By The Cal State Long Beach theatre arts department is working to make its spring performances a little more epic.
Through its Educational Performance in Community (EPIC) class, the department has created a year-long, community-based theatre performance company that will focus on current social issues.
Each year during the fall semester, EPIC students will speak with community members about a social issue and use the information gathered to create live performances for the spring semester, according to Anne D’Zmura, chair of the theatre arts department. The performances will focus on one social issue per year.
“It’s not about solving a problem, but really EPIC is about raising awareness and starting a dialogue both one-on-one and with the performances in the larger community,” she said.
D’Zmura said that a Los Angeles-based company, Cornerstone Theater Company, inspired the idea for CSULB’s EPIC class. The company was started more than 25 years ago by Harvard graduates and works with different communities across the nation to increase understanding about social issues with its creative performances, according to its website.
“A lot of the techniques that are being used in this class and through this process came from Cornerstone Theater Company,” D’Zmura said.
This year’s performances will focus on the topic of water use and raise awareness about how the community can change its water expenditure, D’Zmura said. She said that to prepare, students have visited the Port of Los Angeles and other places to gather information for the spring performance.
Senior theatre performance major Jay Dent said that the class will tour Long Beach during the spring, visiting local high schools and offering free performances at other places in the community.
“It’s always great to have an audience,” Dent said. “That’s what any performance major appreciates, and the more acting that I am doing the better experience [I will get],”
Dent said EPIC has helped her to become a more “independent worker.”
“Being in this class, we have been very proactive with communicating with people,” Dent said. “I’ve contacted independent contractors and [Facilities Management Sustainability], and we have made the calls ourselves.”
Ezra LeBank, head of movement in the theatre department, is the instructor for the EPIC class at CSULB.
“[EPIC] will have an impact both through interviews and story circles, where our students meet with members of the community from all over Long Beach to hear stories about the topic we are currently investigating,” LeBank said.
