Author Topic: College and portfolio help  (Read 6059 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

AntiochSM

  • Tourist
  • *
  • Posts: 3
    • View Profile
College and portfolio help
« on: Feb 22, 2008, 12:04 am »
im a junior and i want to go to college as a stage manager but i'm not sure what i sould put into my portfolio or what i should be as a major. could any one could help it would be greatly appreciated.

Nbayard

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 34
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: NIU, Stage Coach Players
Re: College and portfolio help
« Reply #1 on: Feb 22, 2008, 11:36 am »
Well your best book would be good to bring, any programs that you have of shows you've done, pictures of the shows... etc.

For schools I am currently a BA theatre Studies major with an emphasis in Stage Management.  There are also degrees for stage management.  I'm glad I went the General theatre degree because I was able to focus on an area, and still Stage Manage a lot. I also learned a lot of skills that help me talk to other departments.  It's not entirely a bad thing.

Hope this helps

MJennings

  • Tourist
  • *
  • Posts: 3
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AGMA
Re: College and portfolio help
« Reply #2 on: Feb 22, 2008, 12:54 pm »
I second the idea of your best book and photos.  The pictures will help to give a scale of the production (what sort of tricky set you had to deal with or number of people in the ensemble... that sort of thing)  If you want to bring additional paperwork or don't have a book then have an example of what you can do, and probably pull it from one of your more interesting shows because you will be asked about it.  Also if you have had experience with something not normally in a high school setting (lots of automation or fancy projections) be prepared to talk about it and if you have paperwork for that bring it along. 
I received my BFA from CCM at the University of Cincinnati and wouldn't trade that experience for the world.  You will probably get a degree in Stage Management, Technical Theater or Theater with a SM emphasis (or something along those lines) depending on where you go and if you go BA or BFA.  When you start getting into looking at schools the piece of advice I can give you is to just make sure you talk to students about their experiences, what they liked and what they didn't, how much they got to SM, what other experience they got that helped them, etc.  The professors will tell you what they see as the up and down sides of the program, but the students that live it every day may have a different take.

slinky5289

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 7
    • View Profile
Re: College and portfolio help
« Reply #3 on: Feb 22, 2008, 07:34 pm »
What I came to realize when I recently went through the collage interview process was that the main thing there looking for is your potential. The interviewers (hopefully) realize that you don't have a lot of experience or training (that's is why your applying after all). With that being said, I think it is important to show not only your  best stage management work but also other work you've done be it designs for a show or even things from any art classes you might have taken in high school. Granted, I applied to BFA programs at liberal arts collages, so this might not be as true for other programs like conservatories. But I did get positive feedback for my choice to show a bit more versatility. I hope this is somewhat helpful to you.

AntiochSM

  • Tourist
  • *
  • Posts: 3
    • View Profile
Re: College and portfolio help
« Reply #4 on: Feb 23, 2008, 11:54 pm »
thanks guys for your help. i'm applying at The University of Columbia in chicago (my dream college!)but allso other ones such as the UofA (university of the Arts).

Nbayard

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 34
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: NIU, Stage Coach Players
Re: College and portfolio help
« Reply #5 on: Feb 24, 2008, 02:07 am »
I applied to both! I actually applied to 20 schools.. but yeah... I'm glad I did, more options, since I didnt have my heart set on a school...