Ages ago, (ok, it was only back on Jan 11, but it seems like a few months to me) Mookie asked me a few questions about how to prepare for a life in technical theatre...
What type of classes to take?... Well I'll assume you're talking HS classes at the moment... Naturally anything your school offers in theatre is a good start. After that, I'd recomend anything in the arts, like painting, sculpture, graphic arts (that one is becoming more important, especially just outside "theatre" and into the commercial side of production). Also, if you have any drafting class options, particularly in one of the CAD programs, as well as computer graphics. You can also take any of the shop type classes, and get a start on being comfortable around tools. I took a whole pile of electronics classes in HS and they have served me well to this day.
After all those which seem somewhat obvious, come the less enjoyable classes. (well to most people anyway) Geometry is one that you will actually use frequently in a shop. Pay close attention to constructions, and things like areas, perimiters, the dreaded trig formulas, etc... Anything that involves shapes and things you may see in reality... All the work on proofs, and the more theoretical things are less pressing, but many of the formulas are helpfull... Think of it as learning how everything works rather than why... We don't worry about the proof of why Pathagorean's Theorem works on the shop floor, but we use it now and again.
Any of the history classes can serve you well. In college you will get slammed with tons of theatre history, and it is often helpfull to have a grasp of what was going on at the same time to drive the trends in theatre histoy...
Physics... Ugh, I hated physics... However, I'm stuck useing some of it to calculate loads and such on scenery, and rigging equipment... One year of physics will cover all the concepts you would need to understand to be able to handle what may get thrown at you in college theatre classes on technology... You would get taught the things that apply to theatre in the specific class in question, but having the background in the math and formulas helps a ton.
Literature classes... Anything will help here probably... In college you will get dumpped on with lit and playscript classes... Knowing how to get through lots of literature in a hurry and find what your teachers are looking for is a huge advantage... Plus you'll have a good start on writeing papers, and you might get lucky and cover some material you've done before to lighten your load... People will howel in protest here, but in college most teachers usually aren't excited about finding someone that thinks differently than they do... Start learning how to read your teachers to find out what they want to hear, its the easiest way to get through undergrad... Just make sure you don't start thinking that way all the time...
Now, as for what college (preferably in VA) to look at... While I was down in Richmond, I got to spend quite a bit of time driveing around picking up things to tweak the set, and help out other departments... Since the theatre is surrounded by VCU, I got to see a lot of their buildings... They obviously have a serious commitment to the arts... Not just theatre, but the arts on a whole... So I sat down with my friend from Richmond who happened to attend VCU for theatre, and picked her brain a bit... From that conversation, I feel that VCU has the act together in a big way... You get the added bonus of haveing a good arts commitment outside the theatre, so there are excellent classes on sculpture, and fine art, and art history, etc... There are also it seems a number of theatres and performing groups in town, plus the road houses like my show was in, so you can get a wider exposure to theatre. The thing to remember is that classes are great, and they can teach you many of the tools, but nothing replaces experienceing theatre live, and working on shows... When I look at a resume for someone looking for work with my company, I only glance at the school they attended. The more important thing is what have they actually done... I want to see portfolio shots, and I want to see references outside the educational system. Since many theatre department faculty went from grad school to teaching, many of them have no sence of reality and what you need to work outside educational theatre... Seeing outside experience is the best thing you can have coming out of college on your resume. After your second or third job after college, nobody is going to care where you went except as casual conversation. Very few places are going to care ever about your GPA in college unless you are going for grad school or a teaching position... (that's not to say you should be a slacker in college!)
Posted by Backstage at February 15, 2004 05:01 PM