Future Education

[gafftaper]

back on topic now, Does anyone know a great technical theater school?

I think you need to know more about what you want to do before I can answer that question. Just running sound and light boards isn't much of a career... it's rare for an operator to make a real living. If you want a good shot at a career you need to focus more on some sort of design. I bet close to half the people on this board who have a professional career in theater don't have an advanced tech theater degree. So you really aren’t asking the right question here. You need to know more about yourself and what you want first.

Personally, I do tech for a community college. I have a Masters in Education degree and high school teaching certification but no theater degree. I learned all my tech by volunteering hundreds of hours in college to work with an old guy who knew everything under the sun about theater. I then went on to teach high school drama and trained myself on things I didn't know. Asking friends in the theater world for help when I needed it.

Currently, at the college we've been talking about creating a theater certification program. I've talked to a lot of local professionals about it and the reaction I've gotten is very mixed. I had the head prop person at one of the largest theaters in the region say, "If you're going to try to become a professional designer or T.D. you don't want to waste your time getting a degree. You need to get out there and get to work." I've had other people tell me that the only way to go is to get your Masters of Fine Arts degree. I've been told a college certification program is great because it would give students a solid starting point. I've also been told it's a waste of time as what you need to do is go find a local community there with a good tech to train you and volunteer like crazy.

So, what does all this mean? Well I definitely would advise you pursue the degree route. However, you may stumble across someone who will train you much better than any degree. If you find that person, the degree may not be necessary. There's a lot of luck involved in working in theater. Half of having a career is how hard you work, your attitude, and who you know. Network my young friend. I got my current job because someone from the college called a friend of mine asking for some tech help, he said, "I'm too busy but I know a guy..." A former student of mine got a great job doing dance club lighting with a Whole Hog and a ton of really cool intelligent lighting because she called up and asked if they ever needed volunteer help.

Starting today, find a local community theater and volunteer to help the guy in the shop build sets. Prove yourself responsible. NEVER be afraid to ask how to do something. NEVER assume you know it all... always ask "how do you want this done?" People in theater HATE know it alls. Always assume that the other person knows something you don't. Have the right attitude and you will learn a lot. In my area, there are lots of theaters who are always looking for someone to run sound or lights. Volunteer and once they know you ask to help the person who does their design work.

After you've done that a while you will know enough to be able to ask the right question here. Good luck.

 

[mbandgeek]

I think you need to know more about what you want to do before I can answer that question. Just running sound and light boards isn't much of a career... it's rare for an operator to make a real living. If you want a good shot at a career you need to focus more on some sort of design. I bet close to half the people on this board who have a professional career in theater don't have an advanced tech theater degree. So you really aren’t asking the right question here. You need to know more about yourself and what you want first.

Personally, I do tech for a community college. I have a Masters in Education degree and high school teaching certification but no theater degree. I learned all my tech by volunteering hundreds of hours in college to work with an old guy who knew everything under the sun about theater. I then went on to teach high school drama and trained myself on things I didn't know. Asking friends in the theater world for help when I needed it.

Currently, at the college we've been talking about creating a theater certification program. I've talked to a lot of local professionals about it and the reaction I've gotten is very mixed. I had the head prop person at one of the largest theaters in the region say, "If you're going to try to become a professional designer or T.D. you don't want to waste your time getting a degree. You need to get out there and get to work." I've had other people tell me that the only way to go is to get your Masters of Fine Arts degree. I've been told a college certification program is great because it would give students a solid starting point. I've also been told it's a waste of time as what you need to do is go find a local community there with a good tech to train you and volunteer like crazy.

So, what does all this mean? Well I definitely would advise you pursue the degree route. However, you may stumble across someone who will train you much better than any degree. If you find that person, the degree may not be necessary. There's a lot of luck involved in working in theater. Half of having a career is how hard you work, your attitude, and who you know. Network my young friend. I got my current job because someone from the college called a friend of mine asking for some tech help, he said, "I'm too busy but I know a guy..." A former student of mine got a great job doing dance club lighting with a Whole Hog and a ton of really cool intelligent lighting because she called up and asked if they ever needed volunteer help.

Starting today, find a local community theater and volunteer to help the guy in the shop build sets. Prove yourself responsible. NEVER be afraid to ask how to do something. NEVER assume you know it all... always ask "how do you want this done?" People in theater HATE know it alls. Always assume that the other person knows something you don't. Have the right attitude and you will learn a lot. In my area, there are lots of theaters who are always looking for someone to run sound or lights. Volunteer and once they know you ask to help the person who does their design work.

