Saint Mary’s Moreau Center for the Arts will host its annual theatre picnic on Tuesday, Sept. 10 from 5 - 6:30 p.m. on O’Laughlin Green. The department plans to emphasize collaboration, giving back and teaching the community about the importance of theatre at the event at the showcase for its new events, activities and opportunities this school year.
Professor Michaela Duffy, technical director of the theatre department, explained the department’s goal for the picnic.
“The main goal is to have anybody on campus interested in theater, come to the picnic, share food, introduce themselves, get to know the faculty a little bit and each other,” Duffy said. “This could be anybody who is interested in any aspect of performing arts, not just majors or minors, anyone who is interested in auditioning, working in the scene and costume shops, or even being part of the back-stage crew. It’ll be an old fashioned cookout with lots of desserts, all the fixings for brats, hamburgers and hot dogs, as well as lawn games, and of course, some theatre games.”
There will also be a $5 early-bird special for the new Moreau Center t-shirts, Duffy said.
The Moreau Center will also hold their second annual series of “Makers’ Meetings” where the scene shop, costume shop, music program and dance program coming together once a month to create opportunities to inspire creativity. Students are also invited to participate in master classes. The first two master classes include an Artistic Fencing Workshop on Sept. 20 and a trip to downtown South Bend for Octoberfest on Oct. 4.
Sandie Schooler, who works in the theatre department at Saint Mary’s, shared some of the Moreau Center’s plans for giving back to the environment.
“We’re trying to find a need and fill it,” Schooler said. “We’ll be making reusable washable feminine hygiene products for women that don’t have them readily available.”
They will also be making clothing protectors for the sisters in the convent later in the year, Schooler said.
Schooler said fun is a major goal of the theatre department this year.
“We really, really, really try to have fun here,” Schooler said. “The goal this year is to promote the building and encourage more people to join and have fun with us.”
The 2019-2020 performing arts season will open with the fall show, “A Party to Murder,” which will run Nov. 7-9 at 7:30 p.m. and concluding with a matinee on Nov. 10 at 2:30 p.m. Later performances include the Madrigal dinner in December, “A Family Affair: An Evening of Opera Scenes” in February, which will return after a few years on the shelf and “Alice in Wonderland” in March. The season will conclude with DanceArts 2020 in April.
In addition to the on-stage and community engagement opportunities, there are also many behind-the-scenes jobs available to students as well.
Sophomore Caroline Mages, who works in the scene shop, said she learned about different tools, how to build different things and developed skills she didn’t think she would need to learn but will use in the future.
“It’s a nice escape between classes, but still a learning experience about all the different aspects of theatre,” Mages said.
