A Few Questions

[Musicman56]

Hi everyone,

I have a few questions regarding college. I've done some sifting through the forums here, an found a few good blanket answers, but i was looking to see if anyone could possibly give me some more detailed information.

Just a bit of info about myself: I'm a junior in a Chicago suburb high school. We have a program that is decent, just decent. I think that we've learned to make the best of it though. I would really like to be a professional lighting designer, especially in musical theater, but I think I would be happy with any opportunity that I get. That's about it, if you need any more info about me, then feel free to ask.

1) From what I've heard getting an MFA would make me more desirable and allow me to receive offers. However after looking around here, I realized that that may no necessarily hold true. Does anyone have an opinion on this matter? I know that there are some pretty experienced people here, so I figured I could get some insight. So I guess I'm basically asking, is an MFA in lighting design worth it?

2) With his in mind, I have to begin to look for a college. Obviously, there are a lot of great schools out there, but I haven't really had any success in my searches. Can anyone suggest some good colleges for me to consider, especially those around Chicago?

3) I think I know what I need in a portfolio, but I was looking for some advice. Considering the fact that my counseling department didn't know that there was such a thing as a MFA or BFA, they haven't been very successful in helping me. From what I've read, what I've read around the forums here, what I believe that I need are: digital pictures of my work, notes on my work, and any paperwork that I used. Is that all? I feel like I'm missing something. Would including pictures of productions that I've helped in also be helpful (maybe to show my exposure?)? (With the LD's permission, of course)

I think that's all, if I have any more questions I'll be sure to ask.

If anyone feels that they need any more information about anything, feel free to ask.

Thanks in advance,
-MusicMan

 

[Pie4Weebl]

I grew up in your area (St. Charles), and the schools I ended up looking a lot at were Northwestern, U of I, Weslyian, ISU, and Webster. I ended up deciding to go to Webster over U of I.

Have you thought about if you want a BFA or a BA?

 

[Drmafreek]

College choosing, the fun that occurs during the twilight years of high school. First, the things I'm about to say are merely suggestions. Each student must do what is best for them, and so be prepared for copious amounts of research and a bit of decision making. Alright, now on to the questions.

1. First, don't worry about an MFA, get your undergraduate degree first. I am a promoter of the BA degree in theatre. There will be some that disagree, in fact my undergrad degree is a BFA, so it is a bit hypocritical, but after teaching for several years now I believe that each theatre practitioner should have a nice grounded base of knowledge in all areas. So, you're creating a set during the 1800s of England? History and Art History classes can help with that. So, you want to hang multiple flats that fly out quickly and safely? Physics and Math may give you a bit of insight. So, you want to create a soft, sad mood? Let's talk to the Psychology people a bit about how color affects us.

Now, that's not to say you won't get that in a BFA program. But what may end up happening is it won't be as easy or readily accessible. And you truly don't need to specialize in undergrad through your courses. You'll end up specializing by working on all the light crews that you can while in school.

Finally, you will want to get your MFA when you are ready. As my students reach their senior year, I talk to them about what they are going to do. Some need more practical experience before they head back to grad school. Others need the continuation of academia to eventually be ready for the real world. So in the end, you may not know if you need that MFA until you are finishing college. The one giant note on a graduate degree: Get it at an institution that you did not attend for undergrad. Why is this? So you can learn from a new sub set of people.

2. Suggestions for colleges vary depending on what you are looking for in an education. Do you want to attend a smaller school, where you are thrust immediately into the thick of things? Do you want to attend a larger school where the professor may have more connections to professional companies? For me in undergrad, I knew I wanted a smaller school where I could be hands on from day one. And that has stayed true as I've continued my teaching career, having taught at three colleges, all with under 2500 students per school. I know my students very well, and they know they can come to me for job or school advice. The downfall is that we are a very over worked set of the school population because many of the students work on every show with little time off.

There are some nice advantages to larger schools. Usually the funding is better, and so you get to work with a more advanced technological base. There are generally more faculty members, giving you multiple different opinions rather than just one or two. And there is a bit of prestige with some of the larger schools, which may not give a large advantage when it comes to jobs, but employers do take notice.

3. Finally there is the portfolio. Your portfolio needs are going to be different depending on what you are looking for, such as scholarships or jobs. When using your portfolio for scholarships, professors aren't expecting to see perfection because if you were perfect there is no reason for you to attend college. What we look for is where your skill level is at. One of the biggest mistakes in portfolio preparation is neatness. A clean, neat, and organized portfolio will make a larger impact, even if it is less accomplished, than a portfolio that is messy and dirty. Professionalism sells, always has, always will, so take the time to make your portfolio nice looking.

Start with your best stuff in the front, and move towards your less than best stuff in the back. If this is a hard portfolio (something you bring with you) then feel free to add a bit of individualism to it. My hard portfolio is actually a photo album from Michael's. It's large and I'm able to change it easily and frequently. But it's not the standard black portfolio that everyone has. I wanted to stand out a bit. You will want photos, both of working shots and final products. Showing that you know what your doing during a build is needed. So, you wired a lantern? Show it in process. I personally also like to put a short blurb about what is being looked at. One or two sentences is all that is needed.

