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A calm settled on IC Square as members of Theater Lab and passersby whom the attention had been drawn quietly discussed their fall-themed coloring pages on the night of October 24 at the “Theatre Lab in IC Square.”
theater lab is a seamless drama club formed by students in 2018. The club typically produces two shows each semester: a 24-hour show, for which auditions have been held but production has yet to be announced, and a full-length musical. Past productions include “Shrek the Musical”, “Grease” and “The Addams Family”. Now, in addition to the core Theater Lab programming, the club is looking to expand its reach with additional non-theatre related activities, such as karaoke, coloring pages and Jackbox Party Pack video games. These events, held weekly on Mondays at 8 p.m. at IC Square, are intended to be of interest to all members of the University community, regardless of their previous involvement in theater.
Sophomore Jamie Correll, production manager for Theater Lab, said events are meant to introduce the organization to more people.
“Because many clubs on campus will also organize their own specific events but then don’t really do a lot of stuff outside,” Correll said. “So we were like, OK, we could, you know, do this.”
Funding for the Fall 2022 weekly events comes from the Office of Student Engagement (OSE) as part of an incentive for on-campus clubs to promote the importance of getting involved in campus activities. Cool IC Tonean all-inclusive has thatppella group, organized similar events in the spring of 2022, also due to increased funding for the group to do so.
Senior Shosh Cohen, events coordinator for Theater Lab, said the club saw the OSE offer as an opportunity to focus on Theater Lab’s core values as an organization.
“The purpose of the Theater Lab as a club is to make theater accessible to all Ithaca College students, regardless of background,” Cohen said. “This opportunity…has arisen as we have been reviewing our values and constitution as a club during the re-recognition process. Given that we value accessibility and the opportunity has arisen around the At the same time, it seemed obvious that we should organize these events every week.”
In addition to more casual, non-theatre related events, the organization also hopes to hold more workshops and theatrical technical training events in the future, such as lighting workshops, as written on their event page on ICEEngage.
Sophomore Hannah Goodrich, Music Director of Theater Lab, said she hopes the event will bring fun to the campus community because of the club’s focus on different weekly activities.
“I think the big highlight is that it’s different every week,” Goodrich said. “I think it’s fun to do karaoke, games – this week we’re doing coloring. It’s also just a good place to meet people and connect with friends you already have. is fun that we do something different every week.
The events are optional for club members, which has consequently resulted in low attendance. Despite this, Theater Lab board members seem hopeful that more people will show up in the coming weeks due to increased social media reach and strong attendance at the first event.
“We had a bit of a rocky start, but we’re getting there,” Correll said. “I think the first one went pretty well. Last week it looked like … it was quite similar to tonight, where there weren’t many people, but I think the first one had a pretty good turnout. … We are progressing slowly.
Correll said she always sees these events as a way to not only familiarize outside students with the club, but also attract new members who will hopefully attend their shows in the future.
“I just want people to be able to … enjoy their time and want to come back next time [event] and then wanting to, you know, come to our shows or maybe even participate in the shows, because that’s also a good way for us to hopefully get some publicity for our club,“, Correll said.
Theater Lab presents its fall semester 2022 full-length musical, “Matilda the Musical,” at 7 p.m. Nov. 4-5 in Presser Hall at the James J. Whalen Center for Music.
