Grand Canyon University theatre students stretched their acting skills on a whole different stage recently.
They helped Mesa Community College Emergency Medical Technician students in their final examination by acting as standardized patients in high-intensity, medical scenarios.
They took on roles as patients with pretend burns, shotgun wounds, schizophrenia and gastrointestinal bleeds to test EMT students’ medical knowledge, composure and skills as they approach the completion of the program.
“It was a two-day extravaganza for emergency situations,” theatre professor Michael Kary said. “The whole time our actors were playing victims of different incidents, and they were going to these super dramatic places over and over.
“Improv is one of the main skills used in filming television. We wanted to give our students an experience doing that and to help the EMT students.”
To reflect real life as much as possible, students went through makeup and prosthetics that included makeup artists applying fake blood, bruises and wounds, and the simulated patients donned torn-up clothing and messy hair so they could embody injured, sick and distraught patients.
The EMTs' makeup and hair crew even burned ham to replicate the smell of burning human flesh so students could be immersed in the kind of life-threatening scenarios they're likely to face in their careers.
“Everything here (at GCU) is scripted, and you have a specific character,” senior Cara Gregg said. “But in this, you have to create a character, create a backstory. You have to give them a reason to believe that you are a real person.
“I played the burn victim. I had a ton of prosthetics all over my arms, my neck, shoulders and on my ribs. I love the gory stuff because I want to be a scare actor in the future, so this was a cool sneak peek into that and getting to work on my screams and cries.”
While GCU students practiced their improv, the EMT students highlighted their best medical skills, quickly addressing the emergencies and providing solutions as they would to real patients.
They made 911 calls, responded to emergency requests, tended to patients with medical kits and gurneys, transferred them to stationary ambulances and took them into emergency rooms.
At the end of the simulations, GCU students gave feedback to EMT students, explaining how they felt as potential patients, and EMT students received feedback from their instructors, who examined the entirety of the event
“It’s awesome that us as actors are able to go help out the EMTs to get training with real people before they go out into the real world,” freshman Rhiannon Stuart said. “It’s a lot safer that way.
"I played a patient who had a miscarriage and, at one point, I started screaming and I was like, ‘You can’t tell my mom, don’t tell her,’ and my mom was on the phone saying, ‘That sounds like my child. What is going on? She doesn’t sound OK.’ But my mom was in on the whole thing, and she knew it was just acting.
"The experience was a little difficult at first, to try to get into the role, but once it started, I was able to play into it and found it interesting.”
The experience pushed actors outside of their comfort zone and prepared them for the Ethington season unfolding this academic year.
Senior Cora Epton was especially prepared to take on the most recent production, Thornton Wilder’s 1938 classic, “Our Town." She posed as the stage manager, whose role was to narrate the show and interact with the characters and audience. The production featured a minimalist approach to scenic design, where wooden chairs and tables were the only props decorating the stage.
GCU theatre students relied on their acting to mimic everyday human movements, such as opening doors or eating. Epton’s dialogue helped the audience understand the themes and depths of each scene.
“I have always been a very period actor, very poised and Victorian,” Epton said. Getting in a space where I am just this sad, sickly, gross-looking, really obnoxious character, like I had grease in my hair and makeup to make me look sick. I even had a fake barf in a trash can. This was something I have never played before, and it made me more comfortable in myself and having a bigger range.
“I just wanted to prove a little bit that acting is so much more than just something on a screen," she said. "We are helping them train to save lives. They are practicing, learning and maybe making some mistakes in situations where there’s nothing that could happen and nothing could go wrong, but they are able to learn in a safe place and, without acting, they couldn’t do that.
GCU staff writer Izabela Fogarasi can be reached at [email protected]
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