Community College of Rhode IslandStudents take the show on the road with “Scenes to Go”
Students find creative outlet with independent study option
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by Stephanie Ugbanaja
contributing writer
When only four students registered for the Acting II class last spring, the class was cancelled and theater students at the Community College of Rhode Island were looking for something with performance work as a replacement. Luckily, they were able to take part in an impromptu acting troupe called “Scenes to Go” as part of an independent study with Professor Bert Silverberg of the theater department.
Silverberg contacted the four students about the independent study option, realizing that it would already fit in with their schedules.
“I wanted to provide the opportunity for the students to perform and also let people outside the CCRI community know about the theater program we have here,” Silverberg said. The independent study even gave Silverberg the chance to cover material with the students such as Ring Lardner’s 1929 play, “June Moon”, something he had always wanted to do.
Both Silverberg and his students chose comedic material with an underlying theme of humanity for their performances to high school theater classes throughout the state. The scenes that they performed had an exploratory range of styles varying from the 1920s to contemporary.
“It was such a wonderful experience, different from sitting in a classroom performing for your peers,” said Tara Dube, a student who took part in the impromptu group at CCRI.
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Student Jordan Windsor said that audiences had really good feedback for the actors. Windsor enjoyed when the group was able to perform and claims they were busiest at the end, when he says, “I had the most fun.”
As they reflected at the end of the semester, everything had gone as projected. Their last performance proved how dedicated they were as they faced a full day that began with a 7:40 a.m. performance at Cranston West and ended with a surprise performance at the Tamarisk Assistance Living Center in Warwick.
“If anything like this was to ever happen another semester it would be hard to find a group of students as mature as this,” said Silverberg.
Nancy Vitulli, theater teacher at Cranston West high school, says the CCRI acting group proved to be a valuable teaching tool for her students.
“The professional conduct of the CCRI students, under the direction of Bert Silverberg, allows our students to experience the work being done at CCRI as a source of present motivation,” said Vitulli.
Students who want to major in theater at CCRI will have a curriculum geared toward the fine arts with a humanities core required. For more information about the theater department, contact Bert Silverberg at (401) 825-2358.
