Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2010 - 17

Giving students time to self-select a specialization in stage management is a tricky prospect for a theatre department. The importance of the stage manager to every theatre production is not significantly different in an academic environment than it is in the
professional arena. Many programs admit that their student pool of stage managers is not large enough.
Therefore, college theatre departments need to devote some recruitment efforts to finding stage managers, or at least those
with the interest and preliminary background. My personal experience has shown me that the level of theatre production in high
schools varies widely, which naturally leads to a broad variance in high school stage management experience. Even the definition
of a stage manager can change-some high schools entrust the student with all the traditional roles and responsibilities including
crew management and cue calling, while others use the faculty director to execute cues and limit the students to wrangling actors
and presetting props.
With that disparity, it is perhaps unreasonable to expect a great deal of specificity in a high school senior's background. So what
do departments look for? The consensus appears to be a combination of experiences and the ability to articulate yourself and your
interests (chart 4).
Beyond these specific choices, respondents were given the chance to identify other factors influencing acceptance into their
theatre department. Sample responses included:
* well-roundedness and the willingness to accept criticism;
* attitude, eagerness, desire, openness to new things;
* communication skills;
* maturity;
* problem-solving skills;
* the ability to present themselves well;
* personal traits such as self-motivation, maturity, and sense of humor.
Sixty percent of the survey respondents stated that they specifically recruit stage management students, and do so at a variety
of locations (chart 5). The remaining forty percent attributed the presence of interested students to factors ranging from indirect
exposure and transfer into the department to simple luck.

n 5. If you recruit, where do you

recruit?

How successful are these efforts?
Jennifer Cleary of Brandeis University (with a BA program) reported at the time of the survey that the department had
only "one student who I feel comfortable assigning to productions." She continued by describing the show assignments.
[This student] will get one show, and professionals will cover the other four shows. My up-and-coming students will ASM."
Washington University in St. Louis (a program without specific training in stage management) employs a combination of
"capable work study students as well as area professionals." In contrast, programs including Penn State and the University
of Minnesota in Duluth felt well-stocked with undergraduate stage managers at survey time.
It is clear that success varies. In my own efforts to recruit stage management students, I have observed that exposure is
a big part of the equation. Because high school programs are as varied as they are, not all incoming college students know
that theatre is a valid degree path, let alone that specific training in stage management exists. Sometimes it is a matter of
introducing the job and its skills to a broader population-during introductory classes in acting or theatre technology, or
even to non-majors who may be enrolled in a theatre appreciation class to fulfill a general education requirement.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2010