A different kind of theatrical transition

Professionally, the COVID-19 closures and cancellations dealt a double blow to Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson, UIS associate professor of theatre; she lost face-to-face contact with her students, and was forced to cancel the university’s spring production, "Twelfth Night," which was set to open in mid-April.

“It was just heartbreaking, there was so much time and energy that had been put into it already,” she said. "We were really in the home stretch. And, we didn’t get closure, which is important in theatre productions.”

Before she could even think about how to convert her classes to remote learning, Thibodeaux-Thompson had to drive across the country to bring her own daughter home from college.

She credits several colleagues and Kara McElwrath from ITS for helping her get ready to teach remotely. “Kara is my hero, she needs to be the employee of the millennium,” Thibodeaux-Thompson joked.

“I learned that you don’t have to replicate everything that you would in an on-ground class,” she said.

Thibodeaux-Thompson’s students will use Zoom’s Kaltura feature to act and record monologues for class feedback. And she’s found workarounds. Instead of students writing a paper on a live production they’ve gone to see, they are watching a production online from provided links.

One of the best remote-learning experiences she has had so far is her students showing up for her first Zoom class. “They’re dealing with crazy things like being at home,” she said. “On that first day, they just showed up and waved from their bedrooms, just to say hi. Their heads were in the game and that speaks volumes of our students, that they would rather be in the classroom.”

Thibodeaux-Thompson is also applying her newfound technology skills to other parts of her career, participating in Zoom meetings with UIS Campus Senate, other directors in Art, Music and Theatre as well as the regional leadership team from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

And she says "Twelfth Night" will debut on stage in spring 2021. “The design and conceptual work were already done,” Thibodeaux-Thompson said. “We understand some people will have graduated and may have other plans or commitments but they are welcome to come back. We’ll take as many people who can come back.”

UIS Theatre honored at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region III

Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson (File Photo)

University of Illinois Springfield Associate Professor of Theatre Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson was honored with the faculty service award for Illinois during the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region III in Indianapolis January 9-14, 2018.

Thibodeaux-Thompson was honored for his outstanding service in providing responses/feedback to various theatre productions around the state of Illinois. Each state chair coordinates sending out faculty from their respective states to attend and respond to productions in the state. The organization (and each state chair) relies on faculty to travel throughout the state to share their expertise with students and colleagues at other institutions in the state.

UIS Theatre has been involved with KCACTF since 2002, and currently enters its mainstage productions as “associate” entries, in order to receive responses/feedback from theatre professors in the state of Illinois. In addition to the verbal response, the respondent and director nominate two students from the production as Irene Ryan Scholarship nominees.

Sherri Mitchell & Krista Massat

UIS students Sherri Mitchell and Krista Massat advanced to the semi-final round in the Irene Ryan Scholarship audition. It’s the first time UIS students have advanced to the semi-final round. They auditioned alongside 239 nominees (and their partners) in the preliminary round from the four state region (which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin). Out of the 239 nominees, Mitchell was among 48 chosen as semi-finalists. The scholarships are made possible by the generosity of the late Irene Ryan, who had a successful career as a vaudeville, radio and movie actor, prior to her popular portrayal of the lovable and feisty Granny Clampett in “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

A total of 11 UIS students took part in the festival, including Beatrice Bonner, Diamond Dixon (an Irene Ryan Scholarship nominee), David Hecht, Kat Pruitt, Kim Riddle, Katie Simpson, Claire Starling (Ms. Dixon’s Ryan partner) and Aaron Thomas. Kat Pruitt participated as an assistant stage manager for the Irene Ryan preliminary and semi-final rounds of the scholarship auditions, under Irene Ryan coordinator for Region 3, UIS Associate Professor of Theatre Missy Thibodeuax-Thompson.

Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center's founding chairman, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide which has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States.

Since Fall Semester 2017, UIS has offered a bachelor’s degree in theatre, in addition to a theatre minor. The major in theatre provides students the opportunity to gain knowledge of human cultures and to practice integrative and applied learning through challenging coursework in performance, design, technology, directing, and playwriting, as well as the opportunity to work in various productions as an actor, a director, a playwright, a stage manager, a dramaturg, a designer, a make-up artist, or as a lighting, sound, or props technician.

Leadership lived: Veteran finds therapeutic relief by acting in UIS play

Shane Graham is not your typical college student. At 25, the U.S. Army veteran has found a passion for acting at the University of Illinois Springfield.

The senior communication major plays three roles in UIS Theatre’s spring production of “Almost, Maine”. He describes it as “a play about love and relationships” with some “really cartoony and quirky” elements added to the plot.

While Graham did some acting in high school, this is the first time he’s ever had to memorize lines as part of a major theatrical production.

“It’s been exciting because theatre has been just really therapeutic since getting out of the military,” he said. “It's been able to not just help me cope with issues, but it's been able to help me just kind of come to peace with myself.”

Graham served as an infantry solider for four years and completed a combat tour in southern Afghanistan.

“I got out and decided that I wanted to raise my son outside of the military,” he said. “I want to be with my wife outside of the military and I was able to explore other options.”

Graham commutes to UIS several times a week, even more now that he’s part of the play, from his home in Lincoln, Illinois, about 34 miles north of Springfield.

“Apart from living 45 minutes away, commuting and taking classes, balancing my schedule has definitely been the hardest part,” he said.

Following graduation from UIS, Graham said he would like to find a job in the public relations or advertising field. He said he’s very thankful that he decided to come to UIS.

“There’s not a day that goes by I don’t think about how life would have turned out if I went to another school or stayed out of college,” he said. “I don’t think I would have made it as far or done as well if it were not for UIS.”