Career Advice Where to Start?

[AxlD1234]

So im looking to get into the Touring show/concert Area of Theatre. and i wanted some people's opinion

I want to get into Sound Tech and or Lighting Tech. but what i was wondering is should i try to look for a company that has those positions open? or find a company with just a stagehand job open and try to work my way up as positions become open.

 

[chawalang]

Start working for your I.A.T.S.E. local and when your on a call for a Broadway coming through bust your but on the call and try to make friends with the head electrician or head audio. They can help put you in touch with those that do hiring, also research what companies produce what broadway tours, there are a few that you can send your resume into and some do not do that. You may get a call you may not when sending in a resume, that is why being face to face wit someone on show site gets faster results.

I know rock and roll, I have never toured it, is very very very word of mouth and you need to know someone. To my knowledge there is no submit your resume online here way of doing things, thats now how that part of the industry works. Try researching shops that provide support for rock tours and hounding them to work in their shop, that would be a good way to meet people.

Honestly there is no one way to go about trying to get into a certain part of the industry, everyone has a unique path they took.

What is the level of your experience, just curious if it is realistic for you to look at trying to go for these gigs?

 

[AxlD1234]

Right now the experience i have is 4 years of High School Auditorium Tech
1 semester of college
and
3 years as a Theme Park Technician

 

[chawalang]

In my opinion your best bet would be to go to USITT your last year of school to look for gigs. I know that a lot of cruise ship companies, production companies, Disney , Feld and Networks Tours go there to recruit youngsters to work for them. That is how I got started out of undergrad and I went to USITT this year and it seems that is still the case there with recruiting.

Why they are looking for people that young is another conversation all together.

From what little you just told me you do not have the current experience to go tour. You can however build up to it, it may not be something you would be able to do straight out of school. I could be completely wrong and you may be able to do an awesome job. Another thing to consider is not only skill set but also personality and life experience.. You could very well have a rocking skill set but if that is your experience out of school and you go tour and roll into a city like Chicago or Philly the I.A.T.S.E stage hands you have on your crew for your may very well eat you alive. 80% of your success on the road and the industry as a whole is the ability to adapt to different environments and personalities. The local stage hands don't care if your show tanks and you get fired, especially if you are not cordial to them and you don't take charge. they are still getting paid regardless.

Trust me, I have seen this from the perspective of a touring stagehand and local stagehand working out of my I.A.T.S.E local.

An aside, no one cares about what you did in high school, once you finish your undergrad that is all null and void.

 

[themuzicman]

Getting a job as an audio hand on a Broadway tour is pretty challenging unless you're working in certain markets. You can certainly try to talk to the A1 or A2, but chances are they don't have the sort of relationship with the producer to pass names on to get others hired, if they even remember your name the next day in another city, especially on one-nighter or several day sit-downs you can't get to know someones skills well enough to see if they could work on the road. The tiny tours through Networks/Worklight/Troika/Phoenix/Big League generally hire someone young, and random. Usually they have schools or professional organizations they hire right out of - ie Networks hires a ton of UNCSA grads. Worklight hires a lot of kids who survive working on the Spoletto festival. It is becoming increasingly common that designers are hand picking their crews - a sound designer may design a show in a regional theater (I see a TON of touring people from Minneapolis), like their A1 and want to test them out further without huge risk to them so they get them a spot on a tiny road show. They have a personal relationship with their crew so when problems come up they can get info first-hand from you and not third-hand from a producer or production member at home office via the touring company manager or TD.

Touring 'broadway' audio generally follows NYC audio standards which are a bit different from the rest of the country in terms of terminology and best-practices.

Children's tours, ice tours/Feld (almost all Full Sail grads) fake broadway tours (Prather Entertainment), and any tour that demands the crew also drive the truck are a lot less discerning about their crew and it could be easier to get a job without knowing anyone over there. I generally find their labor practices reprehensible as a whole so work with them at your own risk.