Stage Management Concentration
Students interested in concentrating in stage management start in their freshman year. Stage management students take fewer courses in design and technology and take additional classes in acting, dance, and music. Good stage managers need to have exceptional organizational and communication skills. Stage managers at WSU are an integral part of the director's process with the production. Stage managers assist the director in the coordination of rehearsals; serve as the main liason between the directors, actors, designers, and shops; and are responsible for the successful run of the production.
Students in the stage management concentration are given assignments as assistant stage managers in the freshman year. During the sophomore year, students may be assigned as stage managers to studio productions or simpler mainstage productions. By the junior year, students must be capable of stage managing large scale mainstage productions and musicals. Especially qualified students are encouraged to take an internship at a professional theatre such as the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
Well-trained stage managers will find career opportunities in the fields of regional theatre, Broadway, ballet, opera, contract scenic studios and costume houses, and motion picture production companies. Graduates under the current design/technology curriculum have a more than 90 percent placement rate in theatres or other arts organizations, including Nickelodeