<p>Are you CalArtian now, too? Or a Bruin?</p>
<p>If you have a moment, let us know where youre going. Here is a little tech list. Please add if I left anyone out. </p>
<p>BUcurmudgeons niece
CalArtsBurger&Fries
CCMGreybiscuits S, Mikksmoms S
CMUMHETTmoms S
UMichbe_somebody
UNCSATechnicalMoms D
UOklahomaPattikayes D</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone.</p>
<p>CalArts for me too!</p>
<p>I’m excited and humbled to know that many of us-- designers, actors, writers, producers, directors, dancers, stage managers, singers, musicians, FOH, and our beloved patrons–will cross paths professionally in the future. Best of luck to all of you, and my most sincere appreciation to the collective advice and encouragement of the CC community.</p>
<p>(Burger&Fries, I messaged you.)</p>
<p>BU—curmudgeon’s niece
CalArts—Burger&Fries, fillyflurel
CCM—Greybiscuit’s S, Mikksmom’s S
CMU—MHETTmom’s S
UMich—be_somebody
UNCSA—TechnicalMom’s D
UOklahoma—Pattikaye’s D</p>
<p>i’m going to UNCSA too.</p>
<p>TechnicalMom:
I’m sure it says somewhere on this post/you have already told me, but what is your D going for?</p>
<p>BU—curmudgeon’s niece
CalArts—Burger&Fries, fillyflurel
CCM—Greybiscuit’s S, Mikksmom’s S
CMU—MHETTmom’s S
UMich—be_somebody
UNCSA—TechnicalMom’s D, thelilodance
UOklahoma—Pattikaye’s D </p>
<p>My D is a junior interested in stage management.</p>
<p>thelilodance:</p>
<p>Unfortunately my name is very close to theater mom’s name so I am never sure if you are talking to her or me - however, my d will be attening UNCSA for Stage Management.</p>
<p>Theater mom - thanks for doing this post - it is fun to see where everyone ended up!</p>
<p>it is super confusing, especially seeing now that both of your D’s are going for/interested in stage management.</p>
<p>Aw, I wish there were more people joining me at UMich. All the students I’ve talked to seem to love it over there!</p>
<p>And I know it’s a bit in the far future, but I think we should keep this thread going and come back after a semester or so of our first year at our respective colleges and provide feedback on the pro’s and con’s of our school’s program. I really wish I had that information available when I applied; it would have choosing colleges to apply to a lot easier.</p>
<p>Hi and congrats on your decision to attend UMich.
My daughter (rising junior) has just put UMich on her radar – would love to hear more about your experience once you are there. (I’ll go back over this thread to see if you have posted anything about the admission/interview/portfolio process.)</p>
<p>What is your planned major? She is strongly considering sound or stage management at this point. Thanks in advance and congratulations on our graduation!</p>
<p>Thank you, hughesmove. I would be more than happy to share my experience at Michigan after this fall! Although I chose to apply to the school on a whim, it really really grew on me, and I ended up turning down Northwestern for Mich, which seemed to surprise a lot of people. But I’m very happy in my decision, and the enthusiasm that Michigan students have for their school is extremely infectious, so I’m stoked for the fall after talking to some current students!</p>
<p>My interview was somewhat unique in that I was an international student, so couldn’t come in for a campus interview. All of the other parts of the application was the same as everyone else (submitted it online). For the interview, I emailed my portfolio and resume, and did a Skype interview! The school was willing to work out something that worked for both parties.</p>
<p>For us techies, the major available at UMich is BFA Design & Production. There’s a lot of design, such as costume, light, and scenic, which I did not expect, as I expected to solely focus on stage managing. However, for us stage managers, we can easily get the beginning design courses out of the way in the first two years, then focus on stage managing for junior and senior year. Also, I should mention that there really isn’t opportunity for sound design at Michigan unfortunately. There’s only one class available, and it must be requested by at least 3 students I think.</p>
<p>If there are any more questions, please let me know and I’ll answer them to the best of my abilities. Go Blue!</p>
<p>ETA: Although there’s only one formal class for sound design, there’s plenty of opportunity for your daughter to get involved with sound design in campus theatres, such as Basement Arts.</p>
<p>I’ve read a lot of interesting things about students that are going into stage management. However, my son wants to go into technical directing (building sets, running fly, etc.). I think this is different, but I may be wrong. Can anyone help me out on this.
