Technical Theater

I do think that we will incorporate more visits during the Unifieds trip(s) and/or visit campuses for portfolio reviews. Excellent ideas. After seeing 8 schools, I think D can weed out others that might interest her based on curriculum and location. It’s just hard to imagine what “outside Columbus OH or St Louis” is really like…

@GCMom, what is your S’s tech concentration? How long has he been at Purchase? Does he ever go into NYC? Or is that just a marketing ploy? 1 hour by train seems like it would never really happen. Is the train station convenient to campus? What sort of connections do they offer – easy access to internships in NYC? Amazing your son also got into everywhere!

@upstate13 Congrats on the CMU decision - what were the deciding factor(s) over BU?

It wasn’t an easy decision, but I think for my D (and everyone is different), the more ‘techy’ side of technical theater appeals to her, and she felt strongly that CMU would meet her needs there - their equipment (in her words) was the best, and she met a girl on campus who was creating her own minor in projection work - which my D found fascinating. . She also doesn’t see taking all of the foundational courses as a problem, she is happy to explore it all. She also was given the Presidential Scholarship, which was pretty cool, brand new this year and only given to a couple hundred incoming freshmen.

She loved many things about BU - and I am pretty sure she would say the same for Depaul/Webster and Otterbein. But BU admittedly doesn’t’ invest as much in pure technology as CMU, and she felt that CMU just felt right at the end of it all. I really hope she is right :).

@craspedia, he is still in his first year. Pretty overwhelmed with being busy all the time. He is in Technical Direction. He doesn’t go into NYC much, but we live in NYC, so it’s not so exciting for him. The train ride is an hour. But you have to get to White Plains to catch the train. There is a shuttle. Not sure how long it takes, but it takes about 10 minutes by car. I think trains are frequent…that is how he comes home when he does. The connections are actually just something we hear about at this point, but so many professors are actually working in NYC, so they are all connected

craspedia - Otterbein is located in Westerville, a small city that abuts Columbus. The campus is compact and lovely, and the surrounding area is mostly residential with lovely Victorian and Arts and Crafts era homes. Many of the streets are brick and the downtown is quaint with small shops and restaurants. My son is fairly oblivious to his surroundings and his only comment regarding adjusting to the mid-west was that it was “flat” (he grew up in Maine). I found Westerville to pleasantly familiar as I grew up two hours north in Ann Arbor. Son is finishing up his Freshman year as a BFA Acting major and has had a great year.

@GCmom, Now I understand why your son isn’t rushing into NYC to go to plays or whatnot. But that certainly is convenient for coming home!

@entertainersmom, if your son wanted to go into Columbus for a concert or event, is there public transportation? How far is it? Does anyone do that? Or would he need to find someone with a car? Do you have any knowledge of the tech facilities? Sorry for all the questions!

@upstate13 - very cool about the projections minor. I was looking at the CMU curriculum on their course catalog page, and they also mention that for PTM (unfortunately not Design) one semester can be an internship at an “approved regional or commercial producing organization in lieu of one semester of study” That sounds like they have a list of approved internship opportunities. If CMU ends up in the mix, that’s something D will probably want to ask about.

Been lurking here all day and will give an Update on us: nothing! Been waiting for two days to hear back from Carnegie with some FA questions. Losing a lot of sleep worrying and thinking about what to do. CMU is still her first choice, but my D just heard from an NYU student who told her about his great experience there, and he gave her the names of some very impressive Broadway designers he got to intern with. His portfolio is also impressive, and he’s staying in NYC to work after graduating. It seems like more of their grads do theatre, while CMU’s grads seem to gravitate to Hollywood more. That’s my impression anyway. My D is in choir and tomorrow night is their big “senior showcase” where all the seniors can do any kind of act they want. They also do a slide shows with baby pictures, and a graphic telling everyone where they are going to college. She’s the one who had to put question marks by two college names. It would be nice to finish this quest.

Oh @bearlife it’s so freaking stressful! I hope that she figures it out soon.

We need to. Soon.

@vogelpitts We auditioned at NYC Unifieds (SUNY Purchase and Otterbein) along with a Portfolio review at Pace but all of them were appointments made ahead of time. I didn’t see any D&P students doing walk-ins.

I agree with @GCmom that the schedule is very, very busy for these kids. My son will be a Scenic Technology major at UNCSA and he was told that going home on weekends and being successful in the program do not mix. Long days and nights are common in this major. It is very intense. My son is excited for it but I am sure it will be quite a challenge.

@bearlife did you hear back from any CMU students? I re-read this whole thread yesterday and there is a mom called “theater mom” who, it seems, her daughter might be graduating from CMU D&P this year. Maybe you could PM her?

We tried emailing a couple students from there, but never heard back.

duplicate

@cjenny2 Did you go to Pace for the portfolio review? Did you also get a tour of the theater department & facilities at that time?

We did go to Pace but had already visited the year before and had the tour then. We have a son who is a sophomore at Marymount Manhattan College for a BFA in Acting so we get up to NYC a few times a year.

@cjenny2 Did you consider Marymount Manhattan for tech? Besides Pace and NYU, are there any other schools in NYC worth considering for stage management?

Yes, I can’t overemphasize what @cjenny2 has said. My son usually works all day Saturday in the shop, and most days into the night. He is still figuring out how to budget the little bit of time he has, in order to get assignments done, have a bit of a social life, etc. there have been times that we have gone to see a show and he only has had an hour or less to spend with us.

He has much less free time than his older sisters had in liberal arts colleges.

@bearlife that bothers me that the students haven’t emailed back, they have been very outgoing with my D (obviously not the same kids). And as much as I am glad my D has made her choice, and I will support it - if you have a fabulous scholarship package at NYU I would definitely take it and would have advised my daughter to do the same.

Marymount has a BA in Tech Theater. My son wanted a BFA so we did not look into any BA’s except for one close to home (Western Carolina University) that had a BA in Tech Theater along with the option to get a film production BFA. Strangely enough there are not many Tech Theater BFA’s in NYC the top would be SUNY Purchase, NYU and Pace.