Theater by students, for students

Production company gives all UNM students a chance to get involved in theater

SCRAP productions, a student-led production company run by the Associated Students of Theatre and Dance, is giving students from all majors a chance to work with a production company.

“It’s all about providing opportunities for students to do real theater,” said Stefanie Shavhar, president of SCRAP. “We are trying to provide opportunities for hands-on theater outside of class, which may not usually give you the same experience as doing real theater.”

The birth of SCRAP

SCRAP was originally called the “X Committee,” but the company’s name changed when it branched out of the X. SCRAP began producing plays at other venues around the city beginning with “Cowboy Mouth,” which showed at The Box Performance Space last fall.

“Last year we decided to change our name because we wanted something fresh and not tied to the department,” Shavhar said. “We wanted to go out on our own.”

The members decided on SCRAP. The name is not an acronym; Shavhar said they liked the way the name rang, so it stuck. The production company aims to do three to four student-produced shows per year that students direct, produce and act in. There is at least one show per semester in the X, and sometimes off campus as well to give members experience with other theater companies. According to Shavhar, SCRAP is also looking into producing shows at the Auxiliary Dog Theatre.

Shavhar’s elected position serves as a kind of producer for the directors, while the entire company itself acts as the overall producer for shows. The company gives students guidance, but also encourages them to work on their own.

“We really try to make it as true to life as possible, so that they get the experience of working with a production company,” Shavhar said. “It really teaches you—especially for directors—a big lesson in how to put a show together.”

Shavhar said directors are able to utilize help and resources from the department, but that they try to keep it strict so that directors learn “how to be creative, how to manage a show, and how to balance a budget.”

Although SCRAP productions provides experience for theater and dance majors to practice what they are learning in the classroom, it is not just for students in those majors. Members’ majors range from biology and education to psychology.

“They come from all over,” Shavhar said. “We are open to everyone and it is not something that is out of the reach of anybody. We are all about bringing these people together, because everyone has something to bring to theater.”

About 20 to 30 members attend most meetings, but overall about 50 to 60 members are involved in shows. SCRAP meetings are every Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Room B409, across from the X, in the Center for the Arts building.

Shavhar said her favorite aspect of SCRAP is the creativity that comes from the students involved.

“I think it’s just the immense amount of creativity tending all of these young, fresh minds working together and making these pieces that are entirely unique and very outbreaking as far as theater is concerned,” she said. “It’s what we hold up experimental theater to attain.”

Play proposals

SCRAP will be accepting play proposals for the fall semester until April 6. Shavhar said they accept as many proposals as are submitted, but usually only one or two plays are chosen to be performed the next semester.

“We usually take one or two, but next semester might only be one spot. If people propose with venues in mind and things like that, we might accommodate that,” she said. “It’s kind of a case-by-case basis. We accept as many as people want to submit.”

Recent endeavors

The most recent SCRAP show, “Thou Art Villain and Tibetan Mountain Boat: An Evening of Original One-Acts,” which debuted on March 5, featured two comedies written by student playwrights. Although they are produced as one show, they are actually two separate sets of directors and actors. Theater major James Blessing wrote “Tibetan Mountain Boat,” and Theodore Jackson, a December theater graduate, wrote “Thou Art Villain.” Blessing’s and Jackson’s play proposals were chosen by SCRAP in the fall.

Together featuring superheroes, villains, henchpeople, a chupacabra, pink flamingos, a boat sailing the mountains of Tibet, improv and audience participation, the writers intended their plays to show that experimental theater can be both collaborative and fun.

“I have seen goofy things happen in theaters, and I love that,” Blessing said. “Theater is different from movies—you can literally reach out and touch someone.”

Jackson said “Thou Art Villain,” about a supervillain who lost his superhero and is figuring out what to do about it, was influenced by a combination of “a taste of comic books and a taste of theater.”

Rebecca Jo Griner, director of “Tibetan Mountain Boat,” said she hopes audiences can have fun at the performances and that they support their fellow students.

“Theater is fun—it can be anything you want it to be,” she said. “This is theater written, acted and directed by students. Supporting this is supporting your peers.”

Griner said she enjoys being a part of SCRAP because of the support the members give one another.

“We get really strong support—everyone pulls together,” she said.

Jackson said that the only difference between working with students and professionals is formality.

“I’d like to think that in a sense it would be the same somewhere else, because everyone’s always learning, no matter how much they’ve done something,” Jackson said. “It’s fun to work with students. No one’s getting paid, so they’re there to learn, and there to have fun.”

He said a unique aspect of the process of creating a work for other students to perform is collaboration.

“I can only start the process, and other people end up finishing it,” Jackson said. “It’s one of the things I do love about theater.”

Learn more about SCRAP

Written March 12, 2009

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