My son tranferred to a preforming arts high school last year and loves it. He worked 13 shows at school, 1 at a professional theatre, and 1 at an area college this summer. We need to start looking ahead for a college that would be good for him. Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>You are not wrong! There is such a thing as a major in Technical Direction - my son describes it as the ’ boss of everyone" or the person who has to make EVERYBODY look good! He will be studying this fall as a freshman at Univ of Cincinnati (CCM). </p>
<p>He interviewed at 3 schools - which scared me since they take so few students- and was accepted at all 3. HE auditioned at CCM, Rutgers and UConn. HE liked all 3 progams but they were very different. Be sure to compare curricula. Also my son wanted a BFA so that narrowed down his list of possilbles quite a bit.</p>
<p>Tell your son to work on his portfolio NOW! Take pictures, save NOTES and drawings… my son is a procrastinator so he didnt get working on his for a while and it was stressful!</p>
<p>Please feel free to email me any questions!</p>
<p>Regards,
Nancy Mikk</p>
<p>Out of all of the schools that I have looked at, I’m pretty sure that most schools that have a technical theatre program have some sort of TD program.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head I know for a fact that UNCSA and SUNY Fredonia all have TD programs.</p>
<p>UNLV also has a technical direction degree at the undergraduate level, I think. Technical Direction and Technical Design involve engineering, structural design, understanding of building materials, scheduling, mastery of auto-cad and/or vectorworks, often an understanding of automation, etc… Sometimes TDs also serve as Production Manager. Many TDs go on to study at the MFA level. Yale, NCSA, and UNLV are three strong MFA programs that come to mind immediately. There are others as well. Yale does not have an undergraduate program. Many BFA and some BA programs give undergraduates the opportunity to major in Technical Production/ Design. Depending on the school the undergraduate degree may be more broadly focused on all aspects of technical theatre, which may not be a bad thing for an undergraduate TD, since the TD really has to understand all areas of technical production. Some undergraduate programs do allow undergraduates to focus more specifically on technical direction as their major. Good TDs are almost always in demand. Many work their way up career-wise from carpenter to master carpenter to assistant technical director to technical director.</p>
<p>A book that I would recommend to any one looking at obtaining a degree in the technical theater area is: “Careers In Technical Theater”, by Michael Lawler. The book discusses the responsibilities of the different types of positions in Technical Theater. It also has a section of the chapter where they talk to someone that is currently doing the job professionally as well as a section about earnings potention and which schools offer degress in that particular area of study. This book help us with my d’s college search.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all the help. You all are wonderful. Very, very helpful. (Carpenter to master carpenter to assistant technical director to technical director) is what my son has dreamed of. Glad to know the training is out there. We’ll get the book suggested and start the journey. Trent is my first child that has been interested in this part of theatre and we had no idea what directing to go. The head of his department at school is very good at what he does, but is an older man and doesn’t seem to know much about the college arena. Trent is an A/B student and a hard worker. He wants to get that degree.
Any other suggestions are appreciate.
Thank you again.</p>
<p>First of all, props to you mandemb (as well as to the other parents in this thread!) for supporting your kids in pursuing a career in technical theatre. We appreciate it, A LOT. :)</p>
<p>I’d like to echo Mikksmom’s advice of starting to assemble the portfolio earlier. It’s better to start now and have too much material so you can cut down later, rather than trying to assemble it later and being unable to include items such as photos or notes that were thrown away. Anything and everything should be saved, so that they can be pruned later to assemble a great portfolio. I wish I had done that instead of scrambling at the last minute!</p>
<p>Thanks. My husband is one of 6 from a small town in Iowa. He dreamed of being a tennis pro. Although no one from his area does that, his parents never told him not to try. He has been happily coaching and teaching tennis for more than 30 years.
We don’t know or understand anything about technical theatre but Trent is passionate about it and that’s all that matters. It’s not about getting the best job or making the most money, it’s about getting up everyday and being happy doing what you love to do.</p>
<p>In case anyone else is worried. It is a buyers market in terms of Design and Technology. Most schools are in need of students, most theatres are in need of skilled technical labor. It is the one market in theatre that you have a very, very good chance of making a long term, uninterrupted living. (Tech more so than design.)</p>