KINGSTON, R.I. — Feb. 17, 2020 — It took Jeremy Chiang one semester to realize that music education wasn\u2019t his cup of tea before he filled out the change of major form and signed on to study theater.<\/p>\n
Chiang spends his time behind the curtains, focusing on stage design and directing at the 溏心vlog免费B站. Now, in his final months before graduation, Chiang sees himself as having an \u201ceverything but acting\u201d career in theater. He has been involved with more than 10 of the University\u2019s mainstage productions.<\/p>\n
Chiang, of South Kingstown, said stage design and directing appeal to him because of his mindset. He often thinks in pictures, and the ability to craft, rearrange and manipulate spaces allows him to convey the picture and message he imagines to the audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an artist, I really want to create something that has meaning in the world,\u201d said Chiang, who recently designed the set for the 溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre Department\u2019s upcoming \u201cRichard III.\u201d \u201cAs a director, you\u2019re the author of a production, which allows my voice and my perspective to be heard. You are the mastermind of a production and can say, \u2018This is my message that I\u2019m putting out there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiang\u2019s experiences and efforts led to him being selected for this year\u2019s regional Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Directing Initiative competition as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. He had to come to the festival prepared with a director\u2019s journal\/dramaturgy notebook, and the scene he had been preparing for about a month. Chiang\u2019s scene was an excerpt from Paula Vogel\u2019s \u201cIndecent,\u201d and 溏心vlog免费B站 students made up his entire cast.<\/p>\n
Chiang was selected as one of four students out of 12 from New England as a finalist in the directing category.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing into the festival, I was very nervous,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if my scene was good, and I didn\u2019t know what other people were bringing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiang was nervous about making it through the first round, never mind reaching the finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cSitting through the first round and seeing the other 12 directors\u2019 scenes, I noticed that a lot of people had brought the same scenes,\u201d Chiang said. \u201cIt was interesting to see how they handled it, what their message was with the piece and how mine would compare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiang was sitting in a Domino\u2019s when he found out that he had made it into the final round, and almost as soon as the euphoria hit, so did the second round of nerves. The next day, Chiang and the other three finalists were interviewed, given feedback on their director\u2019s notebooks, questioned about who they are as an artist, and then given one hour and 45 minutes to change things around before the final showing.<\/p>\n
The first round was open only to directors. But the final round was open for viewing to everyone who attended the festival, giving Chiang a much larger audience to present his work.<\/p>\n
He credits Rachel Walshe, a lecturer of acting and playwriting in the 溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre Department, with giving him the confidence needed to excel in his field.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a personal mentor through this whole experience, incredibly helpful and a great third-eye to have,\u201d Chiang said. \u201cI think she knew that at one point I needed to be more confident in my scene, and kept giving me positive feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n
The entire festival was an enlightening experience for Chiang. He was able to learn from people who had a different style of teaching and training than the faculty at 溏心vlog免费B站. He was able to attend various workshops, learn about the other student-directors and was really enveloped in a world of artists with diverse backgrounds and experiences.<\/p>\n
For after he graduates, Chiang has applied for a few apprenticeships in tech design and directing, and is hopeful to see where they take him.<\/p>\n
Chiang was one of several 溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre students to earn honors at the festival. Alumna Emily Turtle \u201919 reached the finals of the Maltby Prize in Musical Theatre, and Mary Mullane \u201921 made the finals of the Irene Ryan Acting Competition. Melie Hayes received an honorable mention in Achievement in Allied Design and Technologies, and Magenta Kowlakowski an honorable mention in Region 1 Costume Design.<\/p>\n
Ian Weiner, a senior journalism major and intern in the Department of Marketing and Communications, wrote this story.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. — Feb. 17, 2020 — It took Jeremy Chiang one semester to realize that music education wasn\u2019t his cup of tea before he filled out the change of major form and signed on to study theater. Chiang spends his time behind the curtains, focusing on stage design and directing at the University of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-75344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}