Missouri Southern State University - Crossroads Yearbook (Joplin, MO)

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“The Theatre is the only art form that dies every night only to be reborn each day, for it exists whenever ac¬ tors perform before an audience.” —Oscar Brockett 25

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BEFORE the SHOW GOES ON by Raymond Lee Senior Theatre major Each year at MSSC a group of dedicated young men and women endeavor to expand both their knowledge and experience as theatre students. These students come from all areas of the country. To some theatre is a full-time major, to others it’s a part-time activity that sublimates their regular course of study. But they all share a common goal; to produce the best in theatrical entertainment. The theatre has been called the most complex of the arts, since it requires many creators. The various creative elements which go into the college’s 4 main stage or 2 traveling children’s shows are usually provid¬ ed by the students. The visual background, for example is the work of student set, lighting and costume designers, who seek to interpret the qualities found in the script through visual means. Several months in ad¬ vance of production, the student designers research the period in which the play is set, studying styles of clothing, architecture, furniture, and other elements to prepare designs that are historically accurate as well as theatrically effective. Student actors embody the mood and spirit of a play by creating means of expression through body and voice, the role, and the stage en¬ vironment. Student technicians work to achieve the application of the designers’ creations into practical form. In like manner all those who are involved in the many aspects of production work to achieve a high degree of excellence characteristic of the Missouri Southern Theatre Department. 24

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WHAT IS ART? Art is an integral part of our lives. We create it, we destroy it. We do a lot with art, from the stamp on a letter, to this book. Artists help us see, adapt, and use ideas. Art is different for each person. For the senior art students art is their life. No longer are they considered senior art students, but are students of the arts, creators and explorers. They express our feelings and needs through their media. Our dreams become visible through artists’ work, be it a comic strip, an invitation to graduation ceremony or a commer¬ cial advertisement. It takes much self-discipline and hard work to create a piece of art. Art students spend perhaps three times more hours on their classes than the credit hours indicate. Rethrowing ceramic pottery, doing many different studies of a single portrait, or spending a week to a month of research and development of a pain¬ ting is time consuming work that the artists might do before presenting the completed piece for a grade. by Terry Menard, Artist After three and a half years of specialized courses in the different areas of art, plus all the general education requirements for gradua¬ tion, the art students must take Senior Studio. In this course the students are required to do a survey paper, exhibit works of the previous two years and present an oral disser¬ tation for the art faculty. The senior art shows are held in the Spiva Art Center gallery and are open to the public for viewing and the sale of selected works. 26