Open Forum

Hello-

I'm a first year Technical Director, at the end of last school year, my entire group of student theater technicians graduated.  Recruiting was not a high priority of my predecessor.  So, I'm starting this year out without any technicians.  What are some successful strategies/approaches to help recruit students and grow my department?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Scott Schoonover
Technical Director
Saint Louis University High School
St. Louis MO
------------------------------

One of the things that my kids really like is the student production team that is a part of every performance we have. The kids start as a member of a crew. If they do well they are invited, or may request, to become the manager of a crew. They then move into asst stage manager position. After this they may stage manage or asst direct a production. After working at least 2 shows as either a stage manager or a asst director they may request the opportunity to student direct a show. 

It's been a really good tool to help increase interest and awareness for the tech aspects of the department. The asst stage managers, stage managers, and asst directors are recognized by their peers at closing of every show which helps increase the appreciation of the tech.

I also have grown my department through the use of make-up design and application. The kids are allowed to wander campus in their make-up (as long as I send out warnings to the campus if we've been working wounds) which has definitely helped people notice theatre ;^) and we provide the "casualties" for the ROTC medical field day. Again, see the amputations and broken bodies wandering around campus increases the interest in participation backstage. 

Ask the kids you already have to tweet about the fun they have in class and/or rehearsal. It's a really easy way to promote your department.

:^)

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2016 11:18
From: Scott Schoonover
Subject: recruiting

Hello-

I'm a first year Technical Director, at the end of last school year, my entire group of student theater technicians graduated.  Recruiting was not a high priority of my predecessor.  So, I'm starting this year out without any technicians.  What are some successful strategies/approaches to help recruit students and grow my department?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Scott Schoonover
Technical Director
Saint Louis University High School
St. Louis MO
------------------------------

What was wonderful for me was having access to a local theme park and arranging a back-stage tour. Of the 25 students I took, 15 of them are still working in some sort of technical area for me on our numerous productions. 

We've been pretty good at recruiting stage managers, and have done this by profiling the students very carefully and steered them fairly firmly to that role, by seeing how they organize their notes, their schoolwork, their lives, and such, and seeing their social interaction skills. 

All technical aspects are held in high esteem, and our students have never set themselves up as 'Actors vs. techies,' which is an annoying thing to have to fight against in the popular consciousness. 

As a technical director yourself, you have an advantage of knowing what it is (sound and lighting equipment) and how best to teach it. It takes one or two interested students, then train them up thoroughly, and have them take ownership by having them train the next students up. I have assigned people to learn certain skills under other students, and sometimes I was right in that they loved it and continued in it, other times I was wrong and they moved on to a different area of theatre, but they appreciated learning about it. 

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Ruskin FL

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2016 12:06
From: Shira Schwartz
Subject: recruiting

One of the things that my kids really like is the student production team that is a part of every performance we have. The kids start as a member of a crew. If they do well they are invited, or may request, to become the manager of a crew. They then move into asst stage manager position. After this they may stage manage or asst direct a production. After working at least 2 shows as either a stage manager or a asst director they may request the opportunity to student direct a show. 

It's been a really good tool to help increase interest and awareness for the tech aspects of the department. The asst stage managers, stage managers, and asst directors are recognized by their peers at closing of every show which helps increase the appreciation of the tech.

I also have grown my department through the use of make-up design and application. The kids are allowed to wander campus in their make-up (as long as I send out warnings to the campus if we've been working wounds) which has definitely helped people notice theatre ;^) and we provide the "casualties" for the ROTC medical field day. Again, see the amputations and broken bodies wandering around campus increases the interest in participation backstage. 

Ask the kids you already have to tweet about the fun they have in class and/or rehearsal. It's a really easy way to promote your department.

:^)

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2016 11:18
From: Scott Schoonover
Subject: recruiting

Hello-

I'm a first year Technical Director, at the end of last school year, my entire group of student theater technicians graduated.  Recruiting was not a high priority of my predecessor.  So, I'm starting this year out without any technicians.  What are some successful strategies/approaches to help recruit students and grow my department?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Scott Schoonover
Technical Director
Saint Louis University High School
St. Louis MO
------------------------------

Hello,

A practice that has proved fruitful for recruiting booth techs, such as light and sound designers, is to check in with local religious gathering places with relatively high levels of production, especially if they have a seperate gathering for middle or high school students. You'll find most will have at least one High School Student volunteering in some technical aspect, and as sad as it is, most of them just don't recognize the great opportunity that is technical theater. For example, i am a sound tech at my high school, my light tech at school is a camera man at another local church, and with the exception of our producer and all of our bosses, the tech team at my church is made up entirely of high school students. It's also a largely untapped resource, so you might end up with more than you hoped for.

Hope this helps,

------------------------------
Jon Matthews
Sound Technician
Cambridge High School/Stonecreek Church
Alpharetta GA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2016 11:18
From: Scott Schoonover
Subject: recruiting

Hello-

I'm a first year Technical Director, at the end of last school year, my entire group of student theater technicians graduated.  Recruiting was not a high priority of my predecessor.  So, I'm starting this year out without any technicians.  What are some successful strategies/approaches to help recruit students and grow my department?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Scott Schoonover
Technical Director
Saint Louis University High School
St. Louis MO
------------------------------

At our school, we have the rare joy of a district who recognizes the academic value of participation in the arts and, as long as we have a credentialed teacher running the program, our actors AND our tech crew earn 5 credits for each production that they are in. This is a huge draw for the kids who want to be part of a "tribe," need the credits but don't want to be on stage.

