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Graphic courtesy of Kendra Murphy
february 23, 2016
play with your food comes back to cccc
By Candace Powers
With spring semester underway, the
Arts and Communication department is
poised to begin its annual staged reading
program Play with Your Food. Play with
Your Food is an opportunity for new
and unknown playwrights to not only
see their work come to life on a stage,
but also to receive feedback, as the reading features a “talk back” section where
the audience has a chance to voice opinions and thoughts about the piece. Play
with Your Food is also an excellent
chance for student actors here at 4C’s
to practice their cold-reading skills, as
a staged read requires literally reading
lines directly from the script while still
maintaining a presence on the stage and
a connection with the audience.
Though open auditions are not generally held for Play with Your Food,
students were cast for the first piece by
reaching out to actors who auditioned
for, but were not cast in, this spring’s
production of God Bless You Mr. Rosewater as well as other students who have
expressed a prior interest in the performing arts. “It’s not completely fair,” said
Ross MacDonald, 4C’s new Performing
Arts Coordinator, “But nothing really is
fair when it comes to theater because
it’s so subjective.” Any students interested in participating in the next two
installments of Play with Your Food are
encouraged to contact MacDonald.
MacDonald may be a newcomer to
the 4C’s community, but already has big
plans for Play with Your Food. MacDonald, as part of a panel with Adjunct
Arts and Communication Professors
Vana Trudeau and Patricia Jo McKey,
review all of the submission for three
categories (Short plays, one act plays,
and full length plays) “We got absolutely whacked with submissions this time
around, which is brilliant,” MacDonald
said, though it did make it more difficult
to pick just three to stage for Play with
Your Food. Because of the inundation
of submissions, in the future MacDonald would like to make Play with Your
Food a year-round program, rather than
strictly a spring semester event.
“I want to open up a dialogue with
the students. I want the students to contact me and talk to me and tell me what
they want to do, what they really want
out of the program,” MacDonald said,
“What I really would like to do is be
able to give the students an opportunity
of pursuing their dreams in the 21st century.” Going forward, MacDonald would
love to see more submissions for Play
with Your Food from 4C’s students,
as well as possibly bringing in professional directors from the Boston theater
scene to work with aspiring 4C’s actors.
MacDonald sees Play with Your Food
as a stepping stone for 4C’s students
involved in the Arts to gain valuable
experience and broaden their horizons.
For more information on how to submit
works please see the Play with Your
Food page under “College Events” on
the 4C’s website.
This year’s Play with Your Food
schedule begins on Friday, February
26 at 7:30 pm in the Tilden Arts Center with Orbiting Mars, written by Peter Snoad and directed for Play with
Your Food by Neil McGarry. McGarry
is a 4C’s alum, as well as the founder
and Artistic Director of The Bay Colony Shakespeare Company. The second
piece, The Late Rosie O’Callaghan by
Jeanne Beckwith will be directed by
McKey and staged on March 4. On
March 11, Play with Your Food will
read Toxic Elixirs, written by Owen
Doyle and directed by another Arts and
Communication adjunct professor, Elizabeth Rapoza. Toxic Elixirs, described by
MacDonald as a “biotech drama” is a
little different than anything the 4C’s
community may have seen before. The
admission fee for Play with Your Food
is a nonperishable food item to be donated to a local food pantry, so grab a
canned good and bring your inner critic
to Play with Your Food.
Shrinking enrollment cause for concern at cccc
available on the college’s website.
The Task Force, which included faculty,
staff, and a student, compared staffing between 4C’s and 5 similarly sized Massachusetts community colleges. According
to their data, 4C’s staffed nearly one third
the average number of employees in advising than the comparable institutions.
In addition to adding new advisors, McCarey says the advising team piloted a
new approach this academic year by holding group advising sessions.
“We broke down the advising conversation in small groups,” said McCarey,
“New students who never met each other
attended a session with an advisor and
learned how to log on to their campus
email, register for classes, and walked out
talking to each other like they’ve already
been friends.”
The advising team also used this new
model with returning students. According
to McCarey the group sessions have been
effective in connecting students to the
college community and their academic
advising process.
While McCarey seeks to better serve
students with a stronger advising team,
she says the college is reaching out to
more high school students on Cape Cod
through the Pathways Program.
“We offer on-sight admissions where
come spring of senior year students can
take the CPT and meet with an academic
advisor,” said McCarey, adding, “They
actually leave that day with a fall schedule
in hand after meeting with an advisor.”
The college also has additional plans
for recruitment from local high schools.
According to McCarey, on April 27 the
college will host an event inviting prospective students from 21 schools. It will
be dubbed Diversity Day on the West
Barnstable campus.
“We’ll have round table sessions with
prospective students and current students
across campus to talk about social and racial justice issues,” McCarey said, adding
she expects as many as 150 newcomers
to engage with current students and talk
about diversity.
While the college is working to better
serve its current students and attract and
engage new student of all ages, McCarey
said, “We are taking every step possible to
reach our goals.”
Graphics by Alex Tvsirbut
continued from page 1
Learning.
“We’ve hired two new academic advisors through the SAIL grant. Now, we’re
able to serve more students better,” said
McCarey, noting the importance of academic advisors keeping students on track
to taking the credits needed to graduate.
“We want more students to see their advisors more frequently.”
Though the student population has been
dwindling, the need for more academic
advisors exists, as indicated by the college’s Right Sizing Task Force Initial
Report. The Task Force “was convened
in spring 2015 by President Cox to provide initial analysis and recommendations
and to help align resources to best server
CCCC students,” according to the report,
Information from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning