Portfolio for College Interview

I searched through the posts on here but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I am interviewing for the BFA program at Ole Miss next month and I need to assemble a portfolio. My problem is dual-fold, I don't know where to start and I don't really have anything to draw from. I had very little of my 100+ shows saved because of the theatres. I am interviewing for the emphasis of stage management and lighting design! I always leave my prompt books with the theatre company as they request so I only had a few of them at home and had some lighting plots etc. they were destroyed in a fire a couple months ago so I have nothing. I think I could just reconstruct prompt books since they "accept theoretical work" but have no idea where to start with any of this. Advice?

That's of great use!! Thank you! Keep helping me out guys. They require one complete prompt book and then a complete lighting design!


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patrickh said:

I searched through the posts on here but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I am interviewing for the BFA program at Ole Miss next month and I need to assemble a portfolio. My problem is dual-fold, I don't know where to start and I don't really have anything to draw from. I had very little of my 100+ shows saved because of the theatres. I am interviewing for the emphasis of stage management and lighting design! I always leave my prompt books with the theatre company as they request so I only had a few of them at home and had some lighting plots etc. they were destroyed in a fire a couple months ago so I have nothing. I think I could just reconstruct prompt books since they "accept theoretical work" but have no idea where to start with any of this. Advice?

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You have now entered into worst nightmare territory. This is one of the reasons everything in my portfolio is digital and backed up in more places then I can count.

Get together what you can. Go to those theaters that have your prompt book and borrow them for your interview. They should understand. Ask for pictures of your lighting from anyone who could have them. Light plots really are not that important for interviews. Light plots really do not contain any real information that is useful in a college interview. If you can get together one good prompt book that shows you are both organized and have potential then thats all you need. Colleges don't expect you to be perfect. If you were perfect and knew everything you would not need to go to college.

The theatre that has the prompt scripts was flooded in the huge floods that swept our area (Memphis/Nashville) last May and took the theatre out. It still hasn't recovered and it took computers. Literally, everything. I have no pics or anything! I'm in shock. And haven't worked in design since the flood because I was employed as a business manager at a small college theatre program. Thanks for the input but I have already attempted to get prompt books and photos and couldn't get anything!


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patrickh said:

That's of great use!! Thank you! Keep helping me out guys. They require one complete prompt book and then a complete lighting design!


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In my view that is a bit of an extreme requirement. CMU is one of the top 5 programs in the country. Those standards are what they are aiming for. However, all colleges know (or should know) that not everyone gets the same exposure in High School. Some work on shows in gymnasiums, others work on shows in multi million dollar PAC's. Both can produce great designers and technicians. Any program that looks down on a student because they did not come from a High School that had everything is not one you want to attend anyway. I can just about guarantee you that at least 3/4 of the people currently working in the industry, myself included, could not meet these requirements when they graduated from high school.

patrickh said:

The theatre that has the prompt scripts was flooded in the huge floods that swept our area (Memphis/Nashville) last May and took the theatre out. It still hasn't recovered and it took computers. Literally, everything. I have no pics or anything! I'm in shock. And haven't worked in design since the flood because I was employed as a business manager at a small college theatre program. Thanks for the input but I have already attempted to get prompt books and photos and couldn't get anything!


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Build a good resume'. Talk to people who also worked on the shows and see what you can get. Explain the situation to your interviewers. You are going to have to lean on yourself and know how to talk the talk without items of support. Your essentially going to be doing an in-person phone interview. If you have concerns, find out who is going to do the interview and drop them an email stating your situation. A lot of people lost a lot of stuff in that flooding, they should be understanding.

Yea. Thanks for all the help! They expect it out of transfer students which is what I am! But I'm excited to get to work in the ford center so I am not complaining!!


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I don't think he's talking about CMU. The doc I linked to doesn't specify what he relates.