Well I want to continue to TD. But I have no intention of remaining an assistant for the rest of my life and I do want to make it to the larger NY scene. Also due to the fact that last year sucked as far as finding work last year I want a degree that I can use to get work even outside of the theater world if needs be. Even friends of mine with MFA's had a bunch of problems finding work. I do really enjoy the technical aspects and would like to not have to
call in a seperate engineer to fix things when stuff goes wrong on a job. And I would prefer being over qualified and employed. Plus at this
point my job would also at least assist with paying for tuition which is important. Thanks for the
feedback.
Sounds like you're in the NYC metro area already, so some thoughts.
I would skip any non-theater MA and target an MFA instead. Yes, all the engineering is going to be useful be it mechanical, electrical
etc... but in truth, if you are making technical theater a career, it's way overkill and not specific enough to theater. And the idea of "fixing things yourself" while useful is also a waste of talent. If you are the TD for a theater, knowing how to fix the broken building elevator/
HVAC pumps/
etc.. is useful, but do you want to take on those kinds of responsibilities ?. Chances are your existing experience plus whatever you learn in an MFA "should" give you the expertise to handle most of the day-to-day technical theater jobs, and if you don't currently know how to do something, you can always hire someone who does. I can certainly learn to service and repair our Genie and JLG lifts, but there are companies that do that already, so it's somewhat a waste of knowledge for me (though I pay attention to what the guy does when he does the service - just in case). And I have spent a career at my facility fighting the general misconception that just because I'm the
stage electrician that I'm the electrician for the entire bloody performing arts center !.
How much money 'ya got for tuition?, is Yale out of the question ?, as they have probably one of the best technical theater masters programs in the US. Is New Haven too far ?, as you mention that your job partly covers tuition I assume you want to keep working.
Other then that, assorted City University schools have MFA programs - Brooklyn comes to mind, my campus (I'm not with the Theater Dept.). All the CUNY schools are cheap compared to the private schools, thus we see a lot of folks here getting their MFA in Design and Technical Theater - note that Design is part of the degree, so you end up designing. Not sure if that's what you want. Most of these folks are simply "getting an MFA" and are not looking for as intense an education as offered by Yale, they just want the degree, have a pretty good background already, and as you and your friends have discovered, the
current MFA is the BFA of 20 years ago. If in NJ, check some of the local colleges - Rutgers, Drew come to mind. No SUNY schools local -
Purchase only has a BFA, according to the web
page. I'm not aware of other SUNY schools that are convenient to the NYC metro area that have MFA.
Only aspect to getting an MA or MS in an engineering area when combined with your
current degree and experience, is if you want to go work for a company involved in scenic automation - Showman Fabricators, Hudson,
PRG Scenic, Adirondak (well - upstate NY) , in the NYC area all come to mind and probably would hire somebody with the additional engineering background. I'd recommend calling one of these companies and asking for advice.
P.S. PM me if you want more info on Brooklyn
