{"id":100581,"date":"2023-05-11T10:21:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T14:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&p=100581"},"modified":"2023-05-11T10:21:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T14:21:11","slug":"art-house-is-bus-homegrown-sitcom","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2023\/art-house-is-bus-homegrown-sitcom\/","title":{"rendered":"Art House Is BU\u2019s Homegrown Sitcom"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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A comic highlight of\u00a0Art House<\/em>\u00a0was the demented interpretive dances by Summer Sage, played by Michaela Lazarou (CFA\u201924) and their impact on Candy Baker, played by Katie McRae (CFA\u201923), and Lil Bub, played by Aidan Close (CFA\u201923). Photo by Michael D. Spencer<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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CFA School of Theatre and COM Department of Film and Television collaborate to get laughs<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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May 11, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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This article was first published in BU Today<\/em><\/a> on May 10, 2023. By Joel Brown<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpt<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Twentysomething Barb returns to her family home after a breakup to find a quartet of artists using it as a studio and crash pad: an interpretive dancer, an obsessive baker, a sculptor, and an inept but enthusiastic rapper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHop on this beat with me!\u201d the rapper says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barb, understandably, pulls out her can of mace: \u201cYou have three seconds to back away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to\u00a0Art House<\/em>, a sitcom co-produced by the College of Communication Department of Film and Television and the College of Fine Arts School of Theatre (SOT)<\/a>. Student actors, directors, designers, writers, and camera operators from both ends of Comm Ave created the show under the watchful eyes of industry-veteran faculty.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A traditional three-camera sitcom shot before a live audience\u2014like I Love Lucy<\/em> and All in the Family<\/em>\u2014Art House <\/em>was taped over several nights at the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre in late April. An elaborate three-room set and a live audience gave it that Hollywood feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halfway between live theater and a single-camera show like\u00a0The Office<\/em>, few\u00a0multi-camera sitcoms have been produced these last few years. But Acsa Welker (CFA\u201923), who plays Barb, says, \u201cHonestly, it feels like the perfect learning space, because it\u2019s kind of the best marriage of the two forms. I just feel kind of ready to\u2014hopefully\u2014step onto a set in the future. Even if it\u2019s not the same, I still feel like I\u2019ve learned a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A first-time collaboration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Paul Schneider<\/a>, COM professor of film and television and department chair, and Susan Mickey<\/a>, CFA professor of costume design and director of the School of Theatre, started talking about a collaboration two years ago. Work began in earnest in spring 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing for us to fall back on in terms of what other universities have done or anything else,\u201d Schneider says. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a step off into the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Art House<\/em>\u00a0is the first collaboration between the College of Communication Department of Film and Television and the College of Fine Arts School of Theatre. Photo by Michael D. Spencer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were looking for different means of expression in which our students could perform, collaborate, and travel their artistic journeys,\u201d says Mickey. \u201cWe\u2019re a natural fit. We\u2019re hoping this will be the impetus for more work together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COM Students working on the show could get academic credit through a class created for Art House,<\/em> while it was one of the scheduled productions at CFA for which students there could get credit. By last fall the writing staff was hard at work, with about 20 students from COM and the School of Theatre undergraduate playwriting program. Eventually there were table reads with the cast. Gags came and went, as did characters, while the best survived to the final shooting script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We were looking for different means of expression in which our students could perform, collaborate, and travel their artistic journeys. We\u2019re a natural fit. We\u2019re hoping this will be the impetus for more work together.<\/div>