<p>Excellent advice, theater mom!</p>
<p>I’d just like to add (my S2 applied in theatre design last year) that the schools don’t expect a lot of experience in HS and are open to students who have pursued other artistic areas and ECs. My s’s portfolio for tech theatre was filled with fine art done in AP Studio Art, for example. He also had some architectural renderings and photos of models he built for an summer college arch class. His biggest project was a color rendering of a themed luxury resort retail/entertainment complex he designed. He had no sets nor had he worked on crews (in HS he was an actor in most plays). But he had taken a lot of theatre classes. He was admitted to every program that he applied to, and none of his interviewers said his portfolio was lacking enough theatre material. So have confidence! If you love design, put your best art and design material in there, even if it has nothing to do with stage sets. They seem to look for talent, potential and drive.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>