Courtesy of Ethan Chin
You’ve probably seen their posters hanging in Cro or various buildings throughout campus: CC Production Club, a new on-campus production organization that provides technical assistance for all types of performances, including acapella, MOBROC, Dance Club, and more. Ethan Chin ‘25 created the club this past fall, hoping to be the first, as he described it, “arts supporting arts club” on campus. He hopes that this club promotes an intermingling and connection across the various student arts organizations, as well as an overall improvement in the technical aspects of on-campus productions. Additionally, he felt that “there wasn’t a community where people who are interested in tech could come together,” so he decided to create that space.
His primary mission with the club is to “grow the Connecticut College community through the support of other student organizations.” Previously, if student organizations wanted technical aspects of their productions, they would have to rent the materials through media services. CC Productions makes this process more accessible and provides a learning experience for those involved. This learning experience guides the club’s agenda. Chin stresses the importance of “people learning from each other in practical experiences like at a capella concert, or a MOBROC concert.” To accomplish this, the club runs various workshops to give members hands-on experience with equipment and troubleshooting. Ideas for workshops come directly from the members and what they want to learn and familiarize themselves with. These workshops include sound engineering, sound design, lighting design, lighting programming, video projection, and more. Chin has run several of these workshops but is also trying to “broaden out who is teaching these workshops by inviting faculty and staff and, next year, the possibility of inviting outside professionals to come and teach.” Overall, they are geared toward what the general body of the club wants to learn and improve. He wants members to have experience “doing rather than just listening and learning.” The goal is for members who attend these workshops to become experts in that specific area of technical production and then be able to use that expertise to help other student-run organizations.
As the semester ends, it is valuable to recognize the club’s growth and look back at what events they helped put on. They initially started by running the Dance Club shows and collaborating with Dance Club members. The club also helps put on all of the acapella concerts in the chapel to amplify and mix their sounds. Chin hoped these concerts would be a “good experience for all the people coming to see it, ” They helped out with MOBROC performances, including Arbofest, this past fall, as well as the recent Wig and Candle production.
Moving forward, Ethan Chin has big plans for next year and the future of CC Productions. He hopes more direct communication between the club and the rest of the arts organizations will create more collaboration. Proper scheduling will give student arts organizations the support they need and run more frequent workshops for the crew in their clubs. Chin is also determined for the club to become a USITT chapter, the United States Institute for Theater Technology. USITT is a national organization that focuses on professional theater technicians and the education of students interested in these fields. There is an annual conference that the club hopes to attend next year, and Chin sees this event as an opportunity for the club to “connect to the greater community of technical workers in the industry.” Becoming a chapter will give the club greater guidance on how to host workshops and fundraise, and the conference, which is set to be in Columbus, Ohio, next year, will be a great learning opportunity for members; Chin also hopes to hold his workshop at the USITT conference.
With big plans for the coming 2024-2025 semester, CC Productions is a helpful resource for all student organizations. The club’s purpose is to connect all the arts groups and promote as much collaboration as possible – this is possible through continued student involvement. CC Productions is open to anyone interested, regardless of experience level. Workshops tend to be geared towards beginners so everyone can clearly understand the material. If you want to get more involved with on-campus productions and the intermingling of student organizations–CC Productions is the place for you.
