It's been nearly 8 years since I've attended my first (and only) U/
RTA, but I'll try to remember what I did and what seemed to work. Basically, you want to follow the same advice you would for a portfolio. You are aiming for both breadth and depth. Depth means taking a few projects (2 or 3) and creating displays which show as many different aspects and challenges you overcame on those shows as possible. For a technical director, I would hazard a guess that you would include draftings; a full drafting package for one entire show, including all plates, is a great item to have. Process shots of construction are great, and of course, quality performance (or photo
call) pictures are a must. You can also include drawings and research which the designer gave you, as long as it is clearly denoted that this is what was given to you to
build. Breadth means adding additional items to flesh out your skills. For example, while you only need maybe one full drafting package, you can include individual drafting plates from other shows if they highlight particularly tricky drafting challenges, such as intricate curves, or if you mainly do
CAD, maybe show off an example of your hand-drafting (if it's worth showing off).
Where U/RTAs differ from a portfolio is that you don't need to confine everything to a
book or case. When I went, I had a number of individual boards for each show, showing pictures, photographs, drawings,
etc. (I was interviewing for scenic design). Instead of mounting them in a
book, they were left loose in a pile so they could be looked at individually or in a different order. I also had a full drafting package for one of my biggest shows; I had this printed and bound so it was like a little
book, which was left in a separate pile. I forget whether I had anything else, but the number of things I had allowed me to fill my table with a few piles of visually interesting things that begged interviewers to come over and take a look.
Another word of advice I had was to set out a bowl of candy. U/RTAs is a very long day with very few breaks. When the interviewers are walking around the room looking at portfolios, if they see a bowl of candy, they're going to make sure and head to that table at some
point. While filling their pockets with chocolates, they can't help but glance at your portfolio items, even if for just a few seconds. Obviously the work itself matters; U/RTAs is just the first step on a long application and interview process. But getting eyeballs on your work is important too, and presentation matters. I had a few interviewers mention that they appreciated the candy I set out. I think my work was good too, because I had 14 of my 15 interview slots filled.
As far as interviewing, practice what you want to say about each of your shows. I rehearsed a little spiel for all of my plates, and my mentors had me give a little presentation on my portfolio a few times in preparation. You want to ask questions and allow the interviewers to talk, but you also want to know in
advance what you will talk about for the portfolio you are showing. If an interviewer seems bored with one of your projects, don't keep talking about it even if you still have some prepared remarks; skip it and move on to the next one. Likewise, if they seem especially interested in something, keep talking about it. It's kind of annoying when you are going through someone's portfolio (I interview people for internships and
overhire at the Public Theater prop shop these days) and you see something cool, and you start saying, "That's a really cool piece. How did you-" and they flip the
page to move onto the next picture before you're finished looking at it.
Most importantly is knowing what kinds of questions you want to ask. You should know exactly why you are going to U/RTAs. Is it to get a job, get into a graduate program, or something else? If you are going to graduate school, is it important to spend all your time doing full productions, or do you want classroom projects that will allow you to experiment? Who are the professors you will be working with? Do they continue to work professionally? If so, is that important to you? Brochures and websites for schools are written in a style that makes them all end up sounding exactly the same; it's your job to start learning the differences between the schools so you can better make a decision. Again, U/RTAs are just the beginning of a long process, and while you may (and will) learn a lot about a number of schools during your interviews, you will learn even more once you start visiting campuses, interacting with students, and attending classes.
Good luck.
