.
2. Create an advisory committee for the purposes of creating B a new Certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media
3. Creating new courses for the certificate in Acting and B Production for Independent Film and Social Media
4. Creating a certificate in Acting and Production for B Independent Film and Social Media
5. 24 channels of wireless microphone. $67,200 D
6. Speaker line array for the Campus Theatre $18,000 D
7. 2 @ 10,000 lm video projectors $39,400 D
8. 2 @ 7500 lm video projectors $11,200 D
9. 4 additional lenses for video projectors $9000 D
10. 1. Media server technology package. $28,500 . $28,500 D
11. Add a third acting classroom, such as Music 132 to allow $1000 A,B for more flexibility and student access to rehearsal in 48
preparation for classroom performances, workshops, and Theatre department productions.
12. Provide workshop-type production opportunities to B provide more students with performance opportunities and also could feed students into our transfer and theatre majors.
13. Restore more sections of core and introductory Theatre B classes to build program, if enrollment trends allow.
14. 22 LED lighting fixtures $20,350 D
B) Explain why the list is prioritized in this way. The Theatre Department believes that the addition of a third full-time faculty member will greatly enhance our department’s productivity and access to students and assist in creating the new certificate in Acting and Production for Independent Film and Social Media. The creation of this new certificate we think is very forward thinking especially given the demographics. Out of all the equipment purchases the 24 channels of wireless microphone are crucial due to the previously mentioned issues with the reduction of frequencies.
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Appendix A
ALIGNMENT GRIDS
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Appendix B
SLO/PLO TIMELINES
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Appendix C
6-Year Curriculum Course Review Timeline
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