<p>Hi,</p>
<p>What about it - just like there is an acceptance thread for Musical Theatre -how about one for Tech Theatre? I'd love to know where the stage managers, costume designers, lighting designers, and all the others are going. All the MT programs need these kids as well?</p>
<p>Anyone?</p>
<p>My son is at PSU for lighting design minor. Loves, loves, loves it!!</p>
<p>Congratulations Techiemom. It will be fun to hear where your son decides to go to school. I have be "lurking" for about a year and have found that the musical theatre thread has been the most helpful in finding out info on technical theatre. My son is a junior in high school interested in stage management, so were are one year behind you. We just returned from a mid- west college tour of tech programs. We looked at CCM, Otterbein, Wright State, DePaul and Webster. We plan another trip during my son's spring break to the east coast. We hope to look at SUNY Purchase, Syracuse, Emerson and maybe Penn State or Rutger. Unfortunely we won't be able to get NCSA or Virginia Commonweath with this trip. Any thoughts about these programs or other suggestions?
There are not many posts for tech theatre. Thanks for the advice and best wishes for your son.</p>
<p>I have been lurking, too. Just joined. This site has been wonderful as we looked at colleges. We (finally) finished the last of the portfolio reviews last week!
My son has been accepted to Purchase and UCONN. Still waiting to hear from: Emerson, Ithaca, Syracuse, and CMU.
All seem like wonderful programs. My s won't admit to a first choice just yet; I think he wants to see where he gets accepted first and the aid packages. What a difference in pricing... from UCONN's (under 20,000 everything included) to CMU's 49,000+!
Seeing as how there seems to be an almost 100% job acceptance rate after college....are places like CMU really worth it??</p>
<p>Maybe not when places like Otterbein have the same acceptance rate and much lower tuition!!</p>
<p>Just heard from Syracuse and Ithaca - got into both. Still waiting to hear from Emerson and CMU.</p>
<p>My s just heard from Emerson and CMU - got into both. Now the big decision- SUNY- Purchase, UCONN, CMU, Emerson, Ithaca, or Syracuse!!!</p>
<p>Another program to consider for stage management is Fordham in NYC. I know one girl that goes there and she has been offered many opportunities, outside of school productions, to get some experience in the field. Most recently at NYMF. It's a good solid program and apparently very difficult to get into. I've heard that they only accept like 8 in the program (at least at the Lincoln Center campus) a year.</p>
<p>My s looked at Fordham. He's into lighting design, and they didn't have any great facilities for that- a black box theater and an auditorium space, I think. But i loved the college, the feel of the place, and of course, the location. The dorms were great, the professors we met were wonderful, and the students seemed very dedicated. The theater program there is highly regarded.</p>
<p>To Judy L (I've tried twice to send this to you, but am having no luck- so I'm trying it this way!)
My son hasn’t made a decision yet!!! I told him that I have to send a deposit to SOME PLACE by May 1. My personal favorite would be CMU (1)or Emerson(2). We’re going to revisit Emerson (3rd visit) and Syracuse. Since he was at CMU for their 5 wk pre-college summer program we don’t have to revisit there! We’ve gone from getting the overall feel of the place to the nitty gritty of curriculum.
What we’re doing now is printing out the “sample curriculums” he’d have at each school and comparing them side by side. For example, Emerson has 128 credits needed to graduate. 68 will be in design/tech. (68 also needed for a BFA in stage/production management). The other credits will be from gen ed requirements. CMU however has most of the credits coming from the theater dept. We still have to look at Syracuse’s.
It depends on what your s wants in terms of how many liberal arts courses vs. theater courses. We asked questions like, What does the average day/week look like? Hands-on opportunities in the theatre productions? Do you help with job placement after college? (That was an eye opener question. CMU has lifetime career help. Syracuse has the same-what they call the Syracuse Mafia- in LA and NY. But NYU/TISCH said they didn’t have anything in place to help graduates!) Where do some recent grads work?
When I asked questions from the professors, I wasn’t just looking for the answers, but the way they answered the questions. I was looking for how much dedication they had (since most of the professors are working professionals, I was trying to figure out how much they cared/rooted for/ supported the students vs. themselves if that makes any sense.). I also asked lots of questions to the students to get a feel for their commitment and if there was a sense of community within the theatre department.
Dr John had some good posts about questions to ask when visiting the schools. (like asking for names/email addresses of current students)
My s had portfolio reviews at each college. Each one lasted about ? hr to an hr long. The interviewer at Emerson had written a book about portfolios that looked good if you’re looking for help in that area- I saw it at the Emerson bookstore and on Amazon.com. I forgot the author’s name (initials RJ).
Since you’ll be traveling around, have you considered Fordham University at Lincoln Center, Ithaca College (on the way to Syracuse) or Boston U? My son ruled out Fordham because it didn’t have enough lighting equipment, but for stage management – being right next door to Lincoln Center and a block from Broadway- might be interesting. Fordham’s theatre dpt is very competitive and highly regarded.
Best wishes to you as well!!</p>
<p>Thanks Diane500. I have sent you pm reply. The info you sent is very helpful. From what I can tell Fordam and Ithaca do not have a program for stage management.</p>
<p>Judy, you list some great programs including Virginia Commonwealth University (one of my alma maters).</p>
<p>I would also like to suggest my program at Oklahoma City University. We have the fastest growing Theatre Department in the country including an exciting BFA in Design & Production. </p>
<p>How’s your school search going? Will you be interviewing at SETC?
Steve</p>
<p>Hi there! I'm a DT major at Otterbein, so if anyone has any questions about the program, you can feel free to ask me. I'm a costume design focus, but I've worked on all the crews and should be able to answer your questions about freshman year. Feel free to ask away should you need anything!</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to UConn, SUNY Purchase and CCM. Her area is costuming and she has decided to attend CCM, primarily because of the variety of shows, MT and Opera, that she will be exposed to over a four year period.</p>
<p>I think my son has finally decided---CMU (with a longing toward Emerson as well).
Thank you to all who have posted information and have helped through this crazy process!
There are so many wonderful programs out there- I was astounded at the amount of dedication, kindness, and helpfulness from the college and
university faculty and staff.</p>
<p>Bumping the thread up.</p>
<p>Hi all –</p>
<p>Congrats on everyone’s great news! </p>
<p>Just wanted to clarify something: Ithaca College does in fact have a wonderful stage management program; it just isn’t its own major. This was initially a huge turn-off for me as I was making my decisions, but the overall quality of the theatre department at Ithaca ultimately won me over – and boy am I glad! The stage management concentration within the B.A. Drama major is one of the best programs I applied to (also on the list: CCM, Emerson, Muhlenberg, Syracuse, Carnegie Mellon, NYU). </p>
<p>I strongly recommend the program to anyone interested in stage management, and would be thrilled to answer any questions you have about the program.</p>
<p>Best of luck with everything!</p>