November 29, 2017
Story and photos by Micah Oelze
Academics Month 2017
This story is the last of four in a series focused on some of Barton’s popular traditional academic offerings. The series was inspired by the inaugural Barton Academics Month through November.
Theatre was never a part of the plan for Jared Steele, a freshman at Barton majoring in theatre who plans on graduating Barton in May.
While he was a freshman in high school, Jared picked up a programming class but due to lack of interest, the course was dropped and Steele had to find a replacement. On a whim, he took an intro to theatre class and found it interesting, so he followed it up with a theatre tech class. He stayed involved with theatre, behind the curtains as a technician. He decided a future as a theater technician was for him and began his search for the right college.
Steele chose Barton because he felt the faculty and staff cared about him as an individual and did not see him as just another number.
“Barton stood out to me because Leon and Dr. Abel were invested me and wanted me to attend Barton to further my education,” Steele said. “When I visited other schools, it seemed like they just wanted students to enroll and didn’t care about me as much.”
Theatre Director Dr. Rick Abel and Technical Director Leon Sobba at Barton Community College said they love to work with their students to help them one-on-one on what matters to them.
“Another reason I chose Barton is the lighting equipment the school offers,” Steele said. “Barton has LED lights and lights that we can program to move which were things that I wanted to learn more about using and was able to with Leon teaching me. I wouldn’t have had that opportunity at other colleges where you would have to be a junior or senior to work on lighting and sound.”
This chance to work with the lighting and sound is not something Steele is letting slip past him. He has helped with setting the lights and working with sound on both “Ah, Wilderness!” and the student production “Horror Movie Survival Guide.”
“Doing the student production was a really big step for me and having that opportunity as a freshman in college is great,” he said.
Each year, as part of the theatre program at Barton, students are tasked with producing a show entirely by themselves. Steele found himself working by himself often which provided the chance to grow. He was taking the ideas formed in his head and bringing them to life on the stage, from building the set to finding the sound effects for the show to programming the lights.
Seeing all the behind the scenes magic is what Steele enjoys most about working on the technical theatre.
“In a lot of productions people just see a scene from one angle that hides all the things that make it work and a lot of people don’t know how much effort it takes to make it happen,” he said. “When you are a part of the tech crew you can see how the magic happens and how much effort it really takes to pull something off.”
Steele continues to serve his high school by making weekend trips back to Garden City to help their theatre build sets and design lighting for their shows. After Barton, Steele hopes to continue his education at either Emporia State University or Pittsburg State University.
Barton Theatre Department to host Original Playwright Series
The Barton Theatre Department is calling for original plays from the community for its second Original Playwright Series. Three of the submitted works will be performed for a one-night event on April 26, 2018 in the Fine Arts Auditorium. Playwrights have until March 9, 2018 to turn in their play.
On January 20, Barton will host a free playwright workshop led by local playwright Rob Munden. During the workshop, participants will learn about the proper playwriting format, creating a story that engages the audience and other related topics in a hands-on environment.
Community members, including those at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, are encouraged to attend the free workshop and submit their work.