The Student Collective Volume VII Issue I

Story portraits
Rhett Luedtke
March 2020 through March 2021 may have been one of the most difficult years of my
professional life. The theatre program not only had to cancel Passage by Christopher Chen half
way through the rehearsal process last March, but our 2020 seniors never had a final show, an
in person theatre banquet or a graduation. In the summer, we received the sad news that our
scene shop and costume shop supervisor positions had been cut to help the university save
money during the pandemic. During the 2020-21 school year, Covid-19 protocols prevented us
from producing a single piece of live theatre in Wood-Mar auditorium, the theatre major was
unexpectedly retired by the university, and then we were told that our fabulous acting teacher,
Cristi Miles, wasn’t going to have her contract renewed since we no longer had a major. So, 2020-
21 was tough on many levels.
And, yet, despite all the disheartening news, our theatre community stuck together through it all,
and did some amazing work this year! We transformed the Ross music practice rooms
into live virtual theatre studios and produced a live virtual production of Silent Sky by
Lauren Gunderson in November, and a radio music drama of A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens in December. Then we produced a virtual reading of
Hakugame by Skylar Rae (a senior), and followed it up with Parables,
an outdoor traveling theatre extravaganza created and developed by
Cristi Miles and 20 fabulous students. In addition, our students won
7 regional awards at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre
Festival in February. So, despite all the challenges and heart-ache we
rocked 2020-21 in so many ways!
I am deeply grateful that I have the opportunity to work with our
theatre students and faculty every day as we follow our God given
calling to be servant storytellers for our community. We are
resilient, strong and love what we do for the kingdom. My
prayer is that this last year will serve as a springboard
for our students as they launch into careers that love,
inspire and challenge their communities through the
power of stories. Keep after it!
The Student Collective 31