Professor Raneri Continues Uplifting Theatre

By Kevin Conley II, Staff Writer

When I entered the Maureen Stapleton Theater, there were students, and their teacher, Roseanne Raneri, sitting in a circle. The students were talking about their personal lives, like how people would in a therapy session. As I saw Professor Raneri listening, she seemed very invested with the way her students felt. Later on, she gathers her students to do practice exercises and activities to warm up her classmates, and she uses this method throughout the entire class. 

“I like students to feel that they have lots of opportunities to contribute what they think about, how they’re feeling about things, and also to think critically and creatively about the material we cover in our courses.” Professor Raneri said, when discussing her methods in teaching her acting classes.

  Before Raneri became a teacher, she worked in a location where performing arts took place. “When I finished my bachelor’s degree, I started working with the art center, located in Downtown Troy,” she said. “They used to be called the Rensselaer County Council for the Arts, but now they’re just called the Arts Center. At first, I assisted instructors with different arts classes, such as visual art classes and acting classes. Then, I kind of just took some on my own. So, I’ve worked for the arts center as an assistant teacher for art and as a teacher for the arts.” She became an artist before she became an artist for the students.

  She once performed a method to her students to read a script for the final project. Before that, the students perform improv to show their creativity to the entire class, including the teacher.

“In courses, I try to incorporate a lot of activities, a lot of discussion, a lot of interaction.” Roseanne said. “Another one of my approaches as much as possible, and I would say is one of my goals, is to help class members explore their potential.”

Professor Roseanne Raneri, a teacher at Hudson Valley Community College who ranges in teaching theatre classes such as Acting I-III, Introduction to Theatre, Introduction to Technical theatre, Theater Production Practicum, and Practical theatre. Raneri has been a member of the Hudson Valley family for a long time.

“It surprises me to even think about this, but I started working in Hudson Valley in 1992.” Raneri said. “I was 23 years old. I’ve been connected with Hudson Valley for 25 years. I’ve started teaching part-time, and became an adjusted instructor in 1996, and I became a full-time faculty member in 2009.”

As a teacher and as a faculty member, she teaches her classes in the Maureen Stapleton Theater, along with teaching her other classes on campus. She also directs the campus’s annual play productions each semester with any theatre major to attend in each play, such as the upcoming play, releasing remotely for the first time, “Dog Sees God: The Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead”.

  As much as Professor Raneri discovers her purpose in becoming a teacher in Hudson Valley, the coronavirus pandemic is impacting her and her class as much as it affects other campuses and everything else being shut down until further notice.

“I would say that the first thoughts that come to mind are how students, especially, are impacted.” Raneri said. “It’s tough enough to have to attend school. If you’re attending school as a student full time, and then you’re also working and other family commitments and obligations, your workload is already immense.”

At the beginning of her classes, she usually chooses questions for the students about what they like, how they feel, and what they would want. Usually, Raneri just chooses a student and has that student choose the next one, until everyone else finishes what they need to say.

“To have the challenge of trying to attend school regularly, using online and the new secret formats like zoom, I feel that it’s a really daunting challenge, that it’s an extra challenge that I think puts students in an unusual position to have to work especially hard to stay focus, to maintain their studies and academic practice.” Raneri said. Having not to navigate the restrictions to online and remote learning, adds other challenges.” She later added that “but, having said that, I’m constantly impressed, like I feel off by how well the students that I get to work with are handling it.”

It somehow feels comforting and warm to watch how students interact with each other and feel confident to her. 

Raneri later added about the students facing the pandemic, “I see what a challenge it is to have such an extreme transition to different modes of learning, training and study. But people are impressively trying to take it on, they’re trying to find ways to not only tackle it, but also embrace it to find ways to succeed.”

It feels like Professor Raneri is a lot more of a teacher, but more of a guide to a life where people can be what they want to be. At the end, she lets students know what to do next, what to prepare for, and what opportunities students can take to achieve their true potential to greatness. What other instruction could it be?

Somehow, every time I see students feel confident to discover their talent as I see Professor Raneri’s smile on her face, this class kind of feels more like a home than a class. And that’s why students, including me, should attend this class. Not only to learn to perform, but to learn how to belong somewhere.