UWG News Archive

Theatre Program gets new home

October 1, 2003

UWG News Photo CARROLLTON, GA - When Martha Munro Ingram, wife of the University of West Georgia’s first president Irvine Ingram, taught English and dramatics in 1919, she would never have imagined that an academic building on her beloved campus would bear her name and house UWG’s most recently accredited program – theatre.

The Theatre Program was accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) in April and is now one of only five theatre programs in Georgia to receive NAST accreditation.

The achievement of accreditation was aided by the recent renovation of the Martha Munro Building to serve as the Theatre Program’s new home. The facility provides students access to state-of-the-art computer-aided design technology as well as lighting, sound and acting labs.

The luster of the original 1930s architecture was restored while incorporating enhancements for the program, pointed out Shelly Elman, director of theatre. She noted the sprung floor in the acting studio provides a safer landing area for actors and dancers to protect them from maneuvers that jolt the body.

“It is wonderful to have our own space and we don’t have to reserve other departments’ academic space to teach our classes,” she noted.

Theatre majors experience a highly practical and diverse curriculum. Production work is designed in conjunction with the theatre curriculum so that students can experience both the analytical and the practical sides of theatre.

Marnesha Dukes, junior from Atlanta, admits the program is hard but “it’s worth everything I’m in college for!”

Dukes knew theatre was the major for her when her father watched her performance last fall in the production Kindertransport.

“My father had not seen me in a production since elementary school and said it was the most lovely thing he’d ever seen. That kicked it for me and I knew I had to be on stage and give people that kind of experience,” she said.

Elman noted that achieving accreditation ensures that the theatre curriculum, both in the classroom and in the rehearsal room, meets the highest national standard that is set by NAST.

The arduous process leading to accreditation provided theatre faculty the opportunity to critically focus upon and reevaluate academic curriculum, policies and training methods, said Dr. Amy Cuomo, theatre instructor, who added that the self-study provided a useful tool from which to build an exceptional program.

According to Alan Yeong, assistant professor of theatre, the NAST accreditors were also impressed with the collegial nature of the faculty and students.

Tommy Cox, assistant professor of theatre, said the program’s goals for the future are to continue to recruit majors and to maintain the high standards of excellence that have led to accreditation.

“When we recruit,” Elman noted, “we are often recruiting parents who are worried about theatre being an unstable market for employment.” That turned out to be the case for major Nicole Forgoston, a senior from Roswell.

“My mother is an actress and knowing the reality of the business, she was a little nervous about my majoring in theatre. But you have to remember that it is a business and you have to know how to market yourself with good social skills and communication skills.”

Forgoston pointed out that there are a variety of occupations in theatre and she intends to live out her dream.

“I graduate in December and I’m off to New York. Everyone in theatre dreams of Broadway and that’s where I’m going to live and work and audition,” she said. “Way later” she hopes to teach and direct after completing graduate school.

Elman, Dukes and Forgoston all agree that one must have a passion for theatre to put in the long hours in the Theatre Company that UWG requires of majors. Elman noted the long hours aren’t just for students.

“When I’m directing, I’m here Monday through Friday from 6-10 p.m. just as they are!”
Forgoston sums it up well.

“If you can wake up every morning and enjoy performing in front of people, then theatre is what you have to do!”

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