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DSCC revamps, revitalizes theatre and band programs
By WILLIAM NORTHCUTT
Staff Reporter
After several years of dormancy, Dyersburg State Community College’s theatre and band programs are springing back to life. DSCC has hired instructors Renee Cyr to head the theatre program and Nicolas Andrade to lead the music program. The directors are hoping for significant student involvement and public support.
Cyr said that for the first year, she plans to hold acting classes. She is currently taking an inventory of costumes and props, and she is getting a feel for the campus and students. She said, “That will inform some decision making about what we do.” However, she already plans to teach a whole range of acting classes.
While several plays are produced at schools and elsewhere in Dyer County, bigger cities have standing theatre companies. “Most of my students,” she noted, “have never seen a play.” She said she hopes to expose students “to the joy of theatre.”
She remarked, “The plan is to start small and to let it grow naturally.” She said that she hopes to do one production per year, the first, most likely, a children’s theatre play—in order to attract an audience of all ages.
Her own experiences date back to preschool when she played the caterpillar in “The Hungry Caterpillar” in an adaptation of the children’s book of the same name by Eric Carr . She has done freelance theatre work and taken part in ensemble work, notably in a musical production of “Mary Poppins.” She said, “That was a lot of fun.” She has worked on productions of “Cabaret” and “Tartuffe,” but her main interest is in theatre management and teaching dramaturgy.
As for the band program, Andrade is excited to get the band back in business at DSCC. Originally from Brazil, Andrade and his family have come to Dyersburg for what he called a “once in a million opportunity.” He said, “I am blessed to have this opportunity to build the music program at Dyersburg State.”
He plans to hold Community Concert Band auditions on October 12, 6 p.m.-8 p.m.. in room 182 of the gymnasium at the Dyersburg campus. Eventually, he said, he hopes to connect with the community in several ways. “We want to incorporate local choirs in some performances.”
He said that he plans for the band to serve in several functions: sports events, concerts, and college outreach. Andrade is enthusiastic, but like Cyr with the theatre program, he realizes that he will have to build from the ground up. “We are going to start with the basics,” he said. “We will have to build our repertoire, and we’ll have to have musicians to play it.”
Once the band takes off, he remarked, he hopes to have around 60 players.
Andrade himself has been a musician since a young age, and while he is a multi-instrumentalist, he prefers playing brass instruments, horns. His favorite types of music are Brazilian music, traditional and new, and world music. “Band music,” he added, “is what fascinates me.”