An Education question.. About lighting...

[Shawncfer]

So right now I'm a senior in high school and next year I'm going to Texas State University with an intended BFA in technical theatre and emphasis in lighting design. Well right now I'm in theatre at my school and I'm the main lighting person, I run the board, rig the lights, and even though the tech director designs main stage shows, I get to design black box. Ontop of that, I work at a local club rigging up lights for local bands and stuff. And we have a pretty good setup there.

Basically to sum that up, I know about light rigging, im not an expert, but I know the basics. What I'm worried about though, is more lights. I mean, in my school we have 10 moving lights, and the club we have 5. So whats going to happen after I graduate and I work for a production company in arenas and theres like 50 moving lights? And how do you rig truss in an arena? I mean, Im not wanting yall to answer these questions, but the question I'm eventually getting to is, for those of you who have gone to college for lighting design, or technical theatre, or whatever, did you learn to do what you do starting at the bottom at a production company and people teaching you? Or did you learn in college? I know I probably sound stupid, but I'm just worried...

 

[MarshallPope]

You have 10 moving lights in your high school? Congratulations. I guarantee you you are far ahead of 95 percent of the incoming freshmen out there.

 

[Anvilx]

Take it in steps you can't run before you can crawl.

 

[Footer]

No college teaches arena rigging beyond a few days in an advanced class. Very few colleges even touch how to dress truss. No college is going to teach you how to prep a tour or how to work on 30 different types of movers.

You have to remember, if you are going to college for theatre, your going to be doing stuff in a theatre. Rarely is truss and motors rigged in a theatre outside of touring productions. Rarely are more then a handful of movers used outside of a handful of regional houses. Thats changing, but its slow.

However, in college you will learn the art of design. You will learn how to use light to its fullest. You will learn the basics of electricity. You will fix and maintenance equipment that was made before you were born. You will learn how to get along with people and how to manage a crew effectively. You will learn the production and design process. You will learn how to build scenery, make a costume, what an actors process is, the basics of directing, theatre history, how to communicate effectively, and how to survive by yourself. Most importantly you will be allowed to fail, and you will fail.

If you want to learn how to rig truss, prep a tour, maintenance every Martin and VL light out there, and how to clean 1000's of foot of socapex after it just came back from the festival that it rained at, skip college and go work for a production house now. If you see yourself working at a production house after graduation, you don't need a degree. No college is going to train specifically to work at a production house. You might get the skills to do it, but they are going to train you to be a technical manager and a designer, not to be a grunt humping cable. You will hump cable, but the goal should be to move beyond that.

If you don't want to do theatre, don't go to school to learn theatre. Your going to waste your time and your money. The technical stuff you learn in college can be learned in any production house. People management comes with time as well. However, a production house is not the place to learn design.

I am still learning. We all are still learning. Every gig I do I learn something new. No one expects you to know everything and most people in the entertainment world are great teachers. You never stop learning in this field. Thats one of the reasons I am on controlbooth, to learn from others and to teach others what I have learned.

 

[deltaleader]

I agree with Pope. You are way ahead of 95% of all incoming college freshman. I have been doing Lighting in my High School for three years, we have one of the most state-of-the-art theatres in SW Missouri, and I got my first mover yesterday. Count your blessings, and dont freak. Go to college, learn design, live life. And have fun.

 

[gafftaper]

Footer gives really good advice. You might want to get some input from people who work for production houses about your goals. While I am ALWAYS in favor of getting education (what happens when you can't find work?), you may want to better evaluate if what you want to do lines up with the education you are trying to get.

Most of all, Read this advice from a couple of CB's old road warriors. It's VERY long but contains a lot of reality that you may not be considering. Please read it a couple of times. It would also be wise to print it out and discuss it with your parents or maybe your school TD to get some advice you trust on the topic.

 

[bdkdesigns]

No college is going to teach you how to prep a tour.

Sorry Footer, I agree with everything you said except for this one. Our university not only talks about how to do it, but also actually puts it to practice. With the Montana Rep in house, students are the ones who actually go out on the national tours for the tech side of things with the past several years having a recent graduate as ME.

 

[Footer]

Sorry Footer, I agree with everything you said except for this one. Our university not only talks about how to do it, but also actually puts it to practice. With the Montana Rep in house, students are the ones who actually go out on the national tours for the tech side of things with the past several years having a recent graduate as ME.

That is an exception to the rule. There are a handful of University's in the country that are tied to a professional company and do that sort of thing. The point I was getting at is most University's target their education to regional style theatre where you design a show, rehearse the show, build the show, install the show, run the show, strike the show. Very few University's ever deal with rental scenery, touring productions, or even rep shows. All of which are standard practice in the "real world".

I have heard good things and bad things about programs tied to professional company's. Being from St. Louis originally, I got to hear first hand from my friends at Webster about how their relationship works with the St. Louis Rep. The professional ties had their merit but I also saw some disadvantages.