"Some professors assume things aren't possible, and I think that's a poor assumption. What happens is then you cut off an avenue for exploration. Great teachers always teach the people who are in the room; the path always goes to where the student needs it.” - Michael Dean Morgan, head of voice and speech and professor, Rowan University Department of Theatre & Dance
As an arts program in the peak of a pandemic, the Rowan University Department of Theatre & Dance has gotten to know Zoom quite well. Studying an art form revolving around in-person camaraderie, professors and students alike have had a large shift converting to remote courses. All of that being said, "inside" these classrooms are experiences nothing short of invaluable. Here to share their perspective is a professor who knows these challenges and changes incredibly well.
Michael Dean Morgan is head of voice and speech and professor in the Rowan University Department of Theatre & Dance. In particular, he teaches the sophomore level Voice For the Stage, Acting I, and upperclassmen elective Speech and Dialects. At Rowan, MDM has also taught Acting For the Camera and a Clown/Comedy/Commedia seminar. Putting the icing on the acting professor cake, Michael Dean Morgan directed RUTD's spring 2020 musical "Urinetown" and will be directing our spring 2021 play "The Wolves".
Want to hear more about how Michael's relationship has developed with his students over Zoom, discoveries he made through the remote format, and his advice for those taking on theatre courses right now? Keep on reading!
Right now you are teaching Voice For the Stage and Speech and Dialects over Zoom. How has the teacher to student relationship developed when teaching through technology?
"I have to say I think I'm lucky in one respect. I'm at the level where we are at a fundamental level dealing with specific skills. We're dealing with volume, elocution, and consonant attention. We're working on character and quality of voice, vocal production, breath control, and resonance. Those are all individualized tools, that in the course of a journey of one's career, life and training, will be combined into one seamless element. But we are purposely breaking them into constituent parts to focus on and isolate, then putting them back together. The beauty with that is Zoom allows a tight focus on one area to take your attention and isolate it.
The technology allows for a layered approach to performance training that is both very specific but also helps with the general building of an entire artist. You might be someone who needs to see the thing happen or you might be somebody who needs the concrete rubric in order for you to analyze yourself. It basically plays different people's ways of learning while you're going through the process.”
Can you tell me about the challenges of moving your classes to a remote setting?
"One thing I'm challenged with, and I gotta figure out a way to improve, is how to integrate community. It's one thing I'm thinking very much about when it comes to "The Wolves". I think half of "The Wolves" has to be about creating a collective of love and care for each other. It's very easy for that kind of show to turn into a bit of a "You're doing better than me". We have to become a team; a group of people who care for each other, really celebrate each other. I try to get a moment to check-in (in class), do things like 'How are you experiencing X" which starts conversations or "Hey we just finished this exercise! Let's unpack it." But in order to talk to each individual, that could be most of the class. I think a lot of things get solved when you walk to class together or show up 5 minutes before class. All those little things I cannot do; the light turns on and class begins. I think that's really hard.
To solve that, I have decided to do really small group workshop sessions on the monologues. We only have four people in a group and as a result that's been invaluable, so much so that I think I may do that from now on, even in person. There is a breakthrough in 9 out of 10 of the students in that first process.
How did your students and yourself end up adapting to this new learning environment?
“I don't think it's always successful. I can see when a student is playing a video game, you know? I can tell when somebody's doing something different, when they haven't memorized the text. That only hurts them at the end of the day and it means we can't work as deeply because of it. I don't think they realize and I do try to communicate that, but that's going to happen in person, too! Somebody's going to be texting in class or thinking about the other thing. What we've done in our group is removed all those tools in some ways. We do a kind of yoga practice of breath and voice control where the outcome is not a test or a paper, the outcome is the experience you're having in the moment. I used to give quizzes in this class. I noticed the quizzes I gave to people, when they got to Speech and Dialects, they didn't remember it anyway. And the fact is, the quiz doesn't really matter. It just allows you to go "I'm going to focus my attention on this right now and deliver it." So I said, ``What if the class time experience of it is valuable enough that I'll carry enough of it with me where an assessment is not necessary?" This is why I've gone through the crazy amount of repetition I have (in class) so eventually, it seeps in without you even trying for it to happen.
