What to expect when applying to be a Stage Manager

theater_mom
Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:04:46 +0000

Dress up, but don’t overdo it. Don’t wear jeans. Don’t wear party clothes.

Schools generally tell you exactly what they want in a portfolio and it differs from school to school. What they request is often a clue to how to organize. For example, CMU asks for 15 samples of your work and suggests 10 different types of items. For CMU, I would assemble as many different types of work as I could and I would arrange by type of item. On the other hand, DePaul asks for 10 to 20 pieces of work in areas of particular interest. So, for DePaul, I would choose fewer types of items and organize by the areas I wanted to emphasize.

Focus on what you want to say and choose items to illustrate. For example, if you’ve been doing this for years, you want to emphasize the breath of your experience. But if you’ve only stage managed a few plays, you want to emphasize depth.

Best.