The Department of International Studies and History,
which has always pushed forward for co-curricular prowess along with academic
rigor, had organised a theatre workshop for its students on 18th
June 2019. The workshop aimed to enlighten budding theatre artists about the
basics of acting, direction and playwriting. The Guest Speaker for the
afternoon was Mr. Stan C Denman, Faculty, Department of Theatre Arts at Baylor
University, Waco, Texas. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from
Abilene Christian University, a Master of Arts in Theatre from Baylor
University, and a PhD in Theatre and the Performing Arts from the University of
Pittsburgh and is the current Director of the Baylor Theatre Abroad Program.
Mr. Denman proved to be a splendid orator and one of the best in his field, as
he kept the audience engaged for almost four hours, with sufficient short
breaks.
Mr. Denman
began his discussion by drawing humorous parallels between Indian and American
ways of living, by contrasting the population of Texas to a small village in
India and later remarking about the wage gap between theatre artists of both
the nations. The audience got a sneak peek into the unfamiliar domain of
Broadway Theatre through some videos showed by him and also acquired a deep
insight on the management aspect of a theatre. Mr. Stan elaborated on the
process of getting into schools like Baylor University, to pursue a degree in
theatre which included contrasting monologue auditions for aspiring actors and
directors and portfolio presentations for technicians and designers. A couple
of interesting and innovative activities were conducted with student volunteers
to explain concepts like stage fright, stage emotions and over acting. The most
striking feature about Mr. Denman’s persona was his humour and how he
channelized it throughout his talk. He very frequently made fun of his own
nation on the basis of politics, repeatedly invoking the US Presidential
Elections of 2016 as a testimony to the stupidity of the Americans. Halfway
through the workshop, Mr. Stan was joined by his daughter Ms. Merritt Denman,
who is also a distinguished personality in the field of theatre and academics. Simple
examples from daily life were provided to aid the students in grabbing the
basics of theatre. For instance, the example of a toddler was given to
emphasize upon the importance of emotional recall and actions in theatre. When
a toddler’s toy is taken away by another toddler, first it cries and screams
for it after which it starts acting violently towards the other toddler. Mr.
Denman had very beautifully related this instance first to acting and then to
USA’s lust for oil, which had cracked up the audience. Towards the end,
students were free to ask questions regarding theatre or career opportunities
after graduation and since most of the students belonged to political science
and history backgrounds, majority of the questions pertained to historical
analyses of theatre characters and political correctness of the elements of a
play. At the end of the session, students emerged from the workshop as refined
and promising artists, forever indebted to Mr. Stan C Denman, Ms. Merritt
Denman and the Department.
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