After you've done that a while you will know enough to be able to ask the right question here. Good luck.

This is all really good information for me. In fact the person that i found out about this site is the TD at a local theater. He is saying most of the things that you are. He is always looking for volunteers and I would like the oppurtunity to run lights or sound or what ever with that theater.

I think i figured out the question that you were wanting me to ask.

"Is there anyone who knows where i can volunteer for theater work in western North Carolina?

 

[mbandgeek]

After you've done that a while you will know enough to be able to ask the right question here. Good luck.

is that the question that i should be asking

 

[gafftaper]

Yes Padawan you seek the right question.
Ok Seriously, What I meant about not knowing the right question to ask was...

Your original question in this thread was very broad. From my perspective, you don't know enough about what you want to do. You said you want to run sound or light boards. Well there aren't many people out there who make a real career out of just running boards. Many places that's a job done buy someone who makes a few hundred bucks a show. In larger theaters, they do have a resident sound person, but the job includes far more than just board operation. If you really want to work with just sound boards, you might want to consider the recording studio world. Yes there are people who make a living running sound on concert tours but not a lot of them, and there’s a good deal of luck involved in getting those jobs. When it comes to lighting, there are people who make a living running light boards, but again not many. With modern light boards, many theaters use a trained monkey for running shows (a.k.a. volunteer, intern, student, or anyone you can get for cheap). You should really consider going into lighting design, that way you make a real living and get to program light boards.

My point is, as fun as high school tech is, it's not the real world. By getting out there and doing some volunteer work in some professionally run theaters, you will get experience that will help you better focus your interest. Back in High School I was the sound guy. 20 years later, my main interests are in lighting and set design... things change. As you experience more you will be better prepared to know how you want to specialize in college. The second reason to get out and volunteer is that it’s free education. You’ll find cool people willing to take you under their wing and teach you in return for your work. The last reason to get out there and volunteer as much as you can now is that you will begin networking. As I said in the previous message, who you know is critical. ALWAYS work hard to impress the people around you. You’ll be amazed where it may lead you.

When you’ve done all this a while. You will have a much better idea of what you want to do. If you come to this board and ask, What’s the best school for lighting design? Or I want to be a master electrician how should I go about it? You will get some great information here. Good luck my friend.

 

[mbandgeek]

I want to be a lighting or sound designer. i think lighting. As for my first question i was just asking about which schools had a great all around tech program.

 

[ship]

Lots of past postings on schools, might do a search.
This is probably the primary reason most have not re-posted their recommendations as to good schools. The good schools for tech are also normally the good ones for design.

Do a search on schools and start a list from Yale to in mentioning schools read the debate about how many graduate students per capa is the best ratio. Chris 15 in my opinion is correct in at least one way also. Most people on the forum who post did not graduate with major in design or even theater. Much less many are still in school or yet to have a few years under the belt even post school to tell how useful what they learned was. Of those who did, most have already posted their school elsewhere. This unfortunate for you either turns into all kinds of people every few weeks requesting a re-posting recommendations of schools or where they went to school even if in your case asking for a specific major, or given such a subject is well covered something you should just search for and perhaps even come up with a summery on for the next person that asks in posting here. There has been a lot of colleges recommended over the years. At some point Dave might engineer a college recommendation section of the forum that will make the constant where to go and or Full Sail questions about obsolete. He would probably have to link up with the schools in ranking them nationally, and base those ratings off reviews and some format by way of students/graduates and classes/productions offered and many other things. Beyond this would be the legal rider about what seems good or bad for one person is subjective and not a objective observation given a limited experience with other schools available similar to the one someone goes to. How do you know if University of Wisconsin is better than University of Illinois unless you go to both?

 

[tenor_singer]

I wonder if what is happening in other professional fields is happening (or will happen) in tech theater.

In my parent's time, having a high school diploma was considered the base level of education norm. You were guaranteed a great job, good life and comfortable living. Now in our time the Bachelors degree is this norm. We currently have young people graduating with masters degrees vying for the same positions as those holding less advanced degrees. My wife, who has an associates in accounting, would have a very hard time finding an accounting job today as there are college graduates with masters degrees out there willing to work for the same money who have higher endorsments.

This leads to the question... should future tech students explore universities that offer advanced degrees in tech theater? Will ship and other experienced tech theater professionals begin to have more frequent experiences of working elbow to elbow with people holding MFA degrees?