Opportunities and Challenges in theWSSU Drama Department
By Ne’kira Barbour
Understaffed and under-resourced; those are some of the words that could describe the WSSU Drama department. As theater students do gain valuable experience, according to the chair of the department, Professor Andre Minkins funding this program comes while operating conditions are challenging. Minkins, currently the only professor, mentions how difficult to it is provide students with high impact experiences. “We’re revitalizing the drama area this year,” Minkins said. “I just really want to do more and involve more people.” According to junior drama minor, Scarlet Shaffer “Being in a department with one professor, without a major, it’s difficult,” Shaffer said. “We don’t get seen. It’s almost as if we’re a middle child on campus.”
While the drama department provides students with a theater minor that gives them a chance to develop skills related to performance, there are still problems with staffing, funding, space, and messaging. That slow program growth.
Professor Minkins is the only professor of the drama department. According to Minkins, the lack of professors makes it challenging for him to grow the department and provide students with many opportunities he would want to give them. In addition, other professors might help with distributing responsibilities, giving students various opportunities, and teach different learning styles.
Moreover, the department has to deal with funding problems. "We don't have a budget, really," Minkins said. Because we don't have a budget, and because he's understaffed, that really stands in the way of student success. The lack of funding can become another problem that does not allow the department to give students different kinds of experience. The department also lacks theater space for productions. Dillard Auditorium can be used for performances, but Minkins mentions that it is made for lectures and assemblies, not for theatrical plays. The K.R. Williams Auditorium was previously used as a space for the drama department to put on productions, but since being under construction, there is no designated space for the drama department.
However, despite all these difficulties, theater students state that the program gave them valuable experiences. Scarlett Shaffer, a theater minor at WSSU, says that the program gave her an opportunity to travel to Mississippi and Baltimore for some competitions and festivals. "So far our theater minor has brought me a ton of opportunities," Shaffer said.
As it seems, one of the major advantages of studying theater is collaboration because theater includes actors, directors, writers, and technicians who have to work together. "It isn't just acting; it's acting, directing, producing, writing, tech. Our theater department gives you an opportunity for both the nitty and gritty, and the beauty of art," Shaffer said.
According to Jervis Albert, another WSSU theater minor, the department gave him an opportunity to meet different students. "I've met some amazing people and connections which I probably never would have made if not for the theatre department," Albert said.
Albert adds that skills that students get in the department can be useful even if they do not use them in theater. "The drama department instills some work ethic in you and the ability to work with others and the material that you have, in a timely and efficient manner," Albert said.
At the same time, WSSU students have an opportunity to participate in competitions with other HBCUs through the National Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts, or NADSA. Minkins mentions that such competitions give students experience and show them how they should develop to improve their skills.
Even though the department faces many difficulties with staffing, funding, space, and publicity, Minkins hopes that he will be able to attract more students and promote the department when the new academic year starts. For WSSU theater students, the department is an opportunity to develop different skills, make connections and get some real experience.
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