Drama Students and Teachers Sharpen Their Talent at CWU

July 24, 2008

ELLENSBURG, Wash. -- Nearly two-dozen students and 80 teachers from all across the globe spent part of their summer in Ellensburg sharpening their craft by participating in this year's Musical Theatre Summer Conservatory and the annual Summer Institute for Theatre Arts. Hosted by Central Washington University's Department of Theatre Arts, these programs provide enrichment opportunities for students and teachers to expand their knowledge and skills in theatre arts.

Drama teachers from as far away as Venezuela and Hawaii took part in this year's Summer Institute for Theatre Arts. The summer program provided them with an opportunity to come together with other drama teachers and learn from each other how to become better teachers and how to enhance drama programs back at their own schools.

"The most important thing about the program is that it allows teachers who work alone at their schools to come together and learn from one another," said Scott Robinson, professor and chair of Central's Theatre Arts Department. "They can get new ideas about how to make their programs better."

This year, 63 of the teachers participating in the institute were working to complete their Master of Arts in Theatre Production.

Students also got an opportunity to improve their acting skills this summer by taking part in the CWU Musical Theatre Summer Conservatory. Students came from around the U.S., including Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, to participate in this year's program. While at Central, students engaged in musical theatre workshops, took part in a professional performance and got an opportunity to learn from professional performers and educators attending Central's summer institute.

According to Robinson, by having the two programs going on concurrently, both the students and teachers were able to benefit from each other. He said, "We felt in order to teach the musical theatre class most effectively, we needed the talent of the conservatory students for the teachers to work with hands-on." He added the advantage to the students is that they get a chance to learn from many different teachers with various teaching styles from numerous other schools.

For more information on these programs, please visit www.cwu.edu/~theatre

Media Contact:
Teri Olin, CWU Public Relations & Marketing, olint@cwu.edu,509-963-1416

Central Washington University is a master's degree-granting institution with approximately 10,000 students and 1,500 faculty and staff. More than 160 undergraduate and master's degrees are offered. Founded in 1891, the Ellensburg campus is located in the heart of Washington State, nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the Columbia River. Since 1975, CWU has served the needs of place bound students at six university centers throughout the state. CWU is an AA/EEO Title IX Institution.