ALL FIGURES AND VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS POST ARE MY OWN AND HAVE BEEN COLLECTED AND COLLATED PERSONALLY. IN NO WAY HAVE THEY BEEN VERIFIED OR SECONDED AS ACCURATE OR CORRECT.
This ones gonna be real heavy and not for the faint hearted. I never used to have a place to do this, but now I do and the academy helped me to find it. Somewhere to get things off my chest and let others help me with. Most of whom are going through the same thoughts and feelings as myself, and those who are not feeling the same, to critcise me and then I can learn from that. So here goes….
Ok. I am studying a Bachelor of the Arts Degree in Technical and Production Arts. This course is all about gaining a knowledge of the stage and how the production teams are structured and how they all merge together to create all different types of performance. Within my course their are 3 strands. These are; Design, Applied Arts and Production. I myself have chosen to follow the production strand. This decision must be made before entering the course and also prior to the interview. The production strand is then broken down again into 3 specific subjects, which are (but not limited to) Stage Management, Technical Stage Management and Production Electrics.
Stage Manager
1. To serve as overall supervisor of the stage and actors for (a theatrical production).
2. To direct or manipulate from behind the scenes, as to achieve a desired effect.
Production Electrician
The senior member of the theatre’s stage lighting team, although not necessarily the lighting designer.
Technical Stage Manager
A worker in a theater who is in overall charge of the flying elements and movement of scenery during the set up and running of a performance.
I thought I’d put those in to let everyone know what several different dictionaries describe each job as. Now onto my point.
Technical theatre and production isn’t just a job. It has to be your life. It’s not 9-5 and it’s not lecture theatre and exam based to train for. It requires physical, hands-on work to get it right and to practice it. Its just so happens now that in the world we all live in and have created that a degree tends to get you pretty far. I also fully understand that this is not always the case. So if your going to be spending your life doing something then surely you know something about it. I mean, you’ve been involved in professional or amatuer shows, theatre, events, live music, a school musical at least?
Some people are very, very serious about what it is they do for a living. I am one of them. I don’t like to be working on a show with bad energy. This often occurs when people make a rubbish job of it, not because they are incapable, but because they think “It’s just another show”. I’ve also spent nearly half my life working on loads, and loads of shows and different types of productions.
Bare with me and don’t worry I’m not drifting here.
So, I finally decide that at some point in my life technical theatre was for me. This is it. “When I grow up I want to do the lights”. Think about it long and hard and then apply to some courses. Turns out first year went a bit in the wrong direction in terms of what I applied to do. My choices in 2007 were either RSAMD or QMU. Unfortunately I got into neither and probably for all the right reasons. RSAMD at that time seemed so distant and I headed off to Reid Kerr for a year. What an unforgettable experience. Of course, some was good, some was bad. I then went back the RSAMD in 2008 with a new view and different outlook on things, and thanks to Reid Kerr, I got in. I wasn’t the only person who had been trying for a second time and when I got their on my first day I knew I wouldn’t look back on my choice.
In the first few weeks at RSAMD I am to discover the following things. (Please note these are after all the reshuffling between strands)
Stage Management Count: 6
TSM Count: 2
Electricians Count: 5
Total is 13 decided and only 1 person I know of to be undecided at this time.
This seemed like a good spread across all the specialisms and like a good way to make up the production teams. Afterall during the application and the interviewing process you are asked, but no final word has to be given, to indicate what it is you would be most likely to pick. This TO ME would mean that everyone is interviewed and then rejected/accepted based on what it is they say here regarding specialism choices. E.G. It is just not possible to accept 14 Technical Stage Managers, 14 Stage Managers, or 14 Electricians because the course cannot work or run efficiently. Their must be a good blend between them all. I understand fully that people may change, and have no doubts that the lecturers are thinking of this when awarding places on the course. People have now changed their minds, (Of course they have, they are allowed to afterall, their only human beings, it’s what we do). I believe the numbers are now as follows;
Stage Management Count: 2
TSM Count: 3
Electricians Count: 8
Total is 13 decided and still only 1 person I know of to be undecided at this time.
