Easy way to see what a school's alumni are doing

Just saw this and it shows a little of what some of the CCU alumni are doing-

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ccudeptoftheatre/coastal-carolina-department-of-theatre-alumni-ne-3e9ge?utm_term=.iyee7nEok#.xgn5AVeQb

Wagner does a good job on their social media of updating alumni achievements - Alex Boniello is moving into DEH soon and they have many grads working both on Broadway and behind the scenes.

This is an interesting thread - D and I were discussing resumes while she was home at Easter. They got to sit in on the senior showcase rehearsal at her school and I asked her opinion of the talent. I had noticed while just looking thru their resumes that many still had listed shows from high school. I personally have very mixed feelings about this and would hope by the time my D is graduating she will not have to list productions she was in during HS. Also, the amount of typos on these resumes were staggering. I was so turned off by this! You are putting yourself out there professionally and you misspell names and words?? Jeez, get it together!

@LBSMOM I agree with you regarding what should be listed on a resume. My D graduated with a BFA last May and has removed all of her HS productions and experience from her resume. It only contains productions and experiences from the time her college career began. She also worked at a casting office during college and told me that she was shocked by the amount of spelling mistakes on resumes and did not pass those resumes along to the agents, which is part of what she was told to do (she also couldn’t believe the amount of unprofessional email addresses people still used on their resumes, for ex. the same email addresses they made up when they were 13!)

I am also puzzled by actors entering the professional world who still put high school credits on their resumes – shows they did at their high school when in high school or shows done at high school music theatre camps or programs. My daughter was also told to be selective about her college educational credits – just to put her best roles on or the ones that showcase her best. The goal, according to her prof, is to eventually remove all of your educational credits as you add professional credits.

@LBSMOM - not all typos are the kids’ fault - the resume on her school’s showcase site for my D was typed by the producer of the showcase - and despite MULTIPLE attempts to get them to update it - there is still a misspellling on it. The one on her personal website and the one given to agents attending showcase is correct. I have had to daily slap my hand from getting involved about the dumb typo… but my kid is an adult - and she is doing everything she could to get it taken care of. BUT IT IS SO FRUSTRATING. All her credits are college/professional since starting college… but I do think some of the pre-college summer programs carry enough weight that it’s not necessarily a bad thing to keep one or two of them on a resume if you have them… I mean - SDM has quite the alumni network out there… my D isn’t part of it - but if she had been, I could see her leaving something from there on to spark conversations.

@kategrizz I agree that if there is a well recognized program on your resume, it can be helpful to live it on since it might result in making a connection with someone or as you said spark interesting conversation.

So would it be everyone’s opinion that working summer stock or whatever in the summer is pretty important especially since you wouldn’t want JUST educational theatre on your resume? I mean i would think especially important if you don’t get cast at school that much , thereby not having many college shows on your resume…thereby making the summer work all the more important?

I also have looked at resumes of several schools showcase seniors. I second the extreme amount of typos/ misspellings etc. also there is a varying degree of ways the students put their shows on their resumes. I mean most listed educational theatre separate but not all of them did. Some of them lumped all of it together under a general theatre heading.

One way is to NOT list theater productions done in the high school years (including ones in summer programs like Stagedoor Manor). However, the summer program itself can still be listed under “Training.” And yes, early in my D’s career, people on audition panels would remark something about Stagedoor Manor, like they went there as a kid, etc.

I still think if a school is putting out something on behalf of the student and it is for public viewing (like casting directors etc) - ESPECIALLY for senior showcase that resume should NOT have typos. I don’t care who typed it. It is unprofessional. I agree with @soozievt that some summer programs (if well recognized) should be listed as training.

In her very first semester at Hartt an entire class period was devoted to proper format and structure of a resume, including what should be on it, how it should be listed and what should not be included. Students were required to submit their updated resumes as an assignment and spelling, grammar and proper formatting were all part of the grade. It really underscored the importance of a strong, accurate and correct resume - a pretty important lesson for any upcoming professional in any field.

