During my two and a half weeks in California, I had many different experiences. From planning events to house managing to building sets, each one taught me things about how an actual theater runs. I have been involved with theater my entire life, but the majority of that has been educational theater. Throughout my experiences, I have speculated about how things in an actual theater run. This intensive taught me much of what I needed to know and confirmed or disproved my expectations.
I think my favorite part of the trip, aside from spending time with and working side-by-side with amazingly talented people, was the design portion of the study. Being able to actually produce a tangible product was satisfying. I’ve always had a soft spot for interior design, so scenic design and the tasks I was doing with the tech director were similar to that. It made looking at the drawings and diagrams much more interesting. I also found the business side rather interesting, but I don’t think it’s anything I would particularly want to go into. If I ever did want to start some kind of company though, I would not mind doing those kinds of tasks as long as I knew what I was doing. The only thing I found unpleasant was sitting in on a rehearsal without being onstage. I think it was good for me to see from an outside perspective how a show comes together, what is done, and how different people do it, but I did find it rather unfulfilling. There would most likely be a difference if I was directly involved in the production. Being a stage manager might be slightly better because they have tasks they have to focus on during the rehearsal, but the only past experiences I’ve had are with assistant directing. However, being in the room and simply watching people onstage just made me miss being up there with them. It made me miss acting and singing and those friendships and dynamics. I think simply directing would be very hard for me, but in a situation where I wasn’t acting, I might be interested in trying stage managing to see if that’s something I could do. I think I’m organized enough for it, it’s just a question of how sad would I be about not being onstage. Overall, I am glad to have done this. I now know how much goes into running a theater, although I’m sure I just skimmed the top of it. For example, being unable to attend auditions due to scheduling issues meant I missed out on what could have been a beneficial experience. However, I still had unexpectedly helpful talks with people throughout my time about where I want to go with my future and how I was to approach these next few years. One of the directors gave me some advice for when I’m looking into colleges and a stage manager and I had a lengthy conversation about how I should find out what I do. I know that the next two years will include some kind of training, but in what I am still somewhat undecided. After this independent study, I believe I am slightly closer to an answer, but it is still just out of reach.
0 Comments
|
AuthorSince 2010, my family and I have been very involved with the Long Beach Playhouse. ArchivesCategories |