Now for the questions which I am asking myself over and over again.
Why is this happening? What does it mean for everyone else? Will you get to have a go at the bigger roles next year, knowing yourself that you would like the challenge? Will their be interference between different knowledge backgrounds? Explaining the basics again? Are people seriously thinking about what they are doing? How this will affect their future? When they get into third year they will be taking on a management role? If your picking electrics for example and graduate with a specialism in it. Then future employers will no doubt want you to be working up a tallescope when it’s extended at 9 metres? If you are picking Technical Stage Management then furture employers will no doubt be need you to lift heavy objects for long perdiods of time is this suited to you? If your picking stage management then building good relationships quickly, and excellent people skills are absolutely essential? Have people decided that stage management is to ‘Officy’, TSM is to much like hard work and lots of grafting, and LX is an easy option out? Or vice versa on this stance in any way at all. Is LX and TSM to much work and being in the office doing propping is easiest?
I just don’t know. These aren’t points I’m making. They are questions.
These are just some of things I have been thinking about. The latter of those are what I have based my choice around. Fully knowing what will be expected of me when I leave.
Something else which had came to me is that although you have a specialism in one area, you still have a degree in Technical and Production Arts. Everyone on the course who graduates will leave with the same bit of paper.
I’m publishing this now not in a bitching or annoying manner, that is never, ever my intentions. I’m trying to help everyone in the same position as me and also to understand my own thoughts and feelings on what could be a massive decision which I feel has been brushed off as “Nothing at all”.
I hope I haven’t offended anyone, and if I have then I’ll be willing to talk about what I have written here.
I’m also not mocking anything. I am living the dream with what I am doing and know I won’t make millions from my job, but I know I will make people go away saying “That looked amazing”, like I have done myself with so many things I have seen.
Shout to Nighthawk. Who gave me some of the inspiration and material for this post. Thanks man. You help me alot.
June 24, 2009 at 7:45 pm
my sentiments exactly… as someone, like you who has always wanted to follow electrics from the start this new ”lx bandwagon” is something that concerns me alot, im under the impression alot of the swayers have been choosing lecturer over specialism, i know for one instance it’s the truth.
but do you think it will affect us?
really, if what you say holds true, surely it wont hinder us in any way, i trust simon at the moment, and if some people wont pull there weight eg- with tallescopes etc, something will be done, but for you and i and the other lx devotees will simply just shine out.
Hopefully we are both wrong, but hopefully those who are uncomfortable up tallies and uncomfortable with plotting this time next year will hopefully realize they were wrong to simply ditch SM for the shiny new lecturer…
nighthawk
June 24, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Hi Craig
This is a really thought inspiring blog. And yes… the truth does hurt sometimes. Something has to change soon, as we cannot afford to get professional Stage Managers in to run our shows, let alone practice team management skills etc…
There has been talk of capping the amount of students allowed to do each subject, but that wouldn’t be fair on you guys, so that notion was dropped. In the future I think we will have two specialisms…i.e. Management and Technology and whatever you choose at application is what your stuck with (with the exception of extraordinary circumstance).
As for a shiny new LX lecturer… perhaps its time for a shiny new SM one as well….
June 25, 2009 at 12:05 am
Thanks guys for the support I needed here.
With regards to shiny new lecturers, I’m not to sure. I only know of one instance where this is the case and it’s almost ridiculous.
Also John, It’s nothing to do with new SM lecturers, I’m just not sure what it is and thats what I am thinking about all the time. For example Ricky text me tonight about this post telling me that this year has been excellent for stage management and not so good for PLX. Himself and Lynn were the only ones up for it and Lynn ended up doing mostly design stuff. This made me think that its a complete turn of the tables and that next year, for example, there might be 8 TSM and 2 LX and 3 SM possibly? I guess thats the way it works…
And if it’s any consolation, I think your very good at what you do. I have learned a lot form you this year, and I’m sure I will over the next 2 years as well. So I’m definitely a fan of yours. I wouldn’t be writing this blog, purely because I didn’t know what a blog was before January SM classes.
