Teaching Stagecraft without a theater or a scene shop

We're renovating our theater starting this summer and I'm told I have to teach Stagecraft without our theater and without a scene shop. What kinds of things would you do to fill the year?

College ?

FIELD TRIPS !.

Find some so-called "professional" facilities/companies, scene construction shops, lighting and audio rental shops, etc... and arrange visits.

Maybe some theater company that needs "volunteers" ?.

Spend the first few weeks with the theory and book aspects, then head to actual facilities. Also check with the contractors (and administration) and find out if there will be some time when you can gain access to the backstage area (dependent on what's being renovated) so as to run some ropes, etc...

Create a small lighting lab ?, move the console and find some dimmer packs ?.

Eric W. said:

We're renovating our theater starting this summer and I'm told I have to teach Stagecraft without our theater and without a scene shop. What kinds of things would you do to fill the year?

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Great ideas so far. A few more details... It's high school. It'll be difficult to do much outside of regular class time because these kids do a gazillion things and if they don't get A's in all their "academic" classes, their lives will end. I do want to get out to some of the local theaters and let them see how their spaces work, etc., but I will also need things to do in class. Design and drafting for sure. Model building. I've found they're happiest with power tools in their hands, so I'm struggling with how I'm going to keep them enthused.

Any chance of using the school's woodshop for some small segments? That might give them the enthusiasm they need to jump into the paperwork side of thing. Give them a project along the lines of "you need to build this prop within the time schedule of our busy load in, spend time in class designing and planning so that you can do this in one period in the wood shop".

Focus on the design aspects of tech. I had a class that was similar to this. We would do scale drawings of their bedrooms, design costumes for a 'concept' production of a well known fairy tale, learn about lighting color theory and the different types of fixtures, and then let them pick out a play and design the sets, costumes, lights and sound for their show. It'll take at least one semester to get through all that.

In middle school I was "taught" how to play soccer in a classroom, sitting at a desk.

But really, you can teach lighting with a source four and dummy without a stage.
Teach how to build a flat using pre-cut lumber at 1/2 scale and screw patterns.

.....can you setup tools in the parking lot?..... or take over an un-used classroom or maintenance area?

What was your stagecraft class centered around? General tech theatre? Just scenery? All of the above?

Teach prop building in one of the other art spaces. Build a light lab. Practice with projection mapping (desktop projector and free software, like VPT). Learn to mix audio. Teach how to do theater without a traditional theater (do you have a good outdoor space?).