The big thing these days though are digital portfolios. You can find mine at in the link at the bottom of this page. It's a bit outdated due to not having to find work through the use of a portfolio lately, but it's still useful. You want to follow pretty much the same advice as the hard portfolio. The big difference is that you want things to be seen within one or two clicks. You don't want someone to have to click five times to finally see your work.

If you have any other questions, feel free to post or pm me. I'm currently working with my students to get them prepared for the Southeastern Theatre Conference Job Interviews, and it's always fun seeing new portfolios.

 

[Footer]

Illinois is full of theatre schools at just about any level and combination you want to look at. I am a graduate from an Illionis Theatre School. Are you attending/have you attended Illinois Theatre Festival? If you are not, start pushing for your school to attend. They do interviews there that you can get a lot of face time with many university's in a short amount of time. Its a great way to see whats out there and its early enough in the year that you can still get apps into schools that you don't have them in yet.

One thing that you really need in your portfolio is art. Real art. Hopefully you are taking art classes currently, and if you are not, start. If you want to be a designer, you need to have an artistic eye. In order to show and develop you have that eye, you need to be taking art classes and producing work. It does not have to be great stuff, but you need to show that you have an eye. Put a few different types of work in your portfolio. It can be photography, figure drawings, printing, scultpture, or whatever else. That will set you apart from the people that come in and show that they wired up a lamp. I have said this before, and will say it again, schools are looking for people with an artistic eye. They can teach someone how to wire up a lamp and how to build a platform, you can not teach someone how to be an artist. You can help develop it, but you can not teach it.

 

[gafftaper]

Great advice up there from DrmaFreak.

Just to add to it. You may think you want to be a lighting designer now but your opinion may change greatly down the road. Thus the reason I agree whole heartedly about just get a good BA right now and hold off on the MFA talk until 4 years (or more) from now. Getting your MFA at a different school is also a great idea. Choose a school for your undergrad work where you will have the most opportunities to actually work. A school with a huge theater program is likely to give you less chances to do anything than a smaller school. I teach in a community college, although you won't get a lot of theater instruction from my tiny program, you will get to work hands on on EVERY show. Some universities are so large they reserve all the hands on work for upperclassmen and design work for grad students. So talk to actual students in the program and find out how much they get to do hands on.

In general an MFA can be a great help but it is not the only answer. Get as much education as you can afford but don't go crazy into debt in order to get the extra degree. Unlike many other fields, hands on work is equally as important as your degree. There are plenty of people out there with AMAZING jobs with only a BA in theater... or NO DEGREE at all. Heck I'm a community college T.D. and my degrees are in History and Education (no theater degree). Much of theater still operates on a sort of "good ol' boys" network. EVERYONE in town knows everyone else and word travels quickly about jobs that are available and the quality of people applying. While you may have a great resume and education from a stellar program. If applicant #2 doesn't have an MFA but worked with my buddy Footer for a while you're in trouble. I'm going to call Footer and see what he thought of the other guy. If the report is good, I am very likely to hire the other guy based on Footer's recommendation regardless of your degree. You do need an education, but working on lots of shows, networking, and impressing people in the industry is CRITICAL to getting work.

...and on the flip side, it only takes one bad reference to ruin your career.

 

[Musicman56]

First of all, I wanted to thank you guys for all of the great information. Also, I wanted to say that I've now slowed it down and am definitely going to concentrate on either a BA or a BFA (I'm kind of leaning towards the BFA at this point, but we'll see). With this I'm also pretty sure that I want to go to a school that is in Chicago. I figure that this way, I'm relatively close to home and I can be exposed to the theater in Chicago as well. Right now, one of the colleges that I'm considering for my undergrad degree is Columbia. I've heard some nice things about it. Does anyone have any experience with, or heard anything about Columbia?

Right now my next project is a contest play, which is basically what it sounds like, a play that competes. Coming up in March we are going to have two performances (which both happen to fall at the same high-school this year). Basically, we have 20 minuets to set up our scene and for me to program the lighting board. I'm not exactly sure what the theater layout is yet, (I have a walkthrough coming up) but I know that I get cool and warm lighting from a catwalk and white lighting from directly above, with two specials, and a cyclorama if I chose. Seeing as I don't know what to fully expect as of yet, all of my sketches in the concept phase, until I can get a fuller (more full?) sense of where this is going. I digress, I'll probably start a thread somewhere to go more in depth, but thanks for reading my plug.

So once again, thanks for responding and reading.
-Music Man

 

[Drmafreek]

I know the props master at Northwestern, good friend of mine that worked with me at ISF. If you're interested in that school I can give you his information.

 

[Footer]

I know a few people who have come out of the TV Production side of things at Columbia and are doing well. Most people I knew that did the Chicago thing either did Northwestern or Depaul. Northwestern was a BA last time I checked, however its a very intensive BA.

Also.... there is something to be said for getting as far away from home as possible.