High School TD's

[nd925a]

I was reading through the post gadgets under the lighting forum and I saw several students posting on how their theatre's did/didn't have actual Technical Theatre instruction courses and/or a TD hired by the district. I figured it would make for good discussion and i haven't seen anything else like it.

I'm a senior in High School and my computer teacher took unofficial control of the theatre because no one else was. I've also learned a thing or two from him in helping set stuff up and take it down again.

 

[Edrick]

Depending on how you look at it, it could be called different things. In our case the SM would be someone who is specific to a show and strictly manages what goes on, on stage. But not the actual venue space. The High School I had gone to has no one that officially manages the space. They have a Drama Instructor then a faculty advisor to the students who doesn't use the gear.

 

[derekleffew]

See also the threads http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...re-quesiton-re-hs-tech-theatre-directors.html , http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/education-career-development/14697-thinking-becoming-teacher.html .

 

[Sony]

If by SM (Stage Manager) you mean TD (Technical Director) than YES! I think you are confusing the two terms, Stage Manager is usually hired on for each show individually and usually is the one who calls the cues for each show while a Technical Director usually oversees the actual use of the space, scheduling of crews and is a full-time position which does not change for each show.

At NNHS the SM's are usually students, while the TD and the ATD are Faculty/Staff, I am currently ATD at NNHS.

 

[nd925a]

Yes thank you Sony I did confuse the terms I meant TD

 

[nd925a]

See also the threads http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...re-quesiton-re-hs-tech-theatre-directors.html , http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/education-career-development/14697-thinking-becoming-teacher.html .

I was more looking to see how many HS students have TD guidance as it seems there is not much of it from reading other posts. The posts you gave are indeed about TD's but they are more from the TD/Future TD view. I was looking more for a number or percent than a description of how to become/what a TD is.

 

[LXPlot]

We have a TD of sorts. He is an actor, but he has a decent amount of technical knowledge, enough to be able to build and design our sets. He also has some experience doing sound, but for the most part, sound and lights are done by students. However, he does not teach our technical theatre classes, and in the classes we pretty much do the work as opposed to learning about it, having almost no instruction. That's why most of my knowledge is self taught and I don't know a lot of terms.

 

[Les]

Not very many high schools have a permanent TD on staff. It's a budget thing. Now, you may find a lot of self-proclaimed school-aged TD's, but generally the theatre teacher will play a dual role of theatre teacher and technical director. Many high school programs have two directors, and one may gravitate a little more toward the technical side.

Most districts will have a Director of Fine Arts, but they will most likely be at the central office and have little (if anything) to do with the students. They are more the teachers' boss.

 

[acoppsa]

At our high school we have a Facilities Manager who looks after the use of our auditorium but he is mainly there for organisation and not the actual design or operation of shows/events. He doesn't know much about tech (he admits so himself), and leaves that up to the students/teachers.
The thing I like about this arrangement is that he is willing to learn some things about tech and is keen to help us out when he can.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

My Highshool theatre doubled as a local PAC, so we had a full time staff TD split between the school district and PAC. He is now just the school's TD.

 

[dvsDave]

Just fixed the poll and the thread title.

 

[ArthurRiot]

Not very many high schools have a permanent TD on staff. It's a budget thing. Now, you may find a lot of self-proclaimed school-aged TD's, but generally the theatre teacher will play a dual role of theatre teacher and technical director. Many high school programs have two directors, and one may gravitate a little more toward the technical side.

Most districts will have a Director of Fine Arts, but they will most likely be at the central office and have little (if anything) to do with the students. They are more the teachers' boss.

Got to agree here. I am the only TD on staff in my county's education system, and the only reason I exist is there was a partnership with the county government and the school district to 'share' the county playhouse with a select school by attaching it to a HS.

Were it not for the fact that the theatre has a responsibility to clients to provide tech, I probably would not have this job. Another theatre in Cape May County NJ runs (or at least ran 10 years ago) pretty much the same way.

 

[MNicolai]

Where's the poll option for, "Yes, (s)he's a dedicated technical director."?

 

[Tex]

I'm confused...
I teach three tech classes and two acting classes per day. Does teaching acting classes keep me from being the TD? I am, in fact the TD, but I'm also the lead teacher, director, producer, etc. While TD is not my only job, it's certainly one of them.
I would guess that very few high schools have a full time tech director with no other responsibilities. While we have quite a few events come into our space, it's not enough to warrant a full time TD. I can do what is needed as a part of my other duties, for which I receive a stipend.

 

[Chris Chapman]

Got to agree here. I am the only TD on staff in my county's education system, and the only reason I exist is there was a partnership with the county government and the school district to 'share' the county playhouse with a select school by attaching it to a HS.

Were it not for the fact that the theatre has a responsibility to clients to provide tech, I probably would not have this job. Another theatre in Cape May County NJ runs (or at least ran 10 years ago) pretty much the same way.

I think this may be more based on the types of facilities out there. Here in Western Michigan, almost of the schools that have a large Performing Arts Center (which is many) have a dedicated TD/Auditorium Manager on staff. All of these venues are set up for school support, and then do a lot of work with facility rental.

I'm a member of a group here, that consists of roughly 15 -20 members who are the Technical Staff of their venues, who may have one or two classes, but primarily are the TD's for the facilities they work in.

This also may be a regional issue about differences in how public education facilities are run in different states/districts.

 

[misterm]

agreement with Chris here. depends on the school, size (and quality) of the facilities, how much the administration has control over the space, how big the program is, or any combination of the above. here, small program, little crappy auditorium that i have a bit of control of....so just me.

 

[KevinJohnston]

Ummmm, OTHER.

(s)he's a non-teaching staff member and knows lots about tech and likes/talks to the students daily.

That's me.

 

[zmb]

The drama teacher and director at my junior high was knowledgeable enough to build flats and platforms, make extension cables, run basic sound and lights.

The high school I help out at this years has a TD who teaches auto shop during the day who can build stuff and do some rigging.

 

[HSSBO94]

We have our stage manager manage our stage (currently he is a Junior, but has essentially SM'ed anything big since being a Freshman) He has 1 ASM for our smaller things, and 2 or 3 for our larger winter musical.

We have a TD who works with the Director (both teachers who know about theatre) and they work with us, the students who are SM, various designers (first year this actually happened, a few years ago there were minimal student designers and more just student ops.) and deck crew.

 

[venuetech]

How about a
Yes, (s)he's not a member of the teaching staff, but he works directly with teachers, students and community user groups.