Podcasts, mixed-media delivery bring K-State theatre, dance performances to world
MANHATTAN — The curtain is set to rise on the 2020-2021 Kansas State University student performance season for theatre, dance and opera in a new way: a mixed-media delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new approach is through a partnership between the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Structured similar to L.A. Theatre Works, an international leader in audio theatre production, the adjusted performance season provides students the opportunity to learn new storytelling methods, voice acting techniques and broadcasting standards, while providing the Manhattan community and beyond free access to the students' dedicated performances and artistry.
On Thursday, Oct. 8, K-State Theatre will launch the "Kansas Theatre Works" podcast. The first edition will be an interview with faculty and students about having to cancel the spring 2020 performances of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" because of the pandemic and how it was adapted for audio. The podcast can be found on all platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and on the K-State Theatre webpage, k-state.edu/theatre.
Next up, on Oct. 15, the "Kansas Theatre Works" podcast will release the K-State Theatre audio performance of "Macbeth," directed by David Mackay, assistant professor of theatre and head of acting and directing. Future episodes will feature plays written by alumni playwrights, including television writer Nathan Louis Jackson, a 1997 alumnus whose plays include "Luke Cage," "13 Reasons Why" and "Resurrection," and Broadway producer and writer Laura Camien, a 1994 alumna, whose credits include "Title of Show" and "Blue Man Group." Promotional spots are available for purchase to support the program.
For its performance season, K-State Dance will be screening three original dance works created for the camera by K-State dance faculty along with a dance-for-the-camera staging of Anna Sokolow's seminal 1955 choreography "Rooms," which examines the psychic isolation and unfulfilled desires of characters isolated in their small city apartments when the threat of atomic annihilation, polio and the Red Scare loomed large. K-State Dance is one of seven university dance programs involved in a nationwide project to explore the new resonance that 2020 has brought to Sokolow's masterpiece.
To learn more about music, theater and dance at K-State and future live and streaming concerts, performances and special events, visit k-state.edu/mtd or call the Theatre Marketing Office at 785-236-8638 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance is a part of K-State's College of Arts and Sciences.
