allfloaton
Member
I am currently a first semester college freshman at a small liberal arts school in the DC area. There is theatre here, but it is somewhat small. I have a stable job at a theatre in my home town (full proscenium theatre, seats nearly 900, so respectable enough) and as a shop hand in the small, glorified black box of my college theatre. The theatre here is a lot smaller scale. I am taking as many theatre classes (currently in a stagecraft 101, will go on to lightning design and scenic design) as I can for fun but I always assumed I'd be in theatre things just for fun. Not a career, not a major.
So I am headed towards a psych major (maybe english...) with minors in education and theatre, mostly because to major in theatre it would require being in a lot a lot of acting and dancing classes, and while I respect both I really just want to be in tech. and until now, I thought just as a hobby.
But now my heart feels different, and after seeing Cirque du Soleil recently my heart keeps telling me that something big and amazing is what I need to be striving for. Yes, I know few people truly "make it" in the big time. I've always been one to suppress my own unrealistic dreams, but I keep falling over myself and telling myself that I need to be in technical theatre. Specifically, I think, lighting design. I've always had a penchant for lighting. I've heard of the Cirque internships and assuming I still feel this way once I am a junior/senior (do they mean rising junior? so at least the summer after next for me) and can figure out how to just LIVE in Vegas, and of course score an internship, I believe that would be a wonderful opportunity.
So, what should I be doing? Part of me feels the need to continue my psych/education track in case tech theatre doesn't work out or isn't enough to cut it. In terms of this school, I am in a scholars program here that is going to have my heels dug in until the program culminates with a study tour to South Africa the spring after next. But part of me wants to leave this place and go somewhere huge, to an art school or at least large school that has a specifically theatre tech program. The in school productions I will be working on here are not enough in my opinion to truly be a portfolio that I feel will get me anywhere in the future. Do I look at grad schools who would take me even if I am only a theatre minor? Do I abandon any lofty goals and settle in with my psych/education plan? Are there ways I can build up my resume specifically while in the DC area? Summer internships in the boston area?
I need advice from people who know this stuff, and have been there.
So I am headed towards a psych major (maybe english...) with minors in education and theatre, mostly because to major in theatre it would require being in a lot a lot of acting and dancing classes, and while I respect both I really just want to be in tech. and until now, I thought just as a hobby.
But now my heart feels different, and after seeing Cirque du Soleil recently my heart keeps telling me that something big and amazing is what I need to be striving for. Yes, I know few people truly "make it" in the big time. I've always been one to suppress my own unrealistic dreams, but I keep falling over myself and telling myself that I need to be in technical theatre. Specifically, I think, lighting design. I've always had a penchant for lighting. I've heard of the Cirque internships and assuming I still feel this way once I am a junior/senior (do they mean rising junior? so at least the summer after next for me) and can figure out how to just LIVE in Vegas, and of course score an internship, I believe that would be a wonderful opportunity.
So, what should I be doing? Part of me feels the need to continue my psych/education track in case tech theatre doesn't work out or isn't enough to cut it. In terms of this school, I am in a scholars program here that is going to have my heels dug in until the program culminates with a study tour to South Africa the spring after next. But part of me wants to leave this place and go somewhere huge, to an art school or at least large school that has a specifically theatre tech program. The in school productions I will be working on here are not enough in my opinion to truly be a portfolio that I feel will get me anywhere in the future. Do I look at grad schools who would take me even if I am only a theatre minor? Do I abandon any lofty goals and settle in with my psych/education plan? Are there ways I can build up my resume specifically while in the DC area? Summer internships in the boston area?
I need advice from people who know this stuff, and have been there.