Does anyone here have experience with kids who like to do theater tech – what we geezers used to call stage crew?
Yes. S17 is a big theater tech kid, who hopes to continue in college though not major in it. I think @OrangeFish has a D19 who is quite into it and starting a portfolio. @techmom99 is a great resource as well, her S1 is planning to major in it.
Thanks, @eandesmom. So, I have a question for you and @techmom99 and @orangefish, if that’s okay.
My D19 doesn’t do organized athletics, she’s doing only the minimum required volunteer hours per year at her school, and she isn’t a member of any clubs except the improv troupe at her school. In other words, her ECs are pretty…sparse. But last semester and this one, she’s done theater tech and l-o-v-e-s it. I mean, she taught a freshman how to organize and man the lighting board in December for the musical, she run around making sure that everything gets done, etc. Now that the spring play is almost upon us, she doesn’t get home from school until 6:30/7pm or so and she’s tired. I mean, as tired as if she WAS doing a school sport.
Clearly this takes a lot of time and she’s somehow fallen into something of an informal leadership role for the first time in her life. If this was a “real” club, I’d be thrilled. But it’s not. It’s stage crew. It’s not especially recognized at her high school as important. Do colleges know how time consuming this is? Is it recognized at all? My D17’s friends who are on varsity teams get a lot of positive reinforcement, the ones who are members/presidents of established clubs get the same. But stage crew?
I would never make her stop, don’t get me wrong, she is having such a great time at it (her closest friends are “theater kids” or also on stage crew, so it’s like a super long playdate for her). She is happy. She’s always pretty happy, she’s that kind of kid. But she is too tired to finish her homework well and I don’t know if stage crew is viewed positively by college adcoms. She could use a little help. And when I was in high school. the stage crew kids were who we went to if we wanted beer or illegal-then-but-not-now-in-a-couple-states stuff. See what I mean?
I have no experience as a college admissions officer, and therefore do not know how each college will view any EC, never mind the time suck that is theater :)) but I think it is a great question to bring up when visiting schools, attending college fairs, etc.
My D19 also l-o-v-e-s theater. Her people are all there. She will be taking theater as a course for four years of high school. She eats, sleeps, and dreams theater. BUT she also has to balance her classwork/homework with the theater time suck. As a freshman, she did not do such a good job with this balancing, letting theater takeover. As a sophomore, she is better in the balancing. But the spring show work really starts on March 13, so we’ll see how it goes, as she is a designer for this run.
It sounds like your D19 is a lot like my D19. It also sounds like your D19 has taken on a leadership role in theater, through teaching others, serving as a project manager, and leading a team for lighting. All of these things are not “just a stage hand.” There’s definitely essay material here!
I am a big believer in letting kids find their people and their passion. Isn’t that what high school (and ultimately college and life) is supposed to be about?
@JenJenJenJen and @OrangeFish - my D19 is also a tech kid. The three of us definitely need to keep each other apprised! The school musical is this weekend, it’s tech week, and D is getting home after 9 every night. Mandatory rehearsals every weekend for a month now. I know it kills her study during the winter, and lax practice starts next Monday and that also is a time suck. I would rather she does these two ECs and has a blast, though - she’s not going top-tier and the experience/leadership/skills/sheer joy she’s having is what growing up is about, imho.
I first thought she wanted to do tech for life, so that was the must-have in the colleges I started to research – now she’s branching out and considering other options. She loves chemistry - go figure - and that has made her realize it’s a big world and just because she’s found one niche doesn’t mean there aren’t others.
Yes, I think adcoms realize the all-in nature of theater. I think they like to see passion, more than checking off boxes, and anyone who does tech for four years of high school (plus [I’ll bet this is true of your kids too] summer work) is showing they have the commitment and passion necessary to succeed.
We made our decision on next year yesterday: she’s staying at her current school. Their financial aid committee got a look at our final tax return and upped their award and it’s now affordable. I’m thrilled and D cried with joy. Crisis averted. I really think moving her to a new school - just as rigous, if not more - in her junior year would have been really fraught. It’s not the year you want to be completely out of your comfort zone.
I am out on tours with S17 today but will respond later on the tech question. In his case, for his schools, absolutely a positive on his apps.
@Gatormama @JenJenJenJen and @techmom99 – would you share what resources you are using to help in the theatre tech focused search? I have lurked some on the theater/musical theater college majors forums here on CC but there seems to be a small number of relevant postings for the sub-sub-specialty of theatre tech. (I have also done some searches on reddit.)
D19 wants to either minor or double major in something besides theater tech (currently interested in political science and international affairs, film and video arts, or new media design) and we are also quite $$$ conscious. We are likely looking at in-state options (we’re in Virginia) or OOS schools with a close-to-in-state-school price tag.
D19 asked me to help her research options, and I’ve come to realize there’s so much to learn!
