Author Topic: 3 Directors in 3 Years.. Transitioning.  (Read 3908 times)

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itsDani

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3 Directors in 3 Years.. Transitioning.
« on: Aug 17, 2013, 03:16 am »
The theatre department at my high school barely exists.

The only theatre related classes we offer are Theater 1, Theatre 2, and Technical Theatre. Our Tech class consists of over 40 students, and only around 20 of us actually do anything. Our technical director, general director, technical teacher, and theatre teacher is all the same person. Our "department" is hodge-podged together and driven solely by the will of the students.
Two years ago this person got fired so we went through a transition into a new director last year. At the end of that year they got fired. This year is my senior year and we are going though yet another transition into a new director.

I have been the stage manager at our school for the last year and a half. Over this summer I got the opportunity to work with a professional theatre and I absolutely loved it. Stage management is what I am passionate about. Unfortunately when we go through these transitions to new teachers every position is a free for all. Whoever convinces the teacher that they can do a better job.. gets the job, without even having to prove it.

This year we are having a technical theatre teacher who is different than our theatre director, which is new. So that means that this year we have two people who we need to work with. I emailed the tech teacher and arranged to go in and meet them on monday, though they said they do not want to discuss the upcoming season yet.

What would be a good way to reassure them that I am able to handle the position of stage manager? What things should I figure out about them before hand? What is a good way to go about this transition?

Thanks,
Dani  ;D

ejsmith3130

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Re: 3 Directors in 3 Years.. Transitioning.
« Reply #1 on: Aug 17, 2013, 10:33 pm »
When I was in college we went through a transistion like this. If you already have a meeting set up with the technical teacher, why not bring a resume? Rather than you trying to convince someone with empty words of how good you are, treat it like a job interview. Bring a resume and show that you are serious about the job.

In this situation you also need to be open to communication and remember that they are the teacher and you the student. If they look at you and give the job to someone else because they think they would be better suited to the position- you need to trust that they know what they are doing. It is hard to have that kind of trust when you have a lack of stability and consistancy in the past, but you need to give these new teachers the benefit of the doubt, and be there to support their work. Nothing sabotages an organization quicker than if the students aren't open to communication and supporting their teachers. You all have the same goal. They may not work the same way as people have in the past and that is okay. Be there to offer how things had been done in the past if you see that something could be done more efficiently, or if asked.

If you portray yourself as responsible, motivated and flexible (all attributes of a good stage manager!) you can position yourself to be a good supporter of your new department structure.

Don't get yourself all worked up if the teacher doesn't really want to talk much about the upcoming season. Things are probably still being worked out with the school and between the two teachers. Just give them your resume, let them know you are excited about the school year, and would love to be involved.

itsDani

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Re: 3 Directors in 3 Years.. Transitioning.
« Reply #2 on: Aug 18, 2013, 02:11 pm »
Thank you SO much, that was a lot of help.
I had thought about bringing in a resume but I'm not quite sure.. it may be pretty awkward giving it to them. What do you think?

TheWiseTurtle

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Re: 3 Directors in 3 Years.. Transitioning.
« Reply #3 on: Aug 22, 2013, 11:24 pm »
In my experience, the wonderful thing about resumes is that they can be ignored if need be. You could talk to them, get to know them, and then tell them that you are interested in stage managing for them, and offering them your resume. If they're interested or not, a professional will take the resume. They may put it on top of the resume pile, they may put it on top of the garbage, but they'll take it, and remember you gave it to them.

I also graduated from a high school with a small theater program, and nepotism was an issue. I ultimately wound up working for a local community theater instead of my school's theater, but you could also seek out nearby schools' theater programs; anything you can do that gets you experience will pay huge dividends later on.

Hope you get the job! You could also tell everyone that the job sucks so they don't want it, if high schoolers are the same as they were six years ago. :P
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SMeustace

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Re: 3 Directors in 3 Years.. Transitioning.
« Reply #4 on: Aug 26, 2013, 06:26 pm »
It would probably be best to meet them ASAP. Maybe you could see if they are around even before the first day.

I went through a similar experience in my first year in college. I met with the new director/instructor about a week before classes even started. I introduced myself to him, and offered to help the transition go smoother in any way I can (I already had experience dealing with school policies, and administration and stuff) , and help him rearrange his office. I mentioned how I was stage managing for the past theater, and dance shows.

I apparently made an impressions that he asked me to send him a resume, and I did. The next week he offered me the role of SM and had a little production meeting together.

I found that if you offer to help with the transition, they'll remember you and your name when trying to fill openings.
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itsDani

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Re: 3 Directors in 3 Years.. Transitioning.
« Reply #5 on: Aug 26, 2013, 07:41 pm »
Update: I did meet with the new teachers early last week. The following day I was able to round up a ton of our actors and tech to spend the entire day with our teachers cleaning our theatre. (It had gone to complete trash with our last director.)
While we were on our lunch break we all sat out back and talked to our new director and got to know a lot about her. She has really cool ideas for this year! I had mentioned to her the day before that I had normally done stage management and while she said that she does not want just one person doing the stage management for every show we do, she did turn to me and say "So you're stage managing our first show, Noises Off, right?" Uh-- I was kind of caught of guard but hey I got it :)
Thank you all for your help!!! School starts this week, ugh.

SMeustace

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Re: 3 Directors in 3 Years.. Transitioning.
« Reply #6 on: Aug 27, 2013, 04:26 am »
That's great news!

Further into the year, talk to her about because you've been SM'ing the past couple shows, can train the ASMs more hands-on, or even supervise stage management crew. She could be willing to have you SM one more show so there's good amount of time for you to train potential SMs for future shows.
"On the first day the lord said....Light cue 1, GO! Then there was light".