By Jescy Rodriguez–Starting a new school year means meeting new people and getting to know new faculty. This week we start with a professor newly planted into the metaphorical garden we know as the Theatre Department. His name is Kenton Jones.
I started off the interview asking a very basic “Who are you?” Kenton then kindly showed me the nameplate on his desk with a slight chuckle. He proudly added that he is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a Master of Fine Arts in Applied Drama and Theatre for young audiences.
This semester he will teach a section of Intro to Theatre as well as the Applied Theatre courses held in the Klinger-Neal Theatre. He’ll be taching students the basics of the theatrical world, as well as the application of set construction, lighting, and the rest of the “stage magic” used to make productions come to life.
Almost Maine will be one of the productions this semester. Also on the schedule for the theatre is Jack and the Beanstalk, a traditional children’s play that Kenton is sure to inject some of his fine arts and youth audience prowess into.
When I asked Prof. Jones what attracted him to this campus his response was, “Well, I was looking for a small comfortable college, and I am definitely happy I have found one.”
Later in our conversation, I asked Kenton what kind of impact he hoped to have on our Theatre curriculum and the department in general. He replied, “I am really looking forward to contributing to the overall aesthetic of the Theatre Department. I’d like to expand on the amount of youth theatre we teach and perhaps even invite middle and high school students to some of our plays. Interacting more and making a greater outreach to prospective students with interests in theater in the local schools of Sioux City is one of my key aspirations.”
This would be a familiar task for Kenton considering his experience with the group Clean and Sober Theatre (CAST), from Tuscan, Arizona. Kenton worked with CAST assisting kids, ages 10-18, to create plays based on the personal experiences of youth in dysfunctional families.
When referring to the current curriculum, Kenton said he would be ecstatic to teach a May Term, which could feature elements of improvisation, one of his specialties as a Theatre professional and enthusiast. His ideas about the class included basic improv games “in order to loosen up the students out of their shyness and to encourage them to think on their toes.”
Towards the end of our conversation I asked Prof. Jones if he was willing to teach this class beyond the limits of our campus. His face instantly lit up. You could see the gears of his imagination cranking hard at work, for he had not realized that he could uproot his proposed May Term class and put it in the heart and soul of improvisational acting, the Windy City, Chicago, Illinois. This idea came to him as I was interviewing him in his office in Charles City, so as of now nothing is set in stone, but if there happens to be a May Term to Chicago involving The Roots of Improvisational Acting in the future, you heard it here first.