@OrangeFish and @JenJenJenJen et al:
Here are some links:
playbill.edu
http://www.broadwayworld.com/studentdegree/Bachelor-of-Arts-in-Production
http://www.broadwayworld.com/studentdegree/Bachelor-of-Arts-in-Design-and-Technology
threads on a state management board: http://smnetwork.org/forum/college-and-graduate-studies/?PHPSESSID=glvc1a3uibioqlcb83f445h6u3
CMU program: http://www.cfa.cmu.edu/pages/intersection-of-arts-technology
CC threads:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1163490-production-design-and-theatre-design-schools.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/623794-technical-theater.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/817796-internship-suggestions-theater-tech-major-please.html
@eandesmom – waving as you drive by me in PA 
Thank you so much, @Gatormama !
D17 loves Theater. He will probably double major in it and something else. He is not like the kids who has been in productions since they were really young but he has done 4 years of it in high school. We went to a scholarship day at UA last fall. The one thing that they were very clear about was that if you major in Tech Theater you WILL have a job when you graduate. I guess there aren’t enough people out there in Tech Theater.
My cousin was a theater tech kid. She started in high school, it turned into a well paid part time job in college and now post grad school she has gotten involved in community theater as a way to meet people.
She never pursued it as a major or career but it has been a highly rewarding part of her life.
I think admission folks recognize the time suck of major ec’s like drama, marching band, etc. Sometimes I think that people hear “wholistic admissions” and think that means colleges want the most well rounded students which means every student must show a wide range of ec’s.
I think wholistic means two things. First, they look at the totality of the student’s record: grades, ec’s, difficulty level of classes, type of high school. Second, they are looking at building the best class for the school. That means they want a diversity of race, ethnicity, urban, rural, suburban, economic status, background experiences.
A good friend’s sister was stage manager for a recent Broadway production; we got to see it for free and go backstage. Phenomenal opportunity for D. The thing about my friend’s sister’s life is: She makes awesome money when she’s on a show, but there’s no guarantee of the next job, and no benefits etc associated with the job. I would guess there’s industry/union fallback bennies, but that might just be wishful thinking on my part. Oh, and obv., her social life sucks
She went to Drew, so that’s high on my radar. Though unaffordable for us 
For you theatre people: when I toured RPI recently they have their own student playhouse on campus and put on multiple shows a year. Looked like a pretty cool program. They also built this Taj Mahal of theaters on campus called the EMPAC which is a super high tech place to listen to musicians and maybe other productions. It was pretty cool.
I guess you could probably do theatre tech stuff and study something else when you’re there.
Just throwing this out there for you theatre/tech kids out there. CofC has an arts management program that may be interesting an a computing in the arts degree which is a CS degree that focuses on the arts ( music, animation, etc) It might be worth a look
@Gatormama waving back from Ursinus today! Which has one of the coolest performing arts centers we’ve seen at a small school. I am actually regretting we didn’t try to peruse a music scholarship here. The theater one is performance based.
@Gatormama - D19 was at a recent doctor’s visit and told her doctor about interest in theatre tech. Doctor talks about her niece who attended CMU for theater (a while ago) and ended up with a job in Las Vegas on a contract gig. She was spotted out there by a Cirque du Soleil person, and (long story short) is now in a management capacity at Cirque du Soleil, thanks to her degree from CMU and her networking opportunities along the way. So yes, it is possible to get a job, with benefits, etc.
@carolinamom2boys That CofC music in the arts program looks really interesting. I have to admit that I always thought College of Charleston was a small private LAC and now just learned that it’s a public university with 11000 students. Oops.
D16 had an extreme anti-South bias and a desire to go west, so we never checked out many schools here in the east, esp. in the southeast. S19 says he wants to either stay in VA or “within a few states” in any direction. Urban schools in NC and SC would probably be worth considering.
Tough to get son19 out the door this morning. Spent 2 long days at a robotics tournament. Their team’s robot almost made it to the semi-finals but fell short. They had a lot of fun though, good learning and social experience.
We start selecting Junior year courses this week. Trying to decide how many AP classes to take. He’s a very busy kid and we don’ want to over extend him. Tying to find some balance.
Question about SAT IIs - I don’t have any colleges on S19’s list that require them, but our list is very tentative. It is entirely possible that he could add some that require them. I looked at the list that require them and a few colleges pop out to me as MAYBE possibilities. I hate adding more to his plate, especially when we could very easily make a list of schools that don’t require them. Some schools that I’m pretty sure he will apply to, though, will look at them to “enhance” his application.
He took Biology SAT II last June after freshman Bio H. Got a 700. Not great but ok.
He’s in Chem H and Pre-Calc H this year. I’m thinking of having him take Math 2 and Chem in June. He won’t ever have space to take AP Chem so this would be the year to take that SAT II.
I guess we will have him take US History next year after APUSH. I don’t think he would be ready for any others by the end of junior year since he won’t have taken AP Literature yet (that’s senior year) and he’s put off Physics until senior year as well. He could maybe take French as he will be done with French 4 at the end of junior year. (Struggling though with why anyone would take a foreign language SAT II). I cannot have him self-study for these tests. His plate is already full.
My question is this - for schools where these tests are just enhancing an application, is it worth investing much time in them? And, if he knows he’s not going to be a science major, should we just bag the chemistry SAT and just have him do math and then history next year? If his SAT ends up being solid, I’m just wondering if it’s worth taking SAT IIs. My mindset so far has been “just go in and take them with the knowledge you have and do your best”.