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Dr. Stevenson began in theatre while studying English and Pre-Med at Harvard. She studied Dramaturgy at the American Repertoire Theatre in Cambridge for two years, and went on to pursue a PhD in Theatre from NYU. And in 2001, less than a year after beginning her career at Mount Saint Vincent, she inherited the Mount’s Theatre mnor.
The Theatre minor is designed to encompass studies in English, Communication, and Fine Arts departments, so that students take classes that are not necessarily specific to theatre. Dr. Stevenson believes that a study in theatre must encompass education and application. “We look at ways to focus on the literature, analyze the text and talk about what you find. Then you apply that to character, set design, manner of speech, how and what to emphasize, or any other part of the production.”
Dr. Stevenson has a very realistic attitude towards theatre as a career, especially for students studying the craft so close to Manhattan. “Unless you’re in a theatre conservatory, you shouldn’t limit your entire education to theatre. We don’t want to limit people to an area in which employment is difficult at best. Our goal is to show students how to use the performance arts to enrich what it is they’re studying.”
Dr. Stevenson also encourages students to apply as much of their theatrical education as possible to the vast resources of New York City. “Times Square is just 25 minutes from Mount Saint Vincent. There is so much available in New York to take advantage of.” Dr. Stevenson offers a Plays in Production class, during which students have the opportunity not only to study plays, but to actually see productions in New York City. Last summer she accompanied students to a theatre conference sponsored by Stage Directions Magazine, where they observed lectures and workshops by well-known professionals in the industry. Last fall, Dr. Stevenson arranged a College trip to see the Broadway hit Wicked. “Whenever we can mix faculty and students for an event, it’s a great thing.”
She also encourages students to use the Performance Arts Library in Lincoln Center. “It’s this great resource and it seems like no one knows about it. Students can read any script, any book on theatre; they can watch Broadway and Off-Broadway plays of the last twenty years.”
But her plans don’t stop there. Her hopes for the future of the minor include expanding on the educational value of theatre through a Children’s Theatre program. The program would be useful to elementary and secondary education majors as well as other students, and would apply theatre to a basic education. Dr. Stevenson wants to see the return of the performance arts into the basic curriculum. “The education system is getting so back to basics. It’s dangerous that art is falling by the wayside.”
The signs of the Theatre Minor’s growth under Dr. Stevenson are certainly clear at the present. Theatre Minors and other students this year have participated in productions of The Boy Friend, Love Letters, Bang Bang You’re Dead, and The Rose Tattoo, along with events like Musical Plates, in which students perform songs while serving dinner, Dead End, a comic play celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday, and theatre workshops, including one hosted by Dr. Stevenson on performing Shakespeare. In addition, Dr. Stevenson’s playwriting class presented a night of one-act plays, with Dr. Stevenson as the central character in one student’s play—she starred as herself.