Renegade Rip Issue 1 Feb. 10, 2021

Features
Page 4
The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Wednesday Feb. 10, 2021
BC choirs find a new way to perform
By Teresa Balmori Perez
Reporter
The Bakersfield College Choirs have adapted
to a safe and virtual environment while still being
able to rehearse and perform in an outdoor setting,
while following safety precautions.
The BC choirs have decided to begin their semester
through Zoom due to the high cases of
COVID in Kern County. However, they are planning
to meet in person for rehearsals this spring
semester. “We will begin with each section coming
in to meet with me in the outdoor theatre. This
will include about eight people or less at a time.”
According to Jennifer Garrett, the choir director at
BC “each of us must do the health questionnaire
and be approved to come onto campus.” To insure
the safety of the students temperature checks are
required before anyone enters the rehearsal, Garrett
explained. “I even prop open all of the doors
so that no one has to touch a door and everyone
uses hand sanitizer anytime they come out of the
building.”
It has been a challenge to conduct during the
pandemic due to not being able to hear how the
person is pronouncing their vowels or the tone of
their voice because people are not side by side,
Garrett explained. They have also had problems
using Zoom. “ We all are well aware, the latency
on Zoom makes it impossible for us to unmute
and sing. It is utter chaos,” Garrett said. “ This can
be quite discouraging and unfulfilling to someone
who signed up for a choral or instrumental music
experience.”
Despite all the challenges through conducting
a choir online, it has been surprising how the students
have dedicated themselves to continuing to
make music and finding ways to share music with
each other, Garrett explained. “Music is a big part
of who we are and
to not have that avenue
of expression has
caused many to suffer
from significant depression
and anxiety,”
Garrett stated.
As for adapting to
conduct in a virtual
environment, Garrett
explained that
students were able
to put together a virtual
concert entitled
“Becoming Us.” The
virtual concert premiered
on YouTube
Premium on Nov. 30,
2020. The students
were able to do this
by prerecorded music
through their phones
and through the engineering
software,
Logic Pro X. They
then filmed the concert
at the BC Outdoor
Theater, Hart Park, and through pictures of
students holding up inspirational signs all while
socially distancing, Garrett stated. According to
Professor Garrett, the choirs will be doing a virtual
concert on May 15 at 7 p.m. The concert will
be named “Of Things That Matter Most” and
will premiere on YouTube Premium. “ This concert
will be a little different than the last concert,”
Garrett stated. “We are rehearsing over Zoom and
also in small groups, socially distant in the Outdoor
Theatre.”
Professor Garrett explained that she is grateful
PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER GARRET
The Bakersfield Choirs rehearsing through Zoom while holding up
inspirational quotes.
for her students that continue to share their talents
with other students and the world. She hopes that
they will continue to lift each other through any
challenges they face. Garrett looks forward to seeing
more people join their choir for the fall semester
of 2021.
For more information on the BC Choirs, students
can email professor Garrett, or one can go
to the BC website and look for any events or additional
information. Students can also go to their
YouTube page, “Bakersfield College Choirs” for
any live or prerecorded performances.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER GARRETT
The Renegade Chorus singing in the Outdoor Theater at BC.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER GARRET
The Bakersfield Choir Chamber Singers at Hart Park.
BC’s theater program goes virtual
By Jaylene Collins
Reporter
The Bakersfield College Theatre
Department students and professors
are working to create two productions
for this spring semester.
Complying with BC’s COVID-19
guidelines, most rehearsals are now
held over Zoom.
“It’s not ideal,” said Brian Sivesind,
a theater professor at BC. “But we are
able to work with small groups and
talk in theory about how the shows
will look.”
During these Zoom rehearsals,
everyone is preparing to record segments
of the play with small groups
that will meet in person later in the
semester. These clips will be put together
to create a full show that can
be watched safely from home.
Still, putting together productions
virtually comes with a new set of
challenges.
The department is not able to do
everything they were able to do in rehearsal
pre-COVID through Zoom;
they are unable to focus on the looks,
blocking for the show and actors are
no longer able to practice in the environment
where they will be performing.
“For the direction, it’s really a challenge
to communicate when we aren’t
in person,” Sivesind explained. “The
screen limits interaction and we can’t
really see the whole picture. We focus
on how things sound and how actors
deliver lines, but even that isn’t completely
clear when coming through
the internet.”
Sivesind added that they also had
to carefully select the productions
the department would be putting on.
The shows could not have any crowd
scenes and had to be capable of being
split up evenly between the actors.
Sivesind also said they did not focus
on the pandemic for this semester’s
theme because they think people
need some escapism right now.
However, virtual production has
not been all negative; Sivesind stated
a positive to recording productions
is that students are now able to
learn more about the film and television-based
aspects of acting instead
of just the live theater acting.
Despite the setbacks that come with
the pandemic, Sivesind said the department
is working through it, trying
to find the positives and learn
new things that can be applied to the
department in the future.
Although the pandemic makes everything
more stressful, Sivesind said
it is still important to pursue art.
“While survival is always the priority,
art is an essential element of
society that we too often take for
granted,” he said.
Productions planned for this spring
are: “Fairy Tales,” by Angela Carter
that
will be directed by theater professor
Cody Ganger and “The Last Days
of Judas Iscariot,” by Stephen Adly
Guirgis which Sivesind will direct.
The productions will be premiering
in March and April, respectively, and
they will be available on the
streaming platform Vimeo.