One of Ball State’s seasoned professors will be retiring this May after 37 years at the university.
Beth Turcotte, an acting and musical theatre professor at Ball State, taught several classes,
directed 40 shows, took students on trips abroad, and hosted many projects that have shaped
the community and won several awards. Her projects include directing many new shows, like
The Circus in Winter, which won 11 awards at the American Collegiate Theatre Festival.
Her most notable project took place at Cornerstone Center for the Arts, a place where less fortunate
kids can go to learn more about theatre and the other arts.
“I felt so passionate to make sure kids who couldn’t afford it could take classes in the arts... My first year after it opened we had approximately 15,000 students that went through in some capacity,” said Turcotte.
Turcotte taught several classes at Ball State and had repeating students, one of them being
Grace Hill, a senior majoring in video production and stage management. Hill is also one of the
students who went on the class trip to Paris. She says Turcotte has inspired her and helped her
become the person she is today, and says Turcotte will be greatly missed.
“She had a huge influence on my time here, starting with the acting class that I took with her my freshman year. I think that really broke me out of my shell... I think I’m just one of the many people that she’s influenced during her time here. I’m so glad... that we’ve had and established this working and personal relationship. She’s influenced my life so much and has pushed me to do things that I didn’t believe in myself to do," Hill said. "I don’t know a single person who doesn’t love her... She will be very missed.”
After all the work Turcotte did for the university and community, it is no surprise that Turcotte
is excited for retirement and has many plans and many things she is excited for, like spending
time with her mother, who is about to turn 90.
“I’m moving to Fort Wayne to be with her and, you know, she’s supported me my entire life and I just want to be able to spend as much time as I can with her... and my daughter is in Boston, so it’ll free up time for me to get to see her and spend time with her,” Turcotte said.
Family isn’t the only thing Turcotte is excited for, though. She will continue her community
work by volunteering on a farm for special needs kids. But the excitement is bittersweet.
“37 years went in the blink of an eye... there are times during the years that feels like it’s never gonna end and then all of a sudden you’re rolling into the end of it and you realize how deep your roots have gone and to kinda chop that tree down... it’s painful, it’s bittersweet, it’s full of joy, it’s full of pain, it’s full of anticipation of what will happens and fear... I love this university,” Turcotte said.
Turcotte’s final project is a musical titled Gypsy which is about a burlesque queen from the
forties named Gypsy Rose Lee and her mother Rose who had to learn to let her daughter go.
The musical closes on Sunday, but tickets for the last few shows can be found on Ball State’s
event calendar.
