From the Chair
by Corey Shelsta, NBS Section Chairperson
I had originally written a first paragraph for this column about the early spring and warm weather we are enjoying. Seems that there is bigger news now. Many of us are working/teaching/learning from home. Our productions have been postponed or cancelled and everyone is unsure of how to proceed. I will not belabor what we are all overwhelmed with now on television and social media. Take care of yourselves.
The USITT national office has been sending out information about the cancellation of the Annual Conference and Stage Expo as well as plans about next year’s conference. It sounds as if much of the programming for this year will be held over and presented next year if possible. Watch your emails, they are sending information out as often as they can.
My son is in his 3rd year of a BFA program in theatre design and technology. Since he is quite far from home we have made a point to talk every day. We had a conversation over the weekend about his resume. He was supposed to open a show last week that was cancelled. He put in months of work as the Assistant Lighting Designer. Design meetings, plot, hang and focus, cueing, tech rehearsals; everything but the performances. His point was that he put in all of the work but now could not list it on a resume. I suggested that this was probably not true. I think all of us will find that productions in the Spring of 2020 will be asterisked on many resumes and CVs that we view. We did the work, why not take the credit? Especially in this time when we are all affected.
I saw many familiar faces from Northern Boundary Section at the KCACTF Region 5 festival in Sioux Falls during January. Since SDSU was one of the host schools, I was kept pretty busy this year. I always enjoy seeing productions at the festival as well as at colleges and universities where I do KCACTF responses. I had a chance to see a couple of the invited shows at this year’s festival, and I was really impressed. I spent an entire afternoon wandering through the design expo and was pleased to see so much representation from schools in the NBS region. Our executive committee talked last summer about establishing more crossover between USITT-NBS and KCACTF-5. The regions are organized differently, which poses some logistical issues, but perhaps this is something we can work on for the future.
I am both happy and sad to announce the retirement of our long time treasurer, Jean Montgomery. I have been part of the NBS organization for almost 18 years now, and Jean has been our foundation. Her guidance and wisdom have been such an asset to NBS over the years. As a lighting designer, I have always looked up to her and the work that she has done over her long career. Jean has been a great friend and she will be missed in her role as treasurer.
Spring always brings summer theatre auditions. There was a huge turnout for the professional auditions at KCACTF. Many summer theatres did auditions and interviews before our current time of social distancing, which is fortunate. I suspect this will all be past us by the summer and we will be looking to get back to our normal routines. Good luck to all of you that are auditioning/interviewing. The connections you make and the things you learn working will stay with you for your entire career. [ ]