It is
fall, 1998, fourteen years after the events of the last chapter. Chancellor Murphy was
wrong -- the University of Kansas has been able to support two separate programs in
radio-television-film, at least to the present time. There is a large, well supported RTV
sequence in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications; there is a Department of
Theatre and Film in the College which contains degree options in the area of film. It also
is quite large and, in recent years, finally has received the financial support it
deserves. There is every reason to believe that both programs will grow; perhaps, in an
informal way, a bridge between them may be established.
The fall of 1984 was the first semester without
the presence of the RTVF Committee, which had administered the RTVF program and which had
served to assist in communications between Journalism and Speech and Drama. There was, of
course, the Memorandum of Agreement of 1981, and its subsequent Clarification, which were
attempts to describe the role of each program. But there were some early gray areas which
certainly were not clarified by the catalog copy available to the students. The 1984
catalog had been prepared earlier, and it still described the programs as they existed in
1982. It didn't help when, in 1984, the Speech side called itself the Department of
Theatre and Radio-Television-Film. Finally, the catalog of 1986-88 provided a more
accurate description of the current programs by stating that the Department of Theatre and
Media Arts (note the new title) would emphasize "performance and production of
radio-television-film" while the "radio-television areas of broadcast news,
sales and promotion, corporate television and commercial production" would be found
in the School of Journalism.1 (There was no confusion
about Film Studies -- it only existed in Speech.)
There were a few issues to be addressed. Max
Utsler, of Journalism RTV, did meet with Bobby Patton and Chuck Berg on several occasions
to discuss them. For example, there was some concern about the use of the term
"production" in course and catalog descriptions; it was decided to always use
"production of" in order to be more clear.2 In
another early decision, the faculty of Journalism had to decide how to count courses in
Theatre and Media Arts -- which ones, for example, would be counted as
"professional" hours, and which might work in the "3 x 3"requirement.3 There also was a tentative agreement that, if possible, a
future production facility might be share by both programs. The largest issue, to Speech
and Drama, was the need for greater support from the administration in terms of faculty
lines and operating expenses, but this was not something which involved Journalism.
Soon the programs were inexorably moving away
from each other. Each one was preoccupied with its own problems and with the day-to-day
routine of academic life. What follows herein is a sketch of their separate development.
A. Radio and Television in the School of Journalism and Mass
Communications.
There have been three Journalism Deans since
1984. Lee Young was appointed Acting Dean in 1986, when Del Brinkman became Vice
Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Young was followed in 1987 by Mike Kautsch, a Professor
in the News Sequence. Kautsch resigned in 1997 and Jimmy Gentry began his tour of duty in
the fall of that year. In this same period, the Radio-Television sequence has had two
heads -- Max Utsler and John Katich. Utsler began in 1984 and served until August, 1990.
John Katich, an Assistant Professor of RTV, was the sequence head until the winter of
1997, when he ran into some health problems. At that time, Utsler agreed to return to the
firing line.
There were a few major losses on the faculty,
most of them occuring early in the period. In 1984, Peter Dart indicated a desire to
transfer to the RTVF program in Speech and Drama, but he went on a leave of absence that
fall and subsequently elected to stay at McNeese State University. George Rasmussen and
Sam Elliott left in the mid- eighties, having failed to attain tenure. Part-time lecturer
Art Wolf took his second retirement, and I retired in December, 1988. Several graduate
students took on teaching assignments, and then moved on; among them, Stuart Esrock, Ridge
Shannon and Brad Weaver. Two visiting professors during this time were Harry Strader and
Elmer Lower.
But there has been a remarkable lack of turnover
in the tenure track faculty positions in the last fourteen years, which certainly must
have helped to give the program stability and continuity. One professor, Kris Wilson, came
in 1996 but moved to another university in 1998. But all of the people who were appointed
in the early years of the period have achieved tenure and are still here: They are John
Broholm, who teaches broadcast news and chairs the graduate program of the School; John
Katich, who teaches various courses in management and sales; Adrienne Rivers, who teaches
primarily courses in production, writing and news; Max Utsler, who currently chairs the
sequence and teaches news and a broad spectrum of other courses; and Tom Volek, who
teaches history, law and who is gaining a national reputation for his work as a consultant
for broadcasting in Russia and Croatia. Tom Hedrick, a lecturer in the program, has had a
long tour of duty stretching from the seventies, and he handles sports broadcasting and
intern placement. Dick Nelson, also a fulltime lecturer, is the news supervisor for the
lab stations as well as an instructor in broadcast news. Patty Noland (production) and
Doug Sudhoff (The intro course and news) round out the staff -- a total of nine people.
(There is this historical tidbit about Patty Noland: She may have been the last person to
receive a Masters degree in Radio-Television-Film when it was administered by the RTVF
Committee, as part of Speech and Drama.) Two others -- Linda Davis in 1984, and David Guth
in 1991 -- joined the RTV faculty, but then moved to other sequences in the J-School.
During this period, there has been considerable
turnover in the support staff. Engineers Rod Davis and Francis Ellis (also a lecturer at
one time) both retired after many years of service. (Davis holds the current longevity
record, having started with KANU in 1952 as an engineer before the RTVF program started in
1955.) And in 1993, after more than two decades of service, Pat English resigned as
department secretary. Others who moved on were engineers Rick Lucas and Mitch Gage, and
Tim Mensendiek, the first General Manager of KJHK.
At the present time (fall, 1998) there is a
strong support staff consisting of the following five people: Cade Cruickshank, Broadcast
Engineer and Network Administrator; Terry Bryant, Lab Technician; Carol Dressler, Office
Specialist; Carlena Haney, Office Assistant III; and Gary Hawke, General Manager of
Integrated Media, which includes KJHK and KUJH-TV. Hawke also teaches courses.
The last vestige of the old RTVF program was the
separate budget line in Journalism. This disappeared sometime during the 1984-85 school
year: there no longer were separate budget numbers for OOE and personnel, and the
Endowment accounts were spent down and discontinued. The School may still use some method
of budgeting allocations to each sequence, but not with separate budget numbers.
Significant changes have been made in courses
and curriculum requirements, as might be expected, given a new sequence head, several new
professors and amazing advancements in electronic communications, . By 1987, seven courses
were gone and new ones were added.4 Perhaps the most
important new course was 390, Broadcast Production and Writing, which replaced two
production and writing courses. Also in 1987, the major options were increased to five:
Broadcast News, Broadcast Sales, Broadcast Promotion, Commercial Production and Corporate
Television -- the latter said to be the first in the country. Several years later these
were cut to two -- Broadcast News and Broadcast Management: Promotion and Sales. The 1998
courses and requirements may be found in the Appendix, but it is quite possible that the
new Dean will be a catalyst for a number of changes in the program, including courses and
requirements related to RTV.
The Journalism program in Radio-TV finally found
new and professional quarters in August, 1990. As one faculty member remarked several
years ago, "unless you have taught classes and labs in Jolliffe Hall and Blake Annex
(let alone Hoch Auditorium) you have no way of knowing what a thrill it was to move to the
brand new offices, classrooms, studio and editing suites in the Dole building." The
Robert Dole Human Development Center is a $12-million, 127,000-square-foot building which
houses the departments of Human Development and Family Life; Special Education;
Speech-Language-Hearing; several research and training centers and the RTV sequence of the
School of Journalism and Mass Communications. It was because of the social importance of
the other programs and the major effort of Senator Dole that the federal government
appropriated funds for the building, and it was because of the successful effort of the
J-School in raising additional money that RTV was able to occupy almost half of one floor
in the Center.
The building was designed by the Kiene and
Bradley Design Group, the same firm which had designed the ill-fated Weir building. (It is
true that the Weirs do not have a building on west campus named for them. But their name
is attached to the production wing at Dole because they were the major contributors who
made it possible for RTV to be in the building. The plaque reads, "Weir Production
Center, Established Through a Gift from Ralph 'Bud' Weir, Gratefully Acknowledged by the
William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.")
