Theater Technical  Director Jo Nazro, Fitchburg State University Industrial Technology/Technical Theater alum - sporting her old-school Fitchburg State College sweatshirt, starts with the basics of lighting with her Technical Theater students. Learn more about our Theater Concentration here. 

From sword play to hand-to-hand combat, Students in Kelly Morgan's Stage Movement: Combat course learned how to safely act out various forms of hand-to-hand combat. Stage movement: Combat is a workshop-oriented course that utilizes the basic techniques of movement that emphasize developing the  student's potential for effective physicalization of a character on stage. Learn more about our Theater Concentration here.

Students in Dr. Robert Carr's Writings in Aesthetics course work on their group and independent projects. Located at the interface between theory and production, this course is a writing intensive Communication Studies course that capitalizes on this vantage point to critically examine the professional arts comprising our curriculum, namely film, video, graphic design, photography, interactive media, and professional communication. Through weekly readings and writings, seminar discussions, presentations, and a term length qualitative research project, this writing intensive course bridges the theory/production dichotomy. 

 Students in  Communications Media Assistant Professor, Film and Video, Rachelle A. Dermer's Writer's Room course explore collaborative writing for a series. The classroom is structured as a Writer's Room. Students learn about the formation of a Writer's Room, the ways in which they vary, and the hierarchy. Collaboratively, students will write a complete season of a series as a writing team. Each student takes on a specific role on the team. They work as a group to determine the series format (Network, Cable, Streaming, etc.), outline the season arc for the series and then determine how many episodes are required to achieve their narrative goal.

Students in Theater Professor Ellen (Cap) Corduan, take the next step in her Stage Makeup class in Conlon Fine Arts. The students move from paper to flesh and experiment with various make-up techniques to attain various looks and moods. This lecture/laboratory course investigates the principles, techniques and materials of character stage makeup and practical application. Students will apply, in a production setting, principles, techniques and materials of character stage makeup. They will identify historical justification for period makeup and apply techniques for live animation, clowning and dramatic character.

After some stretching and focusing, students in Theater Professor Mary Vreeland's  Acting 1 course worked on physicalization exercises. This course is an introduction to professional stage performance techniques. Students will learn how to build a character using techniques such as playing actions, status, physical transformation, improvisation, relaxation and script analysis.

Students in Theater Professor Ellen (Cap) Corduan, begin honing their skills in her Stage Makeup class in Conlon Fine Arts. This lecture/laboratory course investigates the principles, techniques and materials of character stage makeup and practical application. Students will apply, in a production setting, principles, techniques and materials of character stage makeup. They will identify historical justification for period makeup and apply techniques for live animation, clowning and dramatic character.

Students in Film and Video Professor Robert Harris' Film Styles Genres & Movements class set up and begin recording a session for their Film School Confidential: Stories of Fitchburg State Communications Department Past & Present. The thrust of the project is to produce a compendium of short stories of the students, faculty, alumni of the university's Communications Media Program. Learn about our Film & Video Program here. 

Professor Jo Nazro, Fitchburg State University Industrial Technology/Technical Theater alum, starts with the basics to get her Technical Theater students prepared to begin construction for this semester's production. Check back for more details about the production. Learn more about our Theater Concentration here. 

Theater Professor Kelly Morgan teaches students how to utilize the sword as an extension of the character and a a vehicle by which the actor propels the story in his
Stage Movement: Combat in Weston Auditorium. This workshop-oriented course utilizes the basic techniques of movement with emphasis on developing each student's potential for effective physicalization of a character on stage.