#BreakingTheStigma Theatre Careers

IDS majors complete an "Applied Project" also known as a capstone project before you graduate. I don't like to do things small, ever. Apparently I like stressing myself out. However, I had a vision from the moment I heard about this project.

"Oh you can't get a job in theatre"

"You're going to waste your money on a degree in theatre?"

"Okay, but what's your backup plan?"

I wanted to create a workshop/ career fair/ event to show students of middle and high school age that there are jobs in theatre because there are! There are so many jobs in theatre that I don't think I have the ability to list them all. I didn't know that in high school, although I knew a little bit more than most. I had a professor tell me today when she was in high school she thought the only jobs in theatre were being a broadway actor or a high school drama teacher. I added tech. But that was it. And 'tech' was so broad it isn't even funny. I had never heard of a stage manager, now I stage manage. I found out there were so many options of employment in theatre and I wanted to learn as many as I could. And then I realized, I'm not the only one who grew up thinking this. And now that I know all of these different jobs, I need to share them with students still in grade school so they have to opportunity to choose theatre if they want to, rather than listening to all the naysayers.

But bouncing back, what did I do? I put on this event called #BreakTheStigma Theatre Careers at Parkside Middle School in Manchester New Hampshire. All of the students from the 4 middle schools and 3 high schools were invited to stop by and check out the tables that were put together by professionals from all around the state. It was set up in the style of a workshop combined with a career fair so there were prepared slides or videos that students could look at if they wanted and then there was a professional at almost every station ready to talk about what they do and answer questions.

How did I get here? Well I started by reaching out to the principal of Parkside, Mr. Ransdell and the Stacey Edgar, the Artistic Director of Parkside Players. I have choreographed for Parkside's theatre program, Parkside Players, for the past 7 years now. So I reached out to see if we could partner on this project. Ransdell loved the idea and once we got through the logistics of the project I sent a list of possible dates and the one that was the best option for me. As luck would have it, I was able to get the date I wanted- October 25th. With that set, it was time to reach out to all the connections I had to find people willing to present for me on that night. After I started asking people I realized that I would have to keep track of everyone I did and didn't ask so I didn't ask people repeatedly or miss people I really wanted to ask. This whole process quickly became overwhelming. I asked approx. 50 people if they'd be willing and able and while a lot of people thought it was an awesome idea, they were unavailable to present. In addition, this process took way longer than I originally thought it would on my timeline. I thought, because it was so far out, people would be free and be able to plan that in a month in advance and all would be good. Unfortunately the list of people was changing up until the day of, including someone dropping out on that day. However about a week before we had finally settled on 14 stations.

Side note! This is super difficult thing that I discovered in this process- people don't answer their emails. Now, I keep my email on my phone and am constantly checking it. But most people do not. I will say I had a few wonderful people who responded quickly, but there were a few that had to track down everything from which was stressful. I also give a pass on the busy people as my capstone wasn't exactly their priority even if it was mine.

Anyway, 14 stations. The who of presenters aside I had to figure out what each person was doing, what supplies they needed from me (ie. electricity, wifi, etc.) their topic of presentation, and a description for the map and program. The rest was on the presenter. I took that information and created my program and map. It was around this time when I get an email from the artistic director asking for the poster so that the information could be sent to the other schools. So my next project was to make the poster and write a blurb about the event and email it out to all the schools.

Is now a good time to mention I also have a table? I also have a table. I didn't plan to have one, assuming I'd be too busy. However I knew that I wanted a table that focuses on choreography in theatre, and none of the choreographers I had reached out to were available. With that, I put together a table. Now, I mentioned that some people were dropping out up until the last day. By this point I had already sent out some information so I decided rather than scrambling to fill that space, My partner and I could just cover it too. The areas we needed to cover by the end were Costumes, Theatrical Makeup, and Design. Design was the biggest hole we needed to fill. He has worked in the Costume shop at Plymouth State University so he is very good at building costumes and has made his own patterns. We both have experience with theatrical makeup and I brought my own kit to lay out along with his makeup morgue (collection of photos and inspiration for makeup designs as well as face plots) and I printed some photos of makeup I've done for different shows or classes. The final one was design. The design table had many people in and out of its seat, design is an important job in theatre, however good designers are always busy. I had many people be willing to do it but have to cancel. In the end it was unmanned so I found a solution- Zach had scenic designed before and I was able to get ahold of the entire design package for PSU's recent production of The Addams Family. In addition to these he had offered to run two tables for me already and had already been putting together a scenic construction table because it was my example table to the presenters. So. I had a table. Or 5. But it's fine! We positioned the costume and makeup tables next to Zach's two tables on Stage Management and Props already so he just took over those. I had someone manning the scenic construction table already and the person who covered Drafting offered to jump in and help on the design table if need be.

The 14 Stations were:

Station 1: Vocal Health and Performance

Station 2: Music Together: Early Childhood Music Class

Station 3: Music Directing 101

Station 4: Dance in Northern New England

Station 5: Choreography in Theatre and Arts in the Creative Economy

Station 6: The Man Behind the Curtain- the Stage Manager

Station 7: I Need a Prop; A Guide to Being Props Master

Station 8: Costume Design, Construction

Station 9: Theatrical Makeup

Station 10: Light Cue 1 Go! Lighting and Electrics

Station 11: Acting Up: Teaching and Working in the Theatre

Station 12: Theatrical Design- The Architects of the Theatre

Station 13: Drafting- From Paper to Stage

Station 14: Scenic Construction

Now we're at the week of the event. I just closed a show, so I finally had time to finalize everything for this and get it all set for Friday. Oh yeah, I was in a show this whole time. Totally not stressful. Anyway, I was dealing with cancellations and adjusting everything and my stress was building up. There were many times during this process I didn't think I'd be able to do it, that it was too much for me to handle and I was biting off more than I could chew. And I felt this way up until I was standing onstage in front of everyone attending the event on Friday night. But at this point I was very stressed.

Night before, I made final adjustments to the program and I spend almost two hours in the library printing everything I need to print and making sure I have everything for all these different tables. Then it occurs to me that I was going to have a video on my table in case I couldn't stand at it. Now, I'm even more stressed as I rush back to my room and put together a video which takes most of the rest of the night to complete. (Click to see the video here or check it out on my portfolio page) Finally, I think I have everything together. I had a list of things I had to pick up on my way to Parkside and then I'm off to the event!

I arrived at Parkside around 2:30/3:00 and the Volleyball students are practicing in the gym (their theatre is a stage in a gym) and the Parkside Players are onstage playing improv games. I interrupt a game of scenes from a hat and get them to come help unload my car. Mrs. Edgar enticed some students to stay and help out with the promise of pizza, so I had a minimum of 10 kids attending my event. A good start. Technically I don't have the space till 4, so I set myself to organizing all the various things I had scattered between bags. I also find the snacks we had planned to lay out for the kids. Then Mrs. Edgar comes up to me and says "Oh! Um, don't be mad." Totally confused I look at her as she opens a box of lanyards with mini versions of the posters clipped on the end.

She has had a bunch of them lying around her office for a long time so she thought it would be a cute surprise that I could give to whoever I wanted. I kept one for myself and gave one to each presenter with their program on their table. That is, when I am able to set them up. I was told I had the space at 4:00. But then I hear the volleyball coach say they have practice until 4:40. 4:40?!!? I have to be fully set up for the presenters at 5:00! Frantically I go to make sure I heard right. Apparently, the volleyball team was going into finals and this wasn't an originally scheduled practice. But they agreed to help set up the tables if they ended practice at 4:40. I was not happy with this but I understand the situation and I so I tried to lay things out while I was waiting for 4:40 to roll around. Meanwhile we had the kids carry in all the tables and place them along the walls until we can place them correctly. From here on out things go pretty smoothly, although I wouldn't have believed it at the time, even if you could catch me long enough to tell me that! However I managed to set everything up and greet my presenters as they showed up. My partner took my phone so the presenters could actually get in while I ran around and we were ready to open doors at 6:00.

(Click on the photos to scroll through them!)

The turnout was fantastic. We had steady traffic of people from 6:00 until about 7:30. After that is started to wind down a bit but there were some stragglers still checking things out. Around 6:15 I did a quick speech about why this event happened and what it meant to me. That was nerve-wracking but afterwords I definitely felt like a confident and powerful woman.

I had many people asking me questions about both my table and my degree. I also did some advocating for the PSU theatre program when a student was curious about directing and I told her about my script analysis and directing books. I also was able to network a bit and give out my email for dance lessons. All of my presenters were answering great questions and enjoyed the whole thing. I even had some of the theatre teachers from other schools telling me that they learned some great things they could bring back to their theatre troupes and schools.

I saw faces I knew and didn't know and I it was really cool to answer questions and show some of my work and see their faces light up. There was a little girl at one point who made my night, she was a younger sibling to someone else who came as she was definitely elementary age or younger. And this girl was captivated by watching the dancers on my video. She was mesmerized. I've seen that look before on kids faces. It was on my own face when I watched theatre and dance as a child, and look where that brought me.

All in all it was a successful evening. I am so thankful for everyone who presented or donated items for me to use for different presentations. I couldn't have done it without all them. I believe this project accomplished my goal- I showed these students some of the jobs in theatre and helped #breakthestigma around theatre careers.