There is an outer office, many faculty and staff
offices, a conference room, a writing lab equipped with computers and a large multi-media
classroom. The production wing contains an equipment storage and checkout room, eight
editing suites, a kyron suite, a television control room and studio, and offices for
management and news staff members of KJHK and KUJH-TV. Also in Dole are the KJHK news
studio (with announce booth) and a production room. The rest of the KJHK operation still
remains at Sudler Annex; it houses the music library, production and announcing studios
for the disk jockeys, a continuity office and an engineering room. As for the previous lab
sites, nothing remains. Hoch Auditorium burned to the ground in 1991, Jolliffe Hall was
razed shortly after the Film program (of the Department of Theatre and Film) moved to
Oldfather Studios, and Blake Annex -- a temporary building of WWII vintage -- was
bulldozed in April, 1998. Rest in peace.
As noted in Chapter VI, members of the RTVF
faculty long had wanted an on-air television lab for more realistic training. When the FCC
authorized "low power" television stations, George Rasmussen tried to get the
University to submit an application, to no avail. An apparent solution to the training
problem came in 1984, when a commercial low power station went on the air in Lawrence. The
University agreed to allow Channel 30 to put its antenna on a KU tower in exchange for
extensive internship experiences for advanced students.5
Dean Brinkman was quoted as saying, "It's the next best thing to the University
owning its own television station."6 In the spring
of 1985, twenty-five students were working parttime in news, sports, production, sales and
promotion. By the end of the year forty students were involved, and the Jayhawk Journalist
took notice: "The hours spent at the station bring the students that giant step
closer to the 'real world.'"7
This excellent lab experience did work well for
some months, but then the corporate owners of the station decided to pull the (power)
plug. Low power television was having limited commercial success in many parts of the
country, and this may --or may not -- have been the reason for closing Channel 30. In any
case, when the station went dark many internships disappeared. There was one bright spot
in this loss -- John Katich, who had been the manager of Channel 30 when the internships
were established, had the credentials and opportunity to join the RTV faculty on a
tenure-track appointment.
Members of the faculty resumed their lobbying
for aTV station at KU, without success. There seemed to be too many arguments against it.
For example, it would be too expensive. How could programs be produced to fill a
reasonable schedule? Who would be able to watch it if it weren't on the cable (remember
Channel 30?) Most arguments seemed to disappear, coincident with the huge growth of the
Internet, the availability of low-cost programming, and the positive experience of KJHK on
the Internet. But even after approval came from Strong Hall, it took John Katich and other
faculty members about three and one-half years to work through the various layers of
committees for the final solution to such problems as, "how does the signal get from
Dole to the KANU tower?" (The answer to that one -- by way of a $30,000 microwave
system, located on the roof of the Dole Center.)
Channel 14 began test programming on February
10, 1995. This happened to be "William Allen White Day," and so there were many
media professionals on campus. As "KUJH-Internet TV," the station began regular
broadcasting on April 23, 1996. Earlier that year there were experiments on carriage over
the Internet. As a news release described one of them, "while much of the nation
watched the Fiesta Bowl on television January 2, an international audience watched
computers to see the University of Kansas basketball team play Cornell University.8 (It should be noted that the station cannot broadcast KU
basketball games over the air because the Department of Athletics has contractual
obligations to the networks -- a very "high dollar" situation. However, certain
other sports and KU events will likely be telecast in the future.)
KUJH was among the first television stations in
the nation to offer round-the-clock news programming on the Internet, having gone online
December 10, 1996.9 In 1998, advanced news students
originate newscasts Monday through Friday at 5:30p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. The rest of
the programming comes from the leased services of the American News Channel. KUJH also
produces special programming, such as the broadcast of the KU commencement exercises in
May, 1998 -- 73 years after the first radio broadcast of a similar event!
And what about radio? KJHK still operates as a
student radio station, licensed to the University and under the control of the School of
Journalism. In the late eighties a small group of students (and non-students) challenged
that authority, citing issues of freedom of speech. After many meetings and much unsavory
publicity, the matter was resolved in favor of the School, and a new constitution was
written to make sure that there would be no further questions about the role of the
station.10 Probably there always will be a measure of
tension between the faculty and the students in the operation of an on-air lab and it
takes a supervisor with patience, firmness and a great dollup of wisdom. It also takes
time, and it was obvious years ago that the station could no longer be supervised as a
small part of a faculty load. For this reason the position of General Manager was
established in the early nineties, and there have been two managers who have been very
sucessful: Tim Mensendiek helped to re-establish a good station atmosphere, and Gary Hawke
has carried the station into the age of the Internet.
