This article is part of a larger project by The Michigan Daily News section’s Campus Life beat. Reporters spent time observing and interviewing students from various academic programs at the University of Michigan to share what their daily lives and academic experiences are like. Read the other stories here.
Design and production: Kathleen Stanton-Sharpless
Two University of Michigan students stood at the front of a classroom inside the Walgreen Drama Center, gazing at each other as they rehearsed the song “A Marriage Proposal” from the musical “Falsettos.” As the actors moved around their temporary stage, Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore Kathleen Stanton-Sharpless followed their movements, occasionally looking downward to jot down notes about the scene in front of them.
Stanton-Sharpless is the production stage manager of “Falsettos,” a show produced by student organization Basement Arts. Their role in this production is a way of applying their major in theatre design and production, one of the more than 40 undergraduate degrees the School of Music, Theatre & Dance offers.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Stanton-Sharpless said the major has several subconcentrations that allow students to pursue different areas within the design and production of shows.
“(Design and production students) all have something smaller that we study,” Stanton-Sharpless said. “So that could be stage management, lighting, scenic (design or) costumes. Those are kind of the major ones and then within those you have people who are more interested in props and sound.”
Design and production majors have opportunities to apply what they learn in practical settings through various avenues including University Productions shows and extracurricular, student-run productions, such as “Falsettos.” As a production stage manager, Stanton-Sharpless said they were mainly responsible for facilitating communication among everyone involved in the production throughout rehearsals, including tech week, which takes place the week before the performance.
“You’re like the central control switchboard for a lot of information because you are the only member of the production team who’s in the (rehearsal) room,” Stanton-Sharpless said. “But as we go into tech (week), I’m going to start having a lot more dialogue with the designers and fulfilling their needs to see what we need to do for this show.”
Stanton-Sharpless said design and production helped to further cultivate their passion for theater even when working on extracurricular shows.
“I feel supported in all of my endeavors by the program,” Stanton-Sharpless said. “I came (to the University) to do theatre and they’re not stopping me from doing that. They’re pushing me forward and I really appreciate that part of it. … There are professors who understand that you came here to do theatre, and they will help you do theatre to the best of your ability, and that’s what I love.”
Performing arts technology: James Hackett
In addition to offering majors related to the theatrical arts such as design and production and musical theatre, the Music, Theatre & Dance School also offers disciplines exploring recent technological developments in music through the Department of Performing Arts Technology.
Music, Theatre & Dance freshman James Hackett told The Daily his interest in electronic music and jazz encouraged him to transfer to an academic program in electronic music production.
“Last year, I was at the University of Vermont studying jazz, and I just found that all I wanted to do all the time was keep learning things about music production and work on songs,” Hackett said. “That led me to look for programs (for) electronic music production, (which) is a fairly new discipline. … With PAT, I found that it’s pretty open and they have a pathway for anything I would want to do within the scope of music technology.”
The PAT department has three tracks students can take: Bachelor of Fine Arts in performing arts technology, Bachelor of Music in music and technology and Bachelor of Science in sound engineering. Hackett is pursuing a Bachelor of Music and said in addition to his PAT courses, he focuses on the tenor saxophone as a part of his degree.
“The Bachelor of Music, which is what I’m doing, is (the degree) where you have a primary instrument,” Hackett said. “You take most of the PAT classes that everybody else does … but you have a principal instrument, and you take private lessons on that instrument, and you’re a part of ensembles outside of PAT.”
For Hackett, a typical day consists of courses in music theory, composition and acoustics followed by time spent working on various academic or personal projects. Hackett said he had to balance time for his courses with his extracurriculars but still engaged with music outside of class.
“It’s definitely a lot of time management and figuring out priorities and what needs to get done first,” Hackett said. “But usually the second half of the day will be some mix of working on my music, working on someone else’s music, practicing saxophone or guitar and then assignments for school and then other clubs.”
Hackett said when he is not working on projects for his classes, he is a member of several music organizations including an a capella group and a songwriting club.
“I’m in an a capella group called The Compulsive Lyres, and they are awesome and it’s my first semester with them,” Hackett said. “I’m also a part of the Michigan Electronic Music Collective, so I do DJing and live electronic music with them. Also, I’m in the (Michigan Songwriters Collective), which is really fun. It’s a place where people that write music can come together and share what they’ve been working on and get feedback. Also, we do case studies about different artists and popular songs at the moment and so we get to dive into what makes them great.”
Although the Music, Theatre & Dance School is home to a variety of disciplines related to music and the performing arts, Hackett said this diversity in majors encouraged him to push himself to work as hard as a PAT student.
“Everybody here is so good at what they do and so passionate about it, and that has been awesome just to be a part of that environment,” Hackett said. “I get motivation from people that are doing completely different things just because they’re working so hard at it. I’ll see some of my friends who are classical or jazz musicians or I’ll meet someone that is a composition major, and their hard work inspires me to put the same effort into my PAT work.”
Dance: Katherine Kiessling
Music, Theatre & Dance senior Katherine Kiessling, who majors in dance, told The Daily she wanted to continue dancing in college after having danced since her childhood.
“I’ve been dancing since I was three and then I seriously began to dance when I was ten because I entered the competition scene,” Kiessling said. “Then going through high school, I especially realized how much I loved dance and wanted to pursue it professionally.”
In addition to studying dance, Kiessling is studying computer science at the College of Engineering. Kiessling said a typical day for her involves a combination of upper-level dance and computer science classes.
“(On) Mondays and Wednesdays, I have what’s called Teaching Method from 10 a.m. to noon,” Kiessling said. “For the first hour, we’re teaching non-(dance) majors. … I’m with a few other senior dance majors and we rotate solo classes, teaching them the fundamentals of contemporary dance. For the second hour, it’s more of a lecture … and then from noon to 1:30 p.m., I have partnering or floor work. … Afterwards, I have engineering, and then I usually have rehearsal.”
Outside of her coursework, Kiessling has participated in several dance shows every semester, which she said other dance students do too.
“Throughout my years (at the University), I’ve done about two shows per semester, so rehearsals take a lot of time,” Kiessling said. “So I’m not really involved in extracurricular activities … but a lot of people (are). There are student-led dance groups that dance majors will be a part of like Cadence and EnCore.”
Kiessling said due to the smaller size of the dance cohort, she felt a strong sense of community with other dance students.
“It’s a pretty small class, which is really nice, because then we all become super close,” Kiessling said. “I live with five other dance majors so it’s fun. … We’re with each other for dance classes all day, but also we’ll hang out (as) we’re all friends. It’s a very supportive department, even within the student realm, just because we’re so closely knit.”
Daily Staff Reporter Eilene Koo can be reached at ekoo@umich.edu.