Author Topic: Study Abroad  (Read 7802 times)

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zayit shachor

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Study Abroad
« on: Dec 11, 2007, 04:59 am »
I know there are a million study abroad programs for actors, and even some for designers, but are there any for stage managers?

I go to school in the US, and I'd love to study abroad in the UK or Australia ... but if I go abroad, I want to be studying SMing.  Does anyone know of any such program?

kiwitechgirl

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #1 on: Dec 11, 2007, 07:01 am »
There are loads in the UK - RADA, Rose Bruford, Mountview and Guildhall are four of the big ones, but there are heaps more - go to www.drama.ac.uk and click on "search for courses" and you'll find heaps of info.  Australia I'm not so sure about; I think NIDA in Sydney offers an SM course, and WAAPA in Perth may well do as well.

debos23

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #2 on: Dec 11, 2007, 03:40 pm »
My last year of college, I went through BUNAC, www.bunac.org, to live and work for 6 months in the UK.  I was able to PA at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and met a ton of folks who offered me work (and a British Equity card) in London.  Plus, because it's a work visa, I was able to earn enough to pay all my expenses, and travel around.   I got credit for the experience through an independent study course at the college.  It was a great experience.

ChaCha

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #3 on: Dec 13, 2007, 09:00 am »
In Australia the only places you could study SMT at the top level are WAPPA at Edith Cowan University in Perth(my alma mater), NIDA in Sydney, and the Vic College of the Arts in Melbourne. But all of these offer 3 year courses and I'm not sure that they accommodate say a semester from an overseas student with crdit toward a course back home. Though WAPPA and VCA both probably do that in courses in their parent universities. You would have to contact the admin of each direct and enquire if anything could be set up. Australian uni's are BIG on making money out of overseas students, so you never know!

There are other places that teach smt, Uni of Southern QLD i think, Swinburne in Melb has some theater courses, Holmesglen TAFE - but I cant tell you much about them, and they are not as highly regarded in general although there are successful grads working in the industry from all these.

Bon Voyage!
« Last Edit: Jan 09, 2008, 01:24 pm by ChaCha »
ChaCha

IUSM

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #4 on: Dec 13, 2007, 11:28 am »
I placed a student at Guildhall a few years ago.  The trick is you end up paying double tuition if you go that route.  Guildhall will expect you to pay and your school will as most likely the credits won't transfer.

The SM education system abroad is very different and very tough to transfer credits.

I had a student work at Opera Australia last summer.  She took the independent study credits this year for work she did last year.  Some schools will let you do that.  Check it out if money is the issue.

SummerShakespeare

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #5 on: Dec 14, 2007, 05:36 am »
Do you know of any Italian theatres that would do that?
All on the same G.O.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #6 on: Dec 14, 2007, 12:30 pm »
I remember an Italian small opera theatre doing a student SM internship.

I can't for the life of me remember the name - but it was not a large Italian City.


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centaura

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #7 on: Dec 28, 2007, 06:37 pm »
I did 6 months at Mountview in London, but found that while I grew as a person from the experience of living in another culture, most of the specific stage management information didn't translate back into US theatre.  While I don't regret my experience going, I could have gotten the same experience studying almost any topic.  I met folks over there taking other types of courses at different universities, not geared towards their degrees, but just for the experience of being overseas.

Mountview's program for apprenticeships is basically a trade - they let you work on the shows in exchange for you being there with no tuition.  But you're on a student visa, must be able support yourself without a job, and be able to prove to immigration that you are able to support yourself without recourse to a local job for the entirety of your stay.  At the time I went, to get a local job (with a student visa) the employer would have had to prove that there was no one else who was a citizen who would be able to do the same job.

While I reccoment highly the experience of going overseas, my personal experience says it almost doesn't matter what courses you're taking - its the experience of the culture that's going to be the most benefit.

-Centaura

ChaCha

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #8 on: Jan 09, 2008, 01:30 pm »
Another thought on this prompted by the Opera Australia mention above..

...if you can get credit for an 'internship' type experience abroad then you might approach international arts festivals for unpaid 'secondment'/internship experience. I have worked with a number of International arts festivals in Australia and abroad, and its not that uncommon. Most of the people I've met doing such a thing approached the festival directly proposing the idea. Most of the festivals were not actively looking for people but were 'talked into' it by the person volunteering.

ChaCha
ChaCha

TechGal

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #9 on: Jan 11, 2008, 11:03 am »
My last year of college, I went through BUNAC, www.bunac.org, to live and work for 6 months in the UK.  I was able to PA at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and met a ton of folks who offered me work (and a British Equity card) in London.  Plus, because it's a work visa, I was able to earn enough to pay all my expenses, and travel around.   I got credit for the experience through an independent study course at the college.  It was a great experience.

WOW! That sounds amazing.  It would probably be a little over a year till I could do something like that but I've always wanted to work in theatre in Europe and am intrigued by what BUNAC offers.  How did you go about lining up your job? 

debos23

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Re: Study Abroad
« Reply #10 on: Jan 11, 2008, 05:11 pm »
When I knew I was going over through BUNAC, I just searched online for Edinburgh Fringe Festival jobs and found a message board post from a production company looking for PA's.  I emailed them, had an interview when I arrived in London, and a few weeks later I was running shows in Scotland.   Although that was back in 1999, I'm sure you can find something similar now.   It's like all networking:  just start talking to producers to see where they need help.   Because I got that position, the people I met and worked with picked me up for other things once we all returned to London.  There's also a weekly theatre industry newspaper (The Stage, I believe), like Back Stage in NY, that was a great resource.  I absolutely loved it over there, and having the freedom to earn money, make your own schedule, and not worry about going to any classes is fantastic.   :)

 

riotous