KJHK still receives major financing from the
Student Senate, but the staff members raise money through underwriting and a very
successful annual auction. The station is on the air 24 hours a day, and the call letters
are usually accompanied with the reminder that "you are listening to The Hawk!"
Programming consists of news, rock, jazz and alternative and ethnic music. In 1985, the
staff of KJHK developed a strong relationship with local bands, by promoting them, giving
them air play and sponsoring gigs (usually at the "Outhouse.") This relationship
still continues.
In the last few years the station has been
garnering honors by the handful. The National Association of College Broadcasters named it
the "Station of the Year" in 1992.11 Staff
members have dominated the awards given to college stations and individuals by the Kansas
Association of Broadcasters. The Mayor of Lawrence even proclaimed October 19, 1995 as
"KJHK Day," in recognition of its community service.
In 1997, the station filed a request to the FCC
to increase the signal power from 100 to 3500 watts, but there were"petitions to
deny" because of possible signal over-lap. This issue was resolved when KJHK reduced
the request to 2900 watts and, in the fall of 1998, the FCC approved the upgrade. Once
again the Student Senate allocated funds, this time $15,000 each of the last two years to
help pay for the new transmitter.12 At 100 watts the
signal can be heard at a distance of about 15 miles, reaching a potential audience of
about 100,000 people, but the new power will increase the range to Manhattan on the west
and the Kansas state line on the east, with an audience potential of over a million. But
no matter what the power is -- 100 watts or 2900 watts -- people all over the world can
receive its programming if they have access to the Internet. This is because in December,
1994, KJHK became the first radio station in the United States to have live and continuous
programming on the Internet. It also became fully digital in 1996.
There has been no letup in the stream of
graduates moving into electronic communications. One of the goals set by Max Utsler, in
1984, was to have students graduating with enough experience to move into the
"second" job, and they seem to be doing this. The Internet and digital aspects
of both KJHK and KUJH are extremely important in the success rate of future graduates. As
Dean Gentry has said, "It's obvious that the Internet and the other digital media are
changing everything and our students need to know about (them.)"13 Another advantage to Internet distribution is the advantage it
gives to prospective employers who might be interested in our students. General Manager
Gary Hawke noted, "In effect, they can watch 'resumes' on a daily basis from their
desktops."14
There always has been a close association
between the faculty of RTVF and Kansas broadcasters and other media people, and this has
continued to the present time. Two outstanding broadcast professionals served as Visiting
Professors: Elmer Lower, the retired President of ABC-TV News, spent many months in
Lawrence; Harry Strader, the manager of a television station in Topeka was here for a
semester. The faculty members have attended KAB meetings, served on various committees,
hosted station and other media personnel at seminars on campus, honored outstanding
broadcasters and, of course, have provided them with well- educated interns and graduates.
The broadcasting and media people have been strong supporters of the academic program and
have not been shy in making this support known to central administration. The Advisory
Board has continued to support the program. Members were especially valuable during the
discussions about the low power television station. However, there may be changes in the
future -- the J-School may develop a different Board for the School, which would be
representative of all programs.
During this time period, Journalism RTV has been
the recipient of two large gifts in addition to the one provided by the Weirs. In 1990,
Art Wolf made a gift of $250,000. Art had spent several happy years at KU after his
retirement from Centron Corporation, and he especially enjoyed the opportunity to work
with many students in the area of production. In 1993, Mr. and Mrs. Parcells gave $250,000
to provide scholarships for women in the RTV program. It was given in honor and memory of
their daughter, Sue Parcells, who lost her life from an aneurism. At the time of her death
she was a very successful television news reporter.
