News From:
Regional Sections
Southwest: Elect Officers, Present Awards
The Southwest Regional Section held elections for new officers at its annual section meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.
New faces, and some old ones, took positions on the board of directors. Kris Hanssen (Sam Houston State University) became President after serving for a year as President-Elect, Tom Grabowski was re-elected as Vice-President for Membership, and James Cunningham, previous Past President, was elected as Director at Large.
Six members joined the board for the first time: April Keith (Sam Houston State University) as Vice-President for Programming, George Curry (University of Houston) as Treasurer, Jane Childs (Stagecraft Institute) as Vice-President for Development, Daniel Archibald (Oklahoma State University) as Director at Large, Chris Bell (Oklahoma State University) as Student Director at Large, and Leonard Miller (Vari-Lite) as Commercial Director at Large.
Two newly created awards were given at the section meeting. The Oscar G. Brockett Teaching Award was given to Kris Hanssen (Sam Houston State University) and the Don J. Childs Student Service Award was given to Brant Gentry (West Texas A&M University). In addition, Jack Hagler from Schuler Shook was awarded the Forrest A. Newlin Founder’s Award, and Kasey Allee-Foreman (University of Oklahoma) received the Mildred and Glenn Martin Jr. Service Award.
Plans to hold the annual winter symposium at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, in January were announced at the meeting.
Ohio Valley: Meeting, Website, Hall of Fame Trip Highlight Activities
Approximately 45 members of the Ohio Valley Regional Section attended the section membership meeting in Charlotte. Programming for the fall 2011 conference to be held on September 24 at Allegheny College and election of officers for the coming year were the main points of discussion at the meeting.
Region members extended a sincere thanks to Rob Johnson, Otterbein University, for his years of service to the section as webmaster. The section welcomes Aaron Bollinger, head of theatre production at Park Place University in Pittsburgh, as the new webmaster. He is already at work on some new ideas and may have a redesigned website soon.
May 6 is the deadline to register for the spring visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on May 20. Check the website for further information including discount accommodations at the Wyndham Hotel Cleveland at Playhouse Square. There is still time to register.
Rocky Mountain: Hold First Aid, Online Communication Events
On April 2, the Rocky Mountain Regional Section held two events.
In Denver on the Metro/Auraria campus, several USITT members trained for their two-year certification in First-Aid and CPR. Possibly the highlight of the day was doing compressions to the beat of "Stayin' Alive" by the BeeGees, the perfect rhythm for this situation and appropriately easy to remember.
Following the class, members throughout Colorado and Wyoming were able to participate in the section’s first online chat through the RMUSITT website, focusing on health and safety in the theatre. Several documents and ideas for putting together sessions/training for regional high schools (and possible participation in the Thespian conference) were shared. Discussions will continue through the website's online forums, and the chat transcript and further supporting documents will be placed online when possible.