June 25, 2009 at 7:03 am
lol…. the shiney new SM thing was a joke… but I know what you mean… SM is hard to quantify as there is no real ‘end product’. There is only process. With perhaps the exception of calling the show and completing a Book, there’s no obvious point where you stand back and go wow I made that! i.e. no instant gratification. I used to sit in the auditorium, before the lights went up on opening night, as the shows SM, and try to work out what it is I had done on that Set, what was my contribution? After a manic production week, it was a quiet reflection time and for years I didn’t get it, why was I so knackered and there was no evidence of all my work? Apart from a few scattered props here and there. The realisation that my contribution as SM was in fact… everything. I had contributed to every facet of the production, buts here and there… but it ranged from the props, the set, work with the designer, director, cast… everyone!. And… if there was any evidence visible of my work… then I had failed somehow. Stage Management are meant to be invisible. We are more effective that way… we dress in blacks ffs!
So, that’s my take on it… oh… and we get to shout at folks!…
June 25, 2009 at 7:08 am
Hello, I’m a morning person so a bit late replying to this excellent post
As Craig points out in the last comment each year group is a different dynamic and the ratio of SM, TSM & LX change “slightly”
Whats strange about this year is that the ratio has skewed further than we’ve seen before leaving SM a bit lighter than usual.
We have no control of the content of shows, directors, designers and no idea how much or how challenging LX, TSM or SM might be over next year. What we do know is that we’ll all be doing it together hopefully, in my opinion, creating well rounded professionals.
At the automation symposium last month the employers in the room were asked what skills they wanted/needed from graduates. They answered dedication, energy, adaptability, punctuality,willingness to learn etc etc. much more than a set of specialism skills.
Its not an easy choice to make at this stage but the choice really is only helping you to the starting point of your career, who knows what’ll happen after that, all we can guarantee is that it will serendipitous.
June 25, 2009 at 10:45 am
I am a bit late in replying, but might as well join in the discussion. I think all the points you make are very valid, and I know many other people are asking the same questions.
Your blog has made me think about why I changed, and I realised it was because I was misinformed in the first place. I came from an amateur background, where the roles in theatre were very different. Before I came to the Academy I didn’t know what TSM was since all their responsibilities always fell under the SM umbrella. Also LX was often a technician operating under the direction of SM as well.
When I came to the Academy I realised I wanted to work with the sets and do some hands-on work. One day I might end up at a desk again, but by learning the hands-on skills, it should make me a better manager. I am really happy to be doing TSM with LX, since it gives me a wider knowledge of theatre and gives me a basic grounding in more areas.
I think the shift to LX has been amazing in such a short space of time. Perhaps people dismissed LX and didn’t discover it until it was until their allocation. I know in the past I have described LX as “repetitive” since every show you will rig, focus and plot. Whether you rig a parcan or a profile, the rigging does not change. Then, when I did my LX allocation at SYT, I discovered I really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun and kept me busy. I was discussing my point with Simon and he said that what I was classing as “LX” was only one section of the entire LX specialism, and he was hoping to introduce more areas into it.
June 25, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Hey Martin.
I totally understand what you mean about the way amateur productions mask the real way in which theatre works. Technical Stage Managers are rarely heard of because what we would called Stage Management is often just referred to as “Props”, thus making the stage manager in charge of the set and scene changes. Even in some cases “Stage Management” will build the sets!
I’d just also like to pick up on the repition part as well. I suppose rigging a light, is rigging a light, but surely hanging a border, is hanging a border, right?
Thanks for your response. I’m just glad that’s it’s not only me who is feeling this way about everything.
June 30, 2009 at 12:45 am
why couldn’t i be Nighthawk?