I am a Technical Director and YES I know what tech director means but I was wondering what other's thought the responsibilities of a tech director are?
We are revising our theatre staff and eliminating some staff, while in addition we are redefining roles.
Please Help
SORRY
My theatre is a high school that is middle size
my responsibilities include:
Set Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
House Manager
Supervise all crews (other than actors
I also do alot of the traditional stage manager responsibilities
I also built a mentorship system where every Jr. and Sr. had a Freshman or Sophomore working with them to learn their job. I didn't have a Student T.D. I had a team of four students who were my most trusted and skilled technicians. They met together with me and we broke down tasks into their various specialty areas and had teams handle the work.
There are vastly different answers to that question. In the most elite theaters a T.D. is primarily a desk job and he/she is unlikely to ever even touch a piece of wood. It's about working with designers, budgeting productions, making sure the right staffing is hired, solving technical problems, etc... there are many other people who handle the dirty work. As Marius just said, at the other extreme is Educational theater where it is often just about everything technical. In the middle there are a wide variety of other options. Unfortunately, there just is no one answer to your question.
In your case being a high school student. It means something entirely different. As you are given an amount of responsibility but you have very little real authority. There is an adult staff member who is your supervisor and has the real authority. We've had some discussions in the past about high school student technical directors. While most of us older folks were just as busy as you are now in high school and we fondly remember those days. But the truth is, what you call be a technical director has very little to do with what the position is like in the real world. Some people get a little offended by students calling themselves T.D.'s because in "the real world" it's a position that you work hard for MANY years to reach. It's earned with a lot of hard work and knowledge that would blow you away. I'm 38 and I've been the head tech person at a college for five years but it's only in the last two years that I've really felt comfortable calling myself a T.D. I just didn't feel like I had really earned that title.
I like suggesting you call yourself a Student T. D. That helps keep the confusion down a bit. Like I said I think everyone on this board has been a high school tech student and when you use the term Student T.D. we know exactly what that means, we know how hard you work and how dedicated you are to serving your school. We've all been there. At the same time it makes it clear what your position is in terms of knowledge and experience.
As for job descriptions...
When I was teaching high school I worked very hard to distribute the jobs as much as possible. In my opinion it's not good for the program or for you to have one student in charge of so many jobs. You should be trying out a wide variety of theater disciplines in high school (maybe you'll find you like running sound a lot more than designing sets, you should learn all the positions and have a chance to try them all out). I also built a mentorship system where every Jr. and Sr. had a Freshman or Sophomore working with them to learn their job. I didn't have a Student T.D. I had a team of four students who were my most trusted and skilled technicians. They met together with me and we broke down tasks into their various specialty areas and had teams handle the work.
What a great idea. If I ever get any tech students(the tech side of our department was decimated a few years ago, and I'm only just starting to rebuild it) I'm going to try that.
Obviously it won't work for everyone... part of it I know is my personality and leadership/teaching style. But I think the basic strategy of a team mentorship approach is much better for the students than the typical program where only one or two students know everything. The more typical setup means on student gets a lot of information, but it also means that a lot of other students aren't learning as much. It also increases the likelihood that "the chosen one" will get a big fat ego... which isn't good for long term employment in the real world.
By the way Charc, the Teen aged mind, personality, and world are not nearly as complex as you would like to think they are. After nearly 20 years working with young people, give me two minutes conversation with a high school student and I can figure out what makes them tick. Maybe I should go into psych... hmm... nah, I would have to give up the Seachangers.
Psychology 101, I can get a decent read on an honest person in less than 5 minutes.I disagree.
Psychology 101, I can get a decent read on an honest person in less than 5 minutes.
.......... Besides, I'd like to think I'm multilayered. ...........
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