Something I was going to say earlier, and then forgot to, is this:
There's a lot more to
theatre, even production and design, than you would get from just a technical
theatre department. I mentioned earlier that the university I went to, like most, has a
Theatre Arts Department, and my degree reads BFA
Theatre. The list of courses I had to take for that degree include the following: Basic core classes of course; Stagecraft 1&2; Scene Design 1&2; Lighting Design 1&2; Costume Design; Acting 1; Directing 1;
Stage Makeup 1; Craft Of Costume; Scene Analysis; Classical & Modern
Theatre History; Voice And Movement .. and other electives and whatnot.
Similarly, our performance majors had to take Stagecraft, Scene 1, Lighting 1, Costume, and so on in addition to specialized classes like Acting For The Camera.
It may seem stupid for me, who wants to become a
lighting designer, to have to take an acting class and a directing class. I can't act, but because of that class I understand acting more than I would otherwise. I can't direct, but I can understand what a director's trying to do better than I would otherwise. I'm a more well-rounded
theatre person because of all that (and the Department as a whole; don't let the degree title and course catalog be your sole criteria), and similarly the actors have some basic idea of the technical side of things. Some of the best lightboard ops I know are actors, and similarly there are a few that I went to school with who graduated under the Design focus degree plan who discovered they enjoyed acting as well.
In all fields, not just
theatre, we need more generalists and fewer specialists. Just my opinion.
Oh, and what did I learn at college? A lot, and not a lot at the same time. I learned how to learn, and I learned a lot of good stuff, principles and techniques, from professors and TDs we had. But largely I'm self-taught in everything I do, from lighting design to audio to video to my real day job, database administration. Going to the right college won't teach you how to be a good LD .. but if you're lucky, while you're at college you'll learn how to become a good designer and more.
Just my two cents. Maybe two-and-a-half; keep the change.