B. Film and Video in the Department of Theatre and Film.
There have been several changes in the
administrative structure of the Speech and Drama area. In 1984 the Division of Speech and
Drama had three departments: Communication Studies, Speech, Language and Hearing and the
Department of Theatre and Radio-Television-Film. (Film Studies was a part of the latter
department.) The tie-in of the theatre and film areas was, in part, a reflection of their
symbiotic relationship -- especially a perceived need for theatre actors to gain
experience before a film or video camera. In 1985 the Division was re-named Communication
and Theatre and the Department of Theatre and Radio-Television-Film became Theatre and
Media Arts. During this time there had been some discussion as to the real worth of the
"division" concept, and when Bobby Patton left the University in 1987 the time
seemed to be right for another change. The "Division" was deleted and the three
departments became autonomous within the College. Theatre and Media Arts (or THMA) was
chaired by Ron Willis. In 1988 THMA became the Department of Theatre and Film. Willis was
followed in the chair by Glenn Pierce and John Gronbeck-Tedesco, who chairs the program at
the present time.
By 1984 it was obvious that the fear of minimal
support for the "Speech side," voiced earlier by Bobby Patton, was a reality --
the Chancellor's office had decided that the J-School would receive major support for its
program in radio and television. It seemed to some in the College and THMA that the
central administration was saying, "sink or swim." Although the Media Arts
Department could offer courses in film studies, performance and production -- all with
impressive enrollments -- there would be a miniscule budget: There were no additional
faculty lines on the horizon; there was no increase in the small OOE budget, which was
used mostly for the rental of films used in the film history courses.
In 1984 there was only one fulltime faculty
member -- Chuck Berg. Richard Colyer was halftime, on a split with the Department of
English. Glenn Price taught courses in performance but he had greater responsibilities as
the Assistant Chairman of the Division (and, later, the Department). Two GTA's, Alex Brown
and Mark Syverson, taught beginning courses in film. The majority of the cross-listed and
television production courses were still taught by members of the RTV faculty in the
School of Journalism. Finally, in 1986, one additional faculty line was approved for the
area of production. It went to LucyAnne Kerry, who stayed until 1990.
The program was severely hampered by a lack of
facilities. THMA had been using the b/w video studio at Jolliffe for the performance
courses, and two rooms on the second floor were used for film editing. Also, there was
some editing equipment in Lippencott. When RTV-Journalism moved to the Dole Center, THMA
took over all of Jolliffe -- not a great inheritance, considering its age and
deteriorating condition.
The situation as to equipment was no better.
There were the old b/w video cameras in the studio (unwanted by RTV) and a couple of small
camcorders and 1/2 inch VTRs. Although "film" was the main area of emphasis, all
film equipment was on the RTV inventory. This consisted of rather old silent and sound
l6mm cameras and sync tape recorders and old fashioned editing equipment -- rewinds,
viewers, sound heads and splicers. THMA did have permission to use the equipment, and in
1984 an inventory transfer made the arrangement permanent.
All in all, a sorry situation. According to
Professor Chuck Berg, there were "several forces" which were instrumental in
turning the program around.15 One of them was
especially effective in the eighties, when it looked as if the program might waste away.
Even with this help the task was not an easy one.
The first "force," in 1985, was the
activation and subsequent impact of a Professional Advisory Board. (Such a board had
worked well for RTVF.) Chairperson Bobby Patton organized a group of very successful
alumni, who were more than willing to tell the people of the College that this program was
important. Many of them were graduates of the RTVF program and professionally active in
the area of film. The key figures were Mike Robe, Buddy Rogers (yes, he of silent pictures
fame and a KU graduate), Doug Curtis and Hoite Caston. They moved into action in 1985 when
the Alumni Association sent Patton and Berg to the west coast as part of a delegation to
an alumni meeting. There the professionals had the opportunity to speak directly with the
Chancellor and others from central administration. A year later they were in Lawrence, to
assist in the announcement of the "Buddy" award -- an honor given in the name of
Buddy Rogers -- to go to a KU graduate who had done outstanding work in film. The first
award went to Don Johnson in 1987. When he was on campus a reception was held at the
Chancellor's residence, hosted by Gretchen Budig, who also was a member of the Advisory
Board. The award presentation to Johnson was enhanced by an excellent presentation of
clips from his film and TV work, edited by another graduate, Nick Eliopoulos. In
subsequent years awards went to Steve Mills and Moses Gunn. Again, there were
opportunities for the Board members to call attention to the worth and potential of the
film area.