I still think it's hard and I still think people are frustrated but I've given the opportunity for that frustration to be a choice, rather than a default. You can choose to engage in this classroom and you're going to get as much or more than if we were in person. I'm gonna get you 90% there, but you're gonna have to step over that bridge and say "I'm present". You'll have sapped all the good stuff out of it, and there's always going to be a student who doesn't. At some point, the initiative has to kick in."
Do you have any advice for professors and or students taking on remote theatre courses?
"Some professors assume things aren't possible, and I think that's a poor assumption. What happens is then you cut off an avenue for exploration. Great teachers always teach the people who are in the room; the path always goes to where the student needs it. I've seen a mistake in teaching asynchronously shooting out readings and video recordings. I think teaching still happens 1 to 1 in a synchronous space where we can exchange ideas. The other advice is "What's really important?" I think this environment makes good teachers better and bad teachers worse. I think what I've been able to do is isolate what really matters and communicate that in a better way than I ever have.
I think students have to ask for more. I did a survey because my concern was rigor. There was a certain thing that happened a lot in the spring, less in the fall, where it was like "Let's just get through this. Everything's gonna be fine!" but I thought the rigor went away. I think really good students want to be challenged, but they also don't want to be overwhelmed. I need to make sure the challenge I give is rigorous, but not undoable in the world we're in. What I got back was 80% good, 10% I'm overwhelmed, and 10% I want more, which feels about right for right now. I do think there's a slightly more rigorous version of this, but the thing with my Voice For the Stage class is I could have people continuously memorize a monologue a week, but then the energy is spent on material learning as opposed to skill-building. I want to focus our energy on the skill-at-hand, not "Did I say the words correctly?"
Are there any concerns going into your spring courses?
"Acting I is a scene-based course. Two big concerns: I want to make sure that I'm working outside the cannon. I've lived a little too close to it, not too bad in that I've always had female and BIPOC artists in my collection of scenes. However, there are some in there that are a little too white. I solved that by making sure students are able to propose pieces that are relevant to their experience, and I've gotten some really great scenes that way. That'll continue, but I want to add some actual teaching blocks of non-traditional acting theory in that early process so we can think outside the Stanislavski box.
Then, scene study on Zoom is tricky. If the Voice (For the Stage) class is very skill-based, Acting I is putting those skills into a free and expressive hole based more on the other human. In Voice, I need to connect through the "other" and suddenly I'm asking someone to listen to a real other human in space. The first third of the class has always been exercises we do that build-up to the first scene, so we don't hit scene work until a third through the semester anyway, and all that stuff will work great on Zoom. I'm hoping we can start some in-person stuff; I'd like to "tent" it somewhere. So that's my concern. "What do I do if we don't get some in-person time?" Because we can do this scene work socially distanced; I'm not worried about that part. We're going to be doing that for "The Wolves" anyway so I think it's great to play with. There is some really valuable Zoom conversation work where you have 1 on the screen and you're having a scene. I think that might be the middle ground, hoping to get in person."
Is there anything else you would like to add?
"I've been really impressed with the amount of vulnerability we're able to find on Zoom. Some people are good on it and some people aren't. I have to figure out how to support that. I think that's going to be the make-or-break for Acting I and "The Wolves". Great work in any context has ease, is impulse-driven, reacting to the given circumstances and the body in front of me, and it's fully focused. I think the thing that gets really tricky in the Zoom space is the focus piece.
To go back to a question I don't think I answered, it's frustrating but it's understandable when a student's environment doesn't allow for a full investment in the virtual space we have. A roommate walks in or mom's in the next room. I don't know how to help that and I don't know if it's helpable. What's nice is come spring it's warmer and being outside becomes more possible. I can imagine us in late February being really comfortable outside, but there's always going to be students who will never be able to do that. That's the other piece I need to take into consideration. That said, this semester is going great. We'll take what we learned and we'll be better."
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See you next Monday!!
Erica Gerold
Musical Theatre & Public Relations '23
(Left) Michael Dean Morgan, head of voice and speech and professor in the Rowan University Department of Theatre & Dance.
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