AACC students are prepping for a number of performances this spring.
Upcoming shows include a Black Box performance—a series of student-written short plays—on May 1-2.and sketch productions by Overcast Improv on March 13-14 and April 3-4, all performed by AACC students.
“You’ll be intrigued to go see some theater,” professor Sean Urbantke, AACC’s theater director, said.
Just finished is a run of the play “Rent,” which closed on March 8.
“Rent,” which started on Feb. 13 and ran through March 8, was a collaboration between AACC’s theater department and Compass Rose Theater in Annapolis.
Instructor Madeline Austin, a former director of Compass Rose, said the theater and AACC students both planned to put on “Rent,” so they combined forces.
“I had directed at Compass Rose Theater in January of last year, and I thought … wouldn’t it be great to combine it with AACC students?” Austin said.
Likewise, the student group Overcast Improv has partnered with AACC’s theater program for the Black Box show. Students will perform improv skits during intermissions.
“The Black Box series is a good way for [students] to … try it and, you know, dip their toe in however much they want to be involved in that,” Urbantke said.
Overcast Improv also will host multiple-sketch shows and an improv showcase in March and April. “Improv in its own nature, is something you can be a lttle bit more fast and loose with,” said Jason Kalshoven, a third-year film student and co-founder of the improv club. “Come see our shows. They’re going to be great. We’ve got a really good cast.”
The opera program, run by music professor Douglas Byerly, will have two shows, Sept. 24 and 27. The opera is called “Computing Venus.”
Byerly said opera can send messages through music.
“In our time, in our lives, we still have issues in our world that need to be sung about and thought about,” Byerly said. “So opera does that. It’s not just singing Mozart.”
Some students and faculty said performing arts is important to the campus.
“It’s important for all sorts of reasons,” Kalshoven said. “As an art form that you want to do as a career, you can do it here. If you want to just do it as a hobby, it’s a really fun thing.”
AACC’s theater program has opportunities for students and others to engage, Urbantke said.
“We invite people,” Urbantke said. “They are all open to the public. Anybody who’s a student, community member [or] friend can come and volunteer and be a part of the thing.”