In the meantime, two graduate students, Mark
Syverson and Roger Holden, helped to call attention to the program by founding the
"Kansas Film Institute." This had the blessing of the Kansas Film Commission and
they received some financial support from the College Lecture Fund, which made it possible
to schedule guest speakers at the first conference. This was held in 1984. Film students
had the opportunity to show their work, competing in several categories. The first OZZI
award (the Lawrence version of the Oscars?) was given to a Hollywood director, Nicholas
Meyer. Meyer was no stranger to Lawrence, for he had directed "The Day After," a
film graphically displaying the horror of an atomic bombing of Lawrence. The conferences
of the Institute were held for several years (and even included an OZZI, in 1991, to this
writer.)
These efforts helped keep the program going, but
by the early nineties the outlook was grim. There were a lot of majors interested in film.
They were using old equipment in very shabby quarters. They were taught by two fulltime
faculty members, plus a couple of TA's. With the exception of Tom Hedrick, there was no
more faculty help from the J-School. Richard Colyer had gone back to English, fulltime.
Glenn Price, a longtime teacher in the area of broadcast performance, would soon be
retiring with no promise of replacement. Perhaps Chancellor Murphy was right after all --
the University couldn't afford the expense of two related-but-separate programs.
In a melodrama, when all seems to be lost a hero
appears or a miracle of some type occurs which turns things around. And so it was with
this program; the heroes were Charles and Tensie Oldfather, who made it possible for the
program to occupy professional quarters. To those in the starving program it seemed like a
miracle. It was the second "force," as described by Berg.
But first, some background. It may be recalled
that Centron Corporation was an outstanding professional film company, in the business of
making educational and industrial films, usually in the 16mm format. In the seventies the
original owners, Russ Mosser and Art Wolf, sold the company and then retired. The new
owner used the facilities primarily for the storage and circulation of finished films, and
a subsequent owner was never able to bring back a successful production effort. By 1990
the property was for sale.
Charles Oldfather was a retired Professor of
Law. More to the point, he was an excellent musician and an outstanding actor with
experience in both the theatre and motion pictures. Mrs. Oldfather has long supported the
arts in Lawrence. It is not clear to me just how the Oldfathers were made aware of the
needs of the film area; one source indicates that Professor Jack Wright and his wife,
Judy, were largely responsible for planting the idea. But no matter how it came about, the
Oldfathers were the second --and unquestionably the major -- force in the rebirth of the
film program. They purchased the Centron property with the proviso that it be the home of
the film program of the Department of Theatre and Film. The University accepted the gift
and, in 1991, Film moved into truly professional quarters. The (subsequently named)
Oldfather Studios has a very large studio, complete with cyclorama curtains and lighting
bridge. There are well designed production rooms for the recording and editing of sound
tracks and the editing of film and video. There is excellent office space.
The magnificent gift did much more than provide
professional space; it motivated the third force mentioned by Chuck Berg -- a significant
increase in support from the College of Arts and Sciences, which continues to the present
time. This was accomplished through the leader ship of the College Deans, first James
Muyskens and now Sally Frost-Mason, along with Associate Dean Pete Cassagrande. There was
an increase in the OOE budget. Funds were allocated to purchase"flat-bed"
editing tables, video systems and sound dubbing/mixing recorders.
Perhaps most important, the College decided to
give Professor Berg some permanent colleagues. The succession of occasional annual
"adjunct" appointments -- never a sure thing from year to year -- was replaced
or augmented by additional tenure-track positions, an expansion which continues to the
present time. First came Ed Small, in 1989, providing expertise in the areas of
production, film theory and the history of the documentary and experimental film. Then
came Joe Anderson, in a production, theory and history position he held until he left in
the spring of 1998. The fourth position was funded in 1995, and it went to Catherine
Preston, whose forte is theory and criticism. In 1997, yet another position was
authorized; this went to John Tibbetts, a veteran of temporary appointments going back to
his years as a graduate student in the seventies. He teaches film history and special
topics. In the fall of 1998 the position vacated by Anderson was filled by another
graduate of the RTVF program, Hoite Caston, who will be at KU at least through the 1998-99
school year.
And so, in the fall of 1998 there are five
tenure-track positions with the possibility of a sixth in 1999. This group is augmented by
several people who teach parttime: Tamara Falicov is on a split appointment with the
Latin-American Studies program; Kris Avery, the owner of an audio production company, is
teaching audio production; Keven Willmott, a TA, teaches a course in production management
utilizing extensive computer software. In all, there are seven GAs and GTAs. The
production activities at Oldfather Studios are held together by Mike Gunter. Mike began
his association with Theatre and Film as a graduate student. Now he not only keeps the
equipment operating, but helps to instruct students in operating procedures. Marilyn Heath
is the Office Specialist who keeps everything else running smoothly, a task she has been
doing for many years.
Students interested in film have the opportunity
to pursue a curriculum rich in the areas of film history, theory, aesthetics and
video-film production -- twenty two courses leading to a BA or BGS in Film Studies as well
as a BGS with a combined emphasis in theatre and film studies.
Many graduates from the "old" RTVF
program went on to very successful careers in film, as producers, writers, directors and
editors. And now the recent crop of graduates are on the threshold of similar careers.
Many of them have already received recognition through awards won at student film
festivals, such as "KAN" and "Telluride," winning in every category
from documentary to music videos. Some of them gained valuable experience working as
interns on feature-length films produced by alumni like Mike Robe and Doug Curtis, which
were shot in Kansas. Several low-budget features have been completed but have not been
released for distribution. One docu-drama has found success in Lawrence. It is a thirty
minute film titled "Lawrence Free State Fortress," and it is screened daily at
the Lawrence Information Center, located in the re-vitalized train depot. It was produced
by Mike Gunter and written by him and Karen Dillon, under the supervision of Professor Joe
Anderson. It was filmed by Steve Drain.
The Advisory Board, which was so active in the
mid-eighties, has maintained a strong interest in the theatre-film program. Members helped
to organize --and participate in -- the "Alumni Come Home" events, which have
provided income from the theatrical events and which have produced stronger ties between
the program and the alumni. Board members have made many appearances in classes. In 1985
its members helped to organize the first "Oscars Night," which is a social
evening held on the night that the Hollywood Oscars are awarded; through admission fees
and underwriting, these evenings have produced enough income to purchase additional
state-of-the-art film equipment, such as the AVID, a non-linear editing system for film
and video. The Board continues to meet on at least an annual basis.
When the areas of theatre and film were placed
together in one department in the eighties, there was no certainty that the arrangement
could succeed. Theatre was a well established area, with a large faculty, a PhD program
and ambitous production schedule; RTVF definitely was a shirt-tail cousin. It would have
been quite easy -- perhaps natural -- for these two entities to go their own ways,
following their own agendas and dealing with their own responsibilities. This did not
happen, probably because of the skill of the department chairs, the good will of the
faculty members, and the cohesive work of the Advisory Board. Special credit should go to
the chairs, first Ron Willis, then Glenn Pierce and, for the last nine years, John
Gronbeck-Tedesco.
Two recent developments point to a continuation
of this collaborative effort. The chairperson always has been from the Theatre area. But
now Chuck Berg, who was the Coordinator of Film Studies, has been appointed as Associate
Chair of the Department -- a positive symbol of the equality of the two areas. The other
development relates to the curriculum: Some Advisory Board members have wanted a course
which would expose young actors to the special problems of acting in front of a camera --
something which has been been not been possible since the collaborative effort by Tom Rea
and myself in 1984. Now there is a new course in Acting for the Camera, which is being
taught by a veteran actor and director of the theatre area, Jack Wright.
In the fall of 1998 there seems to be no doubt
that this well defined area will continue to prosper. There are over 200 majors. There is
an excellent and growing faculty. Facilities and equipment are first-rate. Long may it
live.
Looking ahead, it is even possible that the
programs in Journalism and Theatre and Film may intersect once again, on an informal
basis. Gary Hawke (Journalism) and Hoite Caston (Theatre and Film) are exploring possible
ways in which there could be some cooperative lab programming -- sometimes using the
facilities at Dole, and other times the Oldfather Studios -- with participation by
advanced students from both areas.
