I am a High School Tech Director for 2 schools currently, a total of 7 years now, I try to Tech Dir. by several rules:
1) safe and reliable.......first and foremost, should have a clue as to what they are doing and how to do it safely. Not saying they need to be a carpenter or anything, I myself am not one, but I have used tools since I was 5 and have a
safety minded attitude.
2) It is not my job to
build the set, it is my job to work with you (the students) to teach you how to
build the set.
3) Patience and understanding are very key as others have mentioned
4) Treating your tech crew as equals to you (on a personal and human
level), leaving your doors open to others who may have ideas on how to do something. I always tell my students "Here is the set design for this show, now lets go over my ideas and see if any of you want to improve on them or add your own ideas if they are within reason". I have found by doing this, the kids get more into the entire process and take more pride in the work and give me more respect for respcting and trusting them. Which leads to number
5) treat, respect and trust others and you want to be respected, trusted, and treated!!! the golden rule!!!!!
6) would have to be knowing where the
line is, even though you don't want to be tough on these kids (young adults), they still want to have guildlines to follow, it is ok to be and show a little tough love, don't let them get away with everything and anything, set rules and allow them to have "safe" fun while at the same time learning and working hard. I actually have a "contract" that the kids and I all sign, this lets them know what I expect of them and what they can expect from me....I have even had parents thank me for this contract many times since I started using it.
7) let the kids know you enjoy being there, that you are there for them, not just in words, but by your attitude and your actions.
8) I think the success of our program, growing from 5 or 6 steady Tech kids my first year to 7 years later having 20 or so steady crew members and 6 or 7 graduates that come and
build with us on a regular basis is due to all the above and the fact that I try to get them to bond outside of crew as well and I take part in these functions, it might be paintball or flag football or going to see another show that is not ours and then discussing it, and we have a yearly Tech Picinic where we all bring food and tings and I give out awards that we
call "The Techie" that the kids all vote on who gets what, this year with the help of a local scouts leader, we may even go on a weekend camping and white water rafting trip.....team building things,
Theatre and Crew is the only thing that some of these kids have!!! Just remember to check with your school Administration to see what the limits are. We do most of these functions as a "volunteer" basis and I personally get approval from all parents of kids involved so there is no "grey" area. In general, we just have a good time, these kids are my second family!!!! We even started going to other HS Theares and Summer Theatres in the area and started helping out
build crews that don't have as much help as we do. 2 years now, My Kids from both schools have volunteered (this was their idea) to help each other out for one to two
build days a season at each others schools and then over the summer we went to another local HS and helped their summer
theatre build the set for Willy Wonka for the Make a Wish
Foundation!!!! It was awesome and nothing feels better than stepping back and watching these young adults help eachother out and get along and give up thier free time to do good!!!! Well, hope someting here helps you.....best of luck.
Joe