2022 College Report

“ - - ” ” ’ ” “ ” - “ ” ’ ” - - - - ” ’ 32 33 WHAT ’S NEXT L i ve Oak Hal l WHAT ’S NEXT Evans Audi tor ium LIVE OAK HALL Film and Television Building EVANS AUDITORIUM Performance Hall L IVE OAK HALL OPENS FALL 2022 Designed by the Lawrence Group Architects with media consulting provided by Harvey Marshall Berling Associates, the new building provides hands-on learning spaces for film and television students. Live Oak Hall is a $10 million facility that will serve 600 students and faculty of the College of Fine Arts and Communication. The 10,000+ square foot facility features a film sound stage, TV studio, recording mix classroom, editing lab, ISO booth (for Foley sound effects and voiceovers), media flex spaces, and offices. The building is in response to the growing film program out of Theatre and Dance, and for the first time it gives Journalism and Mass Communication their own television studio,” says Dr. John Fleming, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication. “For Mass Comm students, the state of-the art television studio will feature a news set and a multipurpose set for sports and other features. In fall 2021, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication hired Ali Forbes, an assistant professor specializing in sports broadcasting, and Youjeong Kim, an associate professor specializing in news broadcast. To support the film program, in fall 2022, the Department of Theatre and Dance welcomes assistant professor Annie Silverstein; she is a 2020 Guggenheim Award recipient, and her most recent film, Bull , premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. For Tim England, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the newest building at Texas State University is a “longtime dream come true. For 30 years, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication had rented studio space at Alkek Library to teach video production and television news courses. The new facilities will help ensure that Texas State maintains its stature as a professionally accredited program. The new television studio will also serve as the home of “Bobcat Update,” an award-winning and campus-oriented newscast produced by students who major in electronic media. Sports and interview programs will also be produced in the new studio. The students and faculty in the B.F.A. Film Production program will also maximize use of Live Oak Hall. The program accepts students based on their GPA and a film portfolio that they have created, with each year seeing an increase in applications and acceptances. Increasing student interest is also seen via the recent creation of the Texas State Film Club, which has seen a continual rise in its membership. Film professor Johnny McAllister says: “It s not just film appreciation – they are vital to everything we do in the film program. They help set up guest speaker screenings, run workshops, and welcome freshmen into our community. They even help each other get jobs after graduation. McAllister says students coming from the program will have the skills to produce a feature film or a pilot of a TV show. We’re teaching what I call the complete filmmaker,” he says. Another strength that McAllister sees in the Texas State program is the proximity to the theatre department. “I think film is its own thing, but the fact that we have all of these shared skillsets and that we’re situated within the theatre department is special and unique. We have access to all these wonderful actors, technicians, costumers and designers. We have a department full of creative artists at play. Working with Chesney Morales Architects and Vaughn Construction, the university is completing an extensive renovation of Evans Auditorium. Located just off the Quad in the Evans Liberal Arts Building, the auditorium, with over 800 seats, is the largest non-sports venue on campus. The project will improve the seating, sightlines, acoustics, and accessibility in the existing auditorium, which will enhance performances, concerts, and lectures in the space. It will also add live streaming equipment. We tore out all the old seating, raised the floor, and then re-raked the floor to provide significantly improved sightlines,” says John Fleming, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication. “As one of the subcontractors, we hired Irwin Seating; they provide seating to over 90% of Broadway theatres, and so our patrons will have much more comfortable seats than what we had. Since Evans Auditorium is the main performance venue for the School of Music s large ensembles, improved acoustics were a top priority in the renovation. “Audiences will instantly notice the wood paneling on stage. It will look and sound like a concert hall. There are also acoustic diffusion panels on select surfaces in the auditorium. Both performers and audiences will have a significantly richer aural experience, says Fleming. Audiences who attend dance and opera productions will notice some upgrades to the lighting system. “We have added a lighting position [with LED color changing lights] over the apron of the stage, bought another Vari-Lite moving fixture, added some LED color changing lights to our side trees, and made some other small adjustments to our lighting inventory,” says Fleming. One of the unexpected consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic was the discovery of an audience for events being live streamed; in fact, during this past school year, the School of Music streamed more than 200 concerts which had more than 32,500 views. The renovations take this new audience into account: “We are adding live streaming equipment for a 3-camera shoot, with the ability to upgrade even further when funds permit,” says Fleming. “We’ll use it for music concerts and some university speakers. This will allow us to reach a wider audience. EVANS AUDI TORIUM WI LL RE-OPEN SEPTEMBER 1 , 2022 From September 8-23, it will host a special run of Broadway actor and Distinguished Alumnus Eugene Lee in August Wilson s How I Learned What I Learned , followed by our annual Choral Collage on September 25. October will feature concerts by the Wind Symphony, the Texas State Orchestra, and an opera production. November has a full slate of activities including comedian Alonzo Bodden, a dance concert, as well as musical concerts by Salsa del Rio, Mariachi Nueva Generacion, Concert Band, Treble Choir, and Symphonic Winds. December features the annual Jazz Nutcracker. In February, the venue will host the Duke Ellington Orchestra as part of our annual Eddie Durham Jazz Celebration and Hill Country Jazz Festival.