Students from Niagara College’s Acting for Film and Digital Media program brought their work to life in a live performance on March 12, taking the stage at Old Pelham Town Hall for a special community showcase.
Thirteen second-year students performed a series of short scenes during the Community Engagement Evening, letting audiences experience emerging talent in an intimate setting while giving the actors a chance to apply their training in front of a live audience.
“The students and I wanted the evening to reflect the collaborative nature of Niagara College’s film programs,” said Acting Professor Stephanie Jones, highlighting the contributions of Kenzie Kehoe, an alum from the Acting program (2019) currently in their second year of the Broadcasting, Radio, Television and Film program.
Stephanie Jones
“With Kenzie volunteering her camera expertise, we were able to transform the town hall into a working film set.”
BRTF student Eric Peters also supported as boom operator.
The event was held in collaboration with the Town of Pelham and was coordinated by NC’s Jones, who also serves on the town’s Cultural Committee.
Performing in small groups, the actors presented prepared scene work, complete with costumes and props, developed during the previous semester for an invited audience of family, friends, community members, and local arts supporters.
In the college studio earlier that day, students rehearsed and fine-tuned their scenes with notes and guidance from Jones ahead of the evening showcase, which featured scene studies from a variety of film and television productions, including Iron Man 2, Supernatural, Tick, Tick… Boom! and Beautiful Girls.
Jones opened the evening by outlining the NC program’s training process and learning objectives before the performances began.
The performances were a venue for students to sharpen their performance skills, boost confidence, adapt on-the-fly, and connect with the community.
“The second-year student actors came away connected and confident as they move toward into graduation,” said Jones.
To close the evening, students engaged with the audience in a Q&A on the craft of acting and the creative process.
“It gave community members a behind-the-scenes look at what our Acting program does while allowing students to step outside the classroom and gain real-world performance experience,” said Jones.
