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Sherrice Kelly displayed her excellent leadership and organization
skills as Festival Director for the 27th Chautauqua Student Theatre
and Film Festival in spring of 2006. As Festival Director, Sherrice
created a line of communication between Publicity, Festival Design
and Front of House Staff. These administrative skills and overall
knowledge of how the theatre arts department functions made her
an ideal candidate for the Theatre Arts Student Production Liaison
Position, which is part of the Chancellors Undergraduate Internship
Program (CUIP).
Above all else the Student Production Liaison is the conduit between
the Theatre Arts Faculty and Theatre Arts Students. Sherrice Kelly
was successful at reaching out to freshman and continuing students,
and to answer their questions and concerns. By sitting on the Production
and Executive Committees, Sherrice was able to alert Theatre Arts
faculty and staff about student issues. Sherrice organized a variety
of workshops, along with winter and spring auditions, which required
balancing the needs of the department and all its facets of production.
Sherrice worked outside of her department to investigate other issues
affecting the theatre arts community, such as university dining
and parking.
The main project of Sherrice’s internship was the creation
of a handbook for the student production company BarnStorm, and
updating an existing Chautauqua play festival Handbook, created
by a previous CUIP. The BarnStorm handbook needed to be a simple
but extensive document. It needed to hold basic information that
any member of the company should know and read. And it should also
have guidelines, for working in the barn and within BarnStorm, as
it is such a different experience than working on an average theatre
arts production. Sherrice found it essential to work on the BarnStorm
handbook with the current Artistic Director and Managing Director
of Barnstorm.
Sherrice greatly enjoyed the class “Leadership and Institution
Building” taught by William A. Ladusaw. The class provided
a wide-angle view of the university and touches on an array of subjects
including Student Affairs, Campus Planning and the Academic Senate.
The class brings students from across the campus together, and teaches
them the same set of effective leadership skills. The class helped
Sherrice in her internship many times. “Twice I had a problem
in the department, and the next day it came up in the CUIP class.
It was perfect,” she said.
Sherrice is graduating this June, and immediately starting work
with Shakespeare Santa Cruz as the Assistant Production Manager.
Without the opportunity to be Student Production Liaison, she would
have never gained the organizational and professional skills necessary
for this job.
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