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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: College Questions
« on: Aug 19, 2010, 08:05 am »
Hi Ryan! I'm a Third year SM attending UNCSA so I thought I could help you out. I came into the program with very little experience in Stage Management alone but lots of technical experience all around. It certainly helped me that first year because you don't really touch SM until your third (spring) term when we do our student directed pieces. Mostly you will be working on crews for costumes, carpentry, and electrics. This is good because you get to know the other majors and train in areas you never thought you would be good at (Who knew I could ever figure out how to operate a light board?!) Almost all of the underage freshmen live in the dorms and eat in the cafe (which can be very healthy, lots of vegetarian friendly meals) The weather is almost perfect year round, 2-3 heavy snows during winter term, though I would bring some good rain boots. The faculty and staff are extremely helpful, we are even getting a new SM Adviser, Frank, who is just about the sweetest man I think I have ever met and he is still very much in the business. Your second year is where you really get elbows deep in Assistant Stage Managing and your third year you lead the team! You can pretty much pick what shows you work on each term ranging from drama, musical, modern dance, opera and ballet. We are a conservatory style so most of your days are spent at crew or in rehearsals. I hope this information helped and you consider UNCSA if it's right for you.