Virtual acting course helps students experience new aspects of learning

OCTOBER 1, 2020 — With so many college classes taking place in a virtual world, there has been a loss of personal connection among students and their professors. However, one class at UTSA is doing the exact opposite.

Topics in Drama: Acting, a new hybrid online course being taught by assistant professor Kimberly Fonzo from the Department of English, is bringing students together in a new way—through the world of acting.

Fonzo, a former professional actor, said the new acting class has been long-awaited by UTSA students.

“We had someone within the English department teaching an acting class several years ago, but she retired. And since then we haven’t had anyone teaching acting classes and we don’t have a theater major or minor. So the students have been missing it,” Fonzo said. “They’ve been asking me when I might offer an acting class. The opportunity to teach the class came up before COVID-19, so I did not know I would be teaching this online, but I’m still very pleased to be doing it.”

“I find that many of my students are just as—if not more—interested in performing for the camera.”

While most acting classes focus on movement and vocal projection, Fonzo adapted the class to fit the virtual world.

“Movement and vocal projection are two things that are hampered when you’re performing on Zoom,” Fonzo said. “However, I can bring in a lot more about performing for the camera, for film and television, which is obviously an important facet of performance. I find that many of my students are just as—if not more—interested in performing for the camera. So this is a unique opportunity in a way.”

It’s been interesting to see the students working entirely on camera with each other because they’ve become extremely aware of how they appear just to the lens, Fonzo added.

“One of the things that I’m really focusing on is natural emotions on screen. That’s something we can really develop,” Fonzo said. “So we’re talking a lot more about goals and tactics and obstacles in the characters’ heads than we are about vocal projection.”

Aside from reading various plays and performing exercises, the students will have the opportunity to prepare monologues, workshop them during their Zoom sessions, and record themselves performing the monologue.

“Each student is dissecting their own monologues on a different level every week so that they get better and better,” Fonzo said. “And by the end of the course they have to perform the monologues for the class on Zoom. They’ll be able to use the monologues for auditions for plays if they want to.”

The new course has been a therapeutic experience for everyone during these difficult times, Fonzo said.

“It’s a really dynamic, personal class. And it means so much to me to have that kind of personal connection during this time of isolation,” Fonzo said. “I know a lot of other classes function so that students can have their cameras off throughout the class, but I think that’s not possible with this one. All of us have cameras on at all times. All of the students are participating.”

Once the students complete the class, Fonzo hopes they walk away with more confidence and a greater appreciation for the performing arts.

“I hope that they look at plays in a different way, specifically from the perspective of a performer,” Fonzo said. “I hope they appreciate performances so they can experience the richness in a way that they hadn’t before.”

— Valerie Bustamante