@theatrework - in my d’s program at Western Michigan, they are advised to displace the college credits on their resume with professional work as quickly as possible. Summer stock is therefore critical to achieving that goal. Many of the students at Western do land roles in local professional theatres, but it would be rare to see one that managed to fill up their resume solely with local pro credits accumulated during the school year.

However, if students had some great leading roles in college and they only did ensemble roles in summer stock or in local pro shows, then many of them are reluctant to leave off those college credits.

Also, some students may have to look hard at the finances associated with summer stock, which can, in many cases, be a break-even proposition at best, especially if you take travel costs into account (not to mention the pay-to-play internships). Some students have to forgo summer stock offers due to the need to generate appreciable cash over the summer to help pay for college, or they take higher-paying jobs at theme parks, which only generate one line on the resume (as opposed to a six-show summer stock gig).

So, if you peruse college senior resumes, you are likely to see many still with college credits listed, especially from students who have to help support their educational expenses in a significant way.

I personally don’t see anything wrong with actors who recently graduated listing college shows on their resume. But I do believe that the shows should be identified as such. My issue was looking at resumes of people who were way over 5 years post graduation and seeing college shows listed that do not indicate that they were college shows. Some even had HS shows still there that were unidentified as such. As I stated earlier, I was also surprised that the format used by many omits all dates, and college shows are referenced by the name of the theatre building, not the college, in an effort to obviously make it look like professional work.

@uskoolfish, actor resumes never list dates. There’s a standard format, 3 columns, and dates are not included. And roles are listed in order of importance, with prestigious theaters and leading roles on top - not chronologically.

However, you are absolutely correct that college roles should be in a separate category from professional roles - usually “educational theater” - and that the college should be named. No fudging and trying to pretend it was a professional production!

As stated before I have an issue with idea of colleges having shows at other venues - and then having students list those shows as “regional” credits. I have no idea if the listings happened with the encouragement of the faculty or not- but it did happen on multiple resumes. Again, since different students listed the SAME show in different ways (some educational, some regional) - I would be VERY interested to find out if industry people noticed that when they had the full classes resumes in front of them at their showcase… and what they thought of it.

I agree @EmsDad its tough to just work for peanuts in the summer, which so many summer stock gigs pay and attempt to save any $ for the upcoming school year. I mean its fine if your parents can fund everything but that is not the case for many Mt students I am sure. My D has not managed to get any paid summer work (yet!) this year as a freshman but if she had I would want her to do it as it would go on her resume…but then hardly any money. Honestly she really needs to work a regular job & learn some budgeting skills! also important in this profession.

Having a kid who just finished showcase with his class, the “industry people” didn’t care. They called kids in for interviews based on their performances, not their resumes.

First of all, where are all of you finding copies of college resumes? I’m sure this is simple but I have not looked for them. Bad stage mom confession.

I’m betting that a lot of these programs have a class for our students to help with all of this. At Ball State, my D will take a class called Marketing for the Actor (or something like that). The entire semester class is spent helping them market themselves. I’ll be interested to see what it entails.

Also, in regards to seeing what alums are doing – check out the program’s Instagram account. Ball State does an amazing job with this as they have Alumni takeovers multiple times a week. On Monday was a recent alum who is in “Mean Girls”. The other day it was a stage manager working in Chicago or LA.

@wickersham2365 - many colleges create websites to promote their senior showcases with headshots/resumes of the class.
My D is potentially interested in pursuing an MFA - and so I have also searched those programs - it is fascinating to the the variations in the formats that different schools seem to recommend

@toowonderful Thanks. I’d like to see examples for sure.

Hi @Wickersham2365 Here is the 2018 Coastal Carolina University showcase website:
http://ccutheatre.com/demo-home/showcase2018

When you click on each student’s photo, their personal website pops up, which is especially cool now as you can see how many are working already.

Also, here’s a fun look at where the classes of 2018 - 2021 are working this summer:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ccudeptoftheatre/ccu-theatre-summer-2018-student-jobs-3e9ge?utm_term=.de6nLY94G#.txJn0DGQv