DePauw Stories

This is one in a series of essays by DePauw faculty members as they reflect on teaching and learning DePauw-style. Gigi Jennewein is an assistant professor of communication and theatre. She teaches theatre performance classes and directs productions at DePauw and also is a professional actor and director. 

How does one teach an acting class remotely? I’ve been teaching acting for more than 25 years and never had to consider this. Very soon after the announcement that DePauw was going remote, I began what would amount to two weeks’ worth of fretting. I bored my husband throughout our ambitious trip to Florida to check on the safety of my 91-year-old father and baffled my empathetic English professor friend on our social distancing walks. “I can’t just have them read plays and write papers!” I wailed. 

Years ago, in Austin, Texas, I acted in the play “Mi Vida Loca” by playwright Eric Overmeyer. During the run of that production, my husband Bill Fenlon accepted the job as head men’s basketball coach at DePauw. I was also accepting; we had two little children at the time and coaching basketball was more lucrative than working in the theatre. But I was devastated. I was in on the ground floor of a hot, emerging theatre company with exciting, talented colleagues. 

One of my lines in the play was, “All very positive. Change.” A castmate stitched it into a going-away-present sampler. It sits on my dresser to this day and I lean into its advice in times of stress. 

So, I began the mantra: All very positive. Change. Embrace change. Change is good. 

Further change came with the arrival on our doorstop of my 30-something NYC-based daughter and her LA-based actor friend Japhet. Both, too, were witness to my moaning, but of all my listeners they became saviors. Daughter Hannah works providing resources for theatre artists countrywide to do what they do. Instantly, from our adjoining bedroom offices, I was being linked into a plethora of solutions for artists being laid off, furloughed and cancelled from performances, residencies and teaching. 

“Mom, there’s a Facebook page for theatre educators!” bellowed my sleuthing daughter. “Look up the online creative platform Viral Monologues. Watch the scene from David Mamet’s ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ performed by a Geffen Theatre staff member and her family in their home. Have your students watch a National Theatre Live production,” which up until the pandemic had been accessible only in physical theatres in select markets. Continuing to have my back, just this morning she sent me a link to a webinar featuring some of this country’s revered teachers and producers titled, “Teaching Theatre Online.” 

All very positive. Change. Embrace change. Change is good. 

My acting class just completed its second of three significant acting assignments. Thank goodness going to remote aligned with crafting monologues. I have become an airport traffic controller with Zoom, sending students into breakout rooms to help one another develop their work or to chat and dance (yes!) during an online character-only party on an imaginary virus-free cruise ship.

Side note: I cannot thank our faculty technology support folks enough, Jin Kim in particular, whom I’ve pestered persistently. “How do I do THIS on Moodle?,” our course management software, has become another recurring refrain during this challenging time.  Among my “firsts,” I crafted and administered a timed Moodle exam that accommodated all my student time zones and set up a forum and method for students to comment on their peers’ videoed monologued drafts.

Our most recent class included reflection on that monologue assignment, which was produced in bedrooms, basements, backyards and cars, with the help of parents, siblings and quarantine friends. 

Grace R. said that she was happy for a place to put her fears and sadness. Grace C. said that she appreciated the freedom to craft with more artistic freedom than she’d felt in the classroom.  Madeline said she performed hers in a staged whisper because her monologue contained a few bad words and her parents’ household wouldn’t appreciate the language. Reid said that he missed having the boost supplied by a physical audience. James said he appreciated the different form of critique possible with presenting on video vs. live. Everyone commented on the creativity of their classmates. And all of the comments – despite their difference from those I normally would get – were rich fodder for teaching lessons about the craft, art and business of acting.

All very positive. Change. Embrace change. Change is good. 

I’ve been continuing to hold my twice-weekly classes because performing artists thrive on collaboration. Students are reporting that it’s invigorating to get together, to check in, to see one another, to do our stretches and breathing exercises. Yesterday we played the stop/go, name/jump, clap/dance game (ask me!). I respond immediately to most messages and modes of communication: phone calls about internet outage, late-night texts from New York or 11-hour time-distanced Vietnam, after-the-due-date emails that reveal debilitating depression or missed class because leaving DePauw meant having to get a job outside and the “boss scheduled a meeting during class.” A student who lives in Indianapolis shared an image of his imploded computer. “I have an old, extra one. Come get it,” I told him. I disinfected it, put it on my porch and he picked it up the next day. 

I’m rambling. Because teaching acting remotely does seem to be about daily reflection. Today I see it as a juggling act: How do I remotely deliver a curriculum planned for face-to-face interpersonal communication, given what happened yesterday and what might happen today? Surprise! I use acting technique that I hammer home all semester: Live truthfully within the given circumstances by responding honestly to the moment and the feedback of the moment to reach your goal.  

 This morning I was talking with a junior in my class whom I’ve known since he came to DePauw.  Reid stage-managed my fall production of “The Wolves.” I admire and trust him. “How do you think the class is going?” I asked, expecting his customary direct response. “It’s going great!” he said. “Better than I expected. I am excited to create my final scene with Halea on Zoom. We’ll definitely do virtual backgrounds. Maybe we’ll do sock puppets!”

 I look forward to reading their final reflections, and to growing with the change.