Director's Portfolio Questions

Hi all,

I’m a rising senior planning on applying to Tisch’s (theatrical) directing program – as well as BU’s, which has a similar requirement – and I am honestly quite confused on what exactly I should be putting into my portfolio, and what the portfolio is even supposed to look like.

In previous years, I’ve directed two short one-acts that I have photos from as well as some blocking notes, costume ideas, rehearsal notes, etc. However, I’m not super keen on including much about them as I (bluntly) had no idea what I was doing at the time, especially with my first one.

Since then, I’ve assistant directed shows and have (finally) actually figured out what directing is really about, and I plan on bringing this new knowledge to a full length production I’m directing later this summer. Even so, I’m still not completely sure on what to put in my portfolio. So far, I have a pre-production document filled out (answering questions about why I’m interested in the show/characters/etc., what “feel” I’m going for with the show, and so forth), have complied a list of music cues that also includes explanations for why I chose each song, costume ideas, tentative blocking notes, and ideas for the lighting design (which I will also be doing).

How much of this should I include, and is there anything I should remember to include once rehearsals begin? I’m planning on including rehearsal notes, samples from my marked-up script (not the full script, as that seems quite excessive), and hopefully some photos from the production.

Also (sorry this is getting so horribly long, btw), as I mentioned above, I’m also doing lighting design for my show, which I have done for other productions at my school. I have photos from the previous production, as well as a list of lighting cues, and I was wondering if I should include those as well (since lighting design is probably my secondary interest after directing). I’ve also stage managed shows, so I have examples from my call sheets and could include those too.

Finally (finally!), I’m also a writer, and plan on workshopping a play I wrote earlier this summer some time in the fall and doing a staged reading of it. Since it’s my own play, I don’t know if it’d be in good taste to include notes from it, and was just wondering if anyone had thoughts on that.

If you made it through all that, thank you so much, and I look forward to any insight that you may have!