410 Forum — Arts
Professors Strive To Set Goals For Education
By Andy Bockelman
The measure of an educator’s effectiveness is helped greatly by the impression they leave with their students, both personally and academically. In some instances, it’s a changing of the guard. Illustrating this point for the University of Northern Colorado’s College of Performing and Visual Arts are two of the theater program’s professors, who serve as benchmarks of excellence not just in the eyes of the state, but also in the eyes of their pupils and each other.
UNC educators Mary Schuttler, a professor of theater, and Gillian McNally, an assistant professor of theater, were recognized in December 2008 by the Colorado Department of Education for their work and were appointed to the department’s Colorado Model Content Standards Review Subcommittee in Theatre. By engaging students both in the classroom and on the stage in various theatrical productions, the two have brought attention to their field of work at UNC from outside and within.
The appointment is nothing new for Schuttler, who helped write the original standards for the Colorado Department of Education. McNally, newer to the UNC theater program, is experiencing her first time in this position.
“Every five years, they review and redo, and there’s a lot of updating,” McNally said. “Let’s just say there are certain standards I agree with and some I don’t, but there is a lot of observation.”
McNally described the subcommittee duties of Schuttler and herself as a great deal of checking up on Colorado area teachers and student teachers. They are required to adhere to a 10-page evaluation rubric, which McNally joked gives her a headache to read in its entirety.
The Department of Education appointment for the two is not the first example of McNally’s work following in Schuttler’s footsteps — a pattern has begun to form with Schuttler, the more seasoned UNC professor, passing the torch of education to McNally. McNally said her job was created in fall 2006 specifically to assist Schuttler in her work as the director of the theater education program.
“We had too many theater ed. majors for Mary to handle by herself,” she said. “It’s the biggest part of the theater program, but has the smallest faculty, especially since theater ed. majors are involved in all different classes from acting and directing to teaching.”
Originally teaching what she described as “general theater studies classes” — Introduction to Theater, Playscript Analysis — McNally said she has submitted numerous ideas for new courses since beginning at UNC, her pet projects being Creative Drama and Creating Core Content for her theater education students. McNally also focuses a lot of attention on youth in theater, working with Greeley school children of all ages on integrating theater techniques into the classroom. The stage work she has directed while at UNC includes the children’s plays “¡Bocón!” and “Tomato Plant Girl,” the latter of which she arranged to tour around the region for less financially able schools.
“The cost of renting buses is terrible, so I’ve been trying to do shows where we can travel and perform for as many schools as we can,” she said.
McNally’s next show, set to premiere in May, is “Holes,” based on the children’s novel by Louis Sachar. Her reputation precedes her with one of her actors — Broderick Ballantyne, a junior acting major, is excited for the show in part because he has never worked with her.
“I’ve heard from a lot of people that she’s great to work with,” Ballantyne said.
Senior theater studies major Andrea Romano has more experience with McNally, having studied under her in the class Directing the One-Act Play.
“She can be sweet like a kindergarten teacher but still take you by surprise,” Romano said. “She’s very non-traditional in her directing process, which has helped me a lot with my own approach.”
Romano had equal praise for Schuttler, referring to her as “an encyclopedia of knowledge.”
Greyson Lewis, a senior acting major, has also worked with both professors.
“They’re both phenomenal at what they do, and they bring that to their students,” he said. “They deserve any awards they get. They care so much about their work and they’re kind and loving, just great.”
With such devoted students, UNC professors Gillian McNally and Mary Schuttler will continue enlightening the members of the school’s theater program while also determining the standards by which other schools in the state are set — a dual duty for which the pair will likely be worthy of a standing ovation.
Credentials
Mary Schuttler and Gillian McNally were appointed to the Colorado Model Content Standards Review Subcommittee in Theatre, Colorado Department of Education in 2008.
Mary Schuttler
• Bachelor of fine arts, University of Michigan.
• Master of fine arts, Wayne State University.
• Doctorate of fine arts, University of Colorado.
• Director, “The Servant of Two Masters,” Spring 2007.
• Director, “Amadeus,” Spring 2008.
Gillian McNally
• Bachelor of fine arts, Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts.
• Master of fine arts, University of Texas.
• Director, “¡Bocón!,” Spring 2007.
• Director, “Tomato Plant Girl,” Spring 2008.
• Recipient, Provost Grant, Summer 2008
• Recipient, Professor of the Month, University of Northern Colorado, November 2008.
Sources: Mary Schuttler and Gillian McNally
