Over the last 50 years, Kip and Carma Shawger have had a passion for theater and the success of performers for decades, and have worked with students to advise and help them to become not only better actors, but better people.
The Shawger Family has been working in the Department of Theatre and Dance (DOTD) as well as the College of Fine Arts (CFA) long before the department and college were shaped into what it is today. The department has undergone a half-century of change, from having an entirely different name, the department expanding noticeably, and learning spaces changing dramatically over the years.
“I love anything artistic, and I try to do anything artistic; it’s just another way to express myself,” Kip said.
For the majority of Kip’s career at Ball State, he has worked as a designer and tech coordinator for over 200 shows, putting together design elements and guaranteeing each production runs as smoothly. Kip also photographs the department’s shows, using his passion to archive each experience.
Kip was originally offered a three-year position, and the Shawger family settled down in Muncie. After the department had grown quite fond of him, they offered him a permanent role in the department.
“They offered me a tenure-line teaching position,” Kip said. “I would still be tech director, but it was a more continuous type thing and I slowly worked my way up the ladder.”
While Kip worked on the technical side of theater, Carma had a more hands-on role in the learning environment for theater students. Carma spent time in several roles, such as teaching costume design and public speaking. She was also an advising coordinator, a role she held until she retired in 2017.
Carma still remains in an on-call job, meaning that during the creation of a production, she can be brought in at any time to help with costuming when needed. She said her part-time job gives her opportunities to do what she loves, even after she has retired.
Carma’s involvement is not only in the theater program through costuming for sets, but also in the communications program, working as a teacher and advisor. Carma said that because of her background and history with Ball State, she is often seen and relied on to be the historian for what she has experienced.
“The costume shop folks often call when they are doing a big show and need some extra help,” Carma said. “They call me when they need me. If they don’t, I don’t work and I’m fine with that.”
Kip chose to continue in his role as a photographer while simultaneously working on the design of the shows for the department. He does all the action shots and headshots, as well as anything else the department needs, including the archival work. The photos he captured held a unique element of storytelling and documentation of each of the performances, which Kip said gave him a sense of personal connection to the show.
Despite retiring in 2015, he still works part-time as an adjunct and professor emeritus for the department. He was given this title in honor of his hard work and dedication to not only his students, but also the department.
“I have a portfolio of all my designs that I have ever done. Everything we did from 1975 when I started, until sometime in the 2000s when we switched from slides to digital,” Kip said.
John Sadler, scene shop supervisor for the Department of Theatre and Dance for the past 25 years, holds a special connection to the Shawgers.
Both Kip and Carma have been to all of John’s family functions, and the Sadler family does their best to be at as many of the Shawger Family’s as they can — not only out of respect, but over time, they have come to see each other as more than coworkers.
“They are the Muncie grandparents to both of my children. They’re ‘Carmama’ and ‘Kipapa.’ We’ve been doing things with them for 20 years,” John said. “[Kip and Carma] were there when my son was born.”
John chose to come to Ball State because of Kip, realizing how impactful and essential he had become to the department’s growth and continuous success.
“I met Kip, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is where I should be,’ because Kip’s demeanor jived with my demeanor and my philosophy of theater, people and life,” John said.
Due to the department’s continued growth, the College of Fine Arts (CFA) was created in 1982, and the College of Communication followed in the early ‘90s, separating these majors into two different departments, which had previously been the same for decades. Beforehand, fine arts and theatre were mixed with other majors such as communications, because the programs were not yet big enough to be separate.
“You can major in theater with an emphasis in acting, directing, stage management and design and technology,” Carma said, adding that before the CFA, “You could [only] major in speech and theater education. That kind of growth necessitates change.”
The DOTD, CFA and Ball State University have changed significantly under the Shawgers’ leadership. In fact, Kip is a past recipient of several awards, three major awards from Ball State, and one from the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival program, in which he was a national chair of Design and Technology.
“[Kip] has won more awards in upper education theater than most design professors around the country. Sometimes things just tell you, this is where you should be,” John said.
Contact Kadin Bright via email at Kadin.Bright@bsu.edu.