------------------------------
Jodi Disario
Director of Drama
Willow Glen High School
San Jose CA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-11-2016 01:32
From: Jon Mattews
Subject: recruiting

Hello,

A practice that has proved fruitful for recruiting booth techs, such as light and sound designers, is to check in with local religious gathering places with relatively high levels of production, especially if they have a seperate gathering for middle or high school students. You'll find most will have at least one High School Student volunteering in some technical aspect, and as sad as it is, most of them just don't recognize the great opportunity that is technical theater. For example, i am a sound tech at my high school, my light tech at school is a camera man at another local church, and with the exception of our producer and all of our bosses, the tech team at my church is made up entirely of high school students. It's also a largely untapped resource, so you might end up with more than you hoped for.

Hope this helps,

------------------------------
Jon Matthews
Sound Technician
Cambridge High School/Stonecreek Church
Alpharetta GA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2016 11:18
From: Scott Schoonover
Subject: recruiting

Hello-

I'm a first year Technical Director, at the end of last school year, my entire group of student theater technicians graduated.  Recruiting was not a high priority of my predecessor.  So, I'm starting this year out without any technicians.  What are some successful strategies/approaches to help recruit students and grow my department?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Scott Schoonover
Technical Director
Saint Louis University High School
St. Louis MO
------------------------------

I recruit a lot from freshmen in intro classes. Also I hit up art teachers. A great place for the creative but shy. At one time I actually recruited from kids who were bust loitering after school and clearly had no where to go after school and didn't want to go home. One of those kids went on to get a Masters in stage management and freelances in NYC today.
Basically, I have found tech kids by looking under rocks and in dark corners where disenfranchised students can be found. Someone did this for me when I was one of them in high school and I probably saved my life. It definitely gave me a place to be and developed into a career. There are those kids drawn to tech, and hopefully they will show up and become the core of your program, but I have always filled the open positions on the tech crew with any kid I could find. Actors who didn't get cast are a great resource as well. Feast or famine.

Scott Hasbrouck
George Washington HS
Denver, CO


Original Message------

At our school, we have the rare joy of a district who recognizes the academic value of participation in the arts and, as long as we have a credentialed teacher running the program, our actors AND our tech crew earn 5 credits for each production that they are in. This is a huge draw for the kids who want to be part of a "tribe," need the credits but don't want to be on stage.

------------------------------
Jodi Disario
Director of Drama
Willow Glen High School
San Jose CA
------------------------------

Scott made me think about another thing that we've done that I forgot to mention.

Since Social Studies have such a wide array of electives, our school does a thing called the 'Circus', in which all the SS teachers go around all the SS classes throughout the day and promotes their elective option to all the classes in every period. Takes about a class period; I did it during just my conference and my lunch period, but after doing that, we went from zero technical theatre students to two classes of 30, from which we gained about a dozen dedicated and able students who have stayed with the program. Having the class is vital for us, as it is where I recruit not only excellent technicians, but also actors who aren't quite ready and want a back door in to performance after they have more self-confidence. Its a longer period to wait for the pay off, but after establishing the routine, you may well have a steady stream of techies and other students flowing through the doors!

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Ruskin FL

Original Message:
Sent: 09-12-2016 07:46
From: Scott Hasbrouck
Subject: recruiting

I recruit a lot from freshmen in intro classes. Also I hit up art teachers. A great place for the creative but shy. At one time I actually recruited from kids who were bust loitering after school and clearly had no where to go after school and didn't want to go home. One of those kids went on to get a Masters in stage management and freelances in NYC today.
Basically, I have found tech kids by looking under rocks and in dark corners where disenfranchised students can be found. Someone did this for me when I was one of them in high school and I probably saved my life. It definitely gave me a place to be and developed into a career. There are those kids drawn to tech, and hopefully they will show up and become the core of your program, but I have always filled the open positions on the tech crew with any kid I could find. Actors who didn't get cast are a great resource as well. Feast or famine.

Scott Hasbrouck
George Washington HS
Denver, CO

Hi, Recruiting is such a huge part of our world. The people who try out for the musical just show up, but the techies don't! It takes some serious effort at times. At my old school we were lucky enough to have a good strong rotating crew, but the school had open houses and I would often see 2 or 3 tech kids coming to visit who were interested in coming to do tech the following year. 

BUT, each year I made it a point to open each show up to any new people who wanted to join. I would start the year with an information meeting with anyone possibly interested in joining tech crew. I would have a list of all the performances they could be part of (at that time it was a lot, 13 a year) and I would pass around a email chain sign up sheet. Any time I needed crew, I would send out an email blast to those people first, and a show sign up survey through Google.  If I felt like I needed more people, I would reach out again to the entire community, ask my current students for their friends, etc. Many times, even if their friends didn't normally do tech, they wanted to be together and as long as they worked, they were fine with me. 

Like some of the others said, its a matter of just looking everywhere and doing whatever you can do entice people. In my meetings, I would often already have some designs for the shows I could share with them, or give them some tidbits about what will be happening in some of the shows so its getting them excited early.  

Another option is to start creating tech promos. It sounds weird but I made a quick little photo montage of one of our Shrek sets from start to finish and added some music and sent it out for all to see as a sneek peek, and it seemed to work. People loved seeing what we were doing, and it at least got some interest going. 

Hope that helps!

------------------------------
Dan Mellitz
Technical Director
St Andrews School
Barrington, RI

Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2016 11:18
From: Scott Schoonover
Subject: recruiting

Hello-

I'm a first year Technical Director, at the end of last school year, my entire group of student theater technicians graduated.  Recruiting was not a high priority of my predecessor.  So, I'm starting this year out without any technicians.  What are some successful strategies/approaches to help recruit students and grow my department?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Scott Schoonover
Technical Director
Saint Louis University High School
St. Louis MO
------------------------------