As one of the major centers of creativity at the University of Arkansas, the theatre department strives to showcase six annual shows for the community. They produced shows from dramas like “Lungs” to musicals like “The Prom” throughout this year. 

Michael Riha, the chair of the theatre department, said he works to make the best choice to allow his faculty to do their best work, find opportunities for them, and allow them to explore opportunities that they find. For their shows, a season selection committee chooses them, and they follow a series of guideposts. 

“How are the shows that we’re selecting appropriate for our student body?” Riha said. “Is there a period piece where it serves our designers in a way they need to do a different kind of research in order to execute those designs, whether they be costume designs, lighting designs, set designs, or sound designs?” 

When Riha worked on “The Prom,” he said he loved “how invested the entire production team was.” Riha served a role in the scenic projection design. When he went to Motel 6, he said he “couldn’t find anything good until evening,” where he took a shot of it in Fayetteville. 

“I help tell the story by adding another layer to the visual vocabulary of the set,” Riha said. “You’re just trying to make sure that the audience goes along with you on this ride, and then those projections can be useful in telling the story.” 

Riha said “The Prom” was a long process. The crew and cast had six days to rehearse and check everything before opening. 

“We do eight hours of rehearsal out of a 10-hour day,” Riha said. “Then we come back and finish taking it where we set all the light levels, projection levels, sound levels, and mic placements in the orchestra.” 

Cara Spencer, a paints and properties laboratory instructor, worked on the show with paints and props. She and her crew did the props and decorations from the mattress to the wallpaper to the hanging curtains. 

“We did all those lots of yards of hanging fabric pinned together,” Spencer said. “We got about 20 yards of each fabric. I want to be able to save it and use it again some time if we need to.” 

Underneath the scene shop is the basement where all the props are stored. There are items from TVs to furniture to random objects like a piano and a wagon wheel. 

“If you’re the designer, you can go downstairs and go on a little shopping trip for props,” Spencer said. 

She said she believes the theatre is a community and collaboration to her. She said it is about appreciating and working with different personalities and skill sets. 

“I love all the different personalities and skill sets that it takes to create something that’s really good,” Spencer said. “It’s part of the magic of this world. At the end of the day, you have to work with each other, and the end goal is the production in mind.”