It鈥檚 not surprising that the Fountain School of Performing Arts actors who are front and centre in the Dalhousie Originals video series found the project to be a great learning experience.
After all, they had to memorize and deliver a roughly one-minute speech about a person of significance associated with the university during its 200-year history.
On top of that, the acting students had to audition for the roles and perform in front of a camera, which was a new experience for some.
Nineteen students in the acting program were enlisted for the ambitious project to produce videos to accompany feature stories about 52 people associated with the school who made an impact on the world.
Those chosen as Dalhousie Originals are being revealed weekly throughout 2018.
Off stage, on camera
For fourth-year acting student Taylor McMillen (BA鈥�18), it all started when a professor put out a call for volunteers to audition for the project.
鈥淪he thought acting students should be first in line to participate, so she took a poll and anyone who was interested signed up,鈥� he says.
Taylor, from Lower Sackville, says the auditioning and filming process turned out to be an interesting experience for the budding thespians.
鈥淎s theatre acting students, we don鈥檛 have much experience acting for the camera. So it was definitely a good experience in terms of getting in front of the camera and learning what an audition is like.鈥澨�
Taylor says he picked up one valuable lesson during the shoot.听
鈥淲hen I went to record one of my Originals speeches, it was filmed in the Ocean Sciences building, the brand new building, and it鈥檚 all bare bones, just concrete right now.
鈥淪o, I did my first take and the guy took off his headphones and was, like, 鈥榤an, you鈥檝e got to stop shouting.鈥� I鈥檓 so used to having to project in a theatre setting.鈥�
Taylor was featured in three videos for the series, which in his case can鈥檛 yet be revealed as the names are being kept under wraps until their debut.
So far the project has released the profiles of Richard Chapman Weldon, Jeff Dahn, George Elliott Clarke, James Robinson Johnston, George Munro, Mayann Francis, Edward Angus Banting, Burnley Allan "Rocky" Jones, Erik Demaine, Eliza Ritchie, Ford Doolittle, Wanda Thomas Bernard, Frederic Henry Sexton, David Precious and Kathryn Sullivan.
Keeping it in the community
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The videos were produced with Firefly Digital Media in conjunction with Dalhousie鈥檚 marketing department.
Hope McCallum, the university鈥檚 marketing director, says it made perfect sense to keep the acting roles in-house.
鈥淭he Dalhousie Originals themselves are students and alumni, faculty and researchers, donors and supporters, so it made sense to keep the project within the Dal community by having our own theatre students tell the stories,鈥� she says.
鈥淚nvolving the Fountain School of Performing Arts students, was a win-win situation 鈥� we benefitted from great, authentic performances from people who really cared about the project and the students got a chance to put their theory into practice and add to their portfolios.鈥�
Susan Stackhouse, a professor of voice and speech in the acting program, says she and her colleagues were equally enthusiastic about the opportunity the Dalhousie Originals series presented for the young actors.
鈥淲e were quite excited and considered this would be a wonderful capstone opportunity to audition for, and film for, a professional production company.鈥澨�
An enlightening experience
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Lindsey Ross (BA鈥�18), also found the on-camera work valuable as she prepares for a career in the arts.
Other than three classes with filmmaker and actor Cory Bowles, the acting students have focussed on theatre work, including recent appearances in the well-received production of Drums and Organs, written by Dalhousie alumna Gillian Clark.
Lindsey starred in two videos for the Originals series, which included a promo and a recently released video about Dr. David Precious, a dentist renowned for his ground-breaking work repairing cleft palates.
鈥淢ost of us were pretty excited because we hadn鈥檛 had many opportunities presented like that.鈥�
Both actors say that along with the technical aspects of working on the project, it was enlightening to find out more about the notable individuals featured in the series.
鈥淛ust getting to look back on all of these amazing people, whose work ethic and determination changed the face of whatever their field was; to see the trailblazing work is very inspiring as we get set to go out into the professional world,鈥� Lindsey says.听
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 very exciting to be part of the 2018 graduating class. It鈥檚 a monumental time for Dal.鈥�
The other student performers were Maggie Andersen, Ursula Calder, Andrew Chen, Lisa Corey, Zachary Comeau, Ian French, Claudia Gutierrez-Perez, Kayla Gunn, Stepheny Hunter, Michael Kamras, Brandon Liddard, Zo毛 Mackey-Boenner, Stephanie Mah, Delany McCormick, Erin McQueen, Michelle Raine and Nathan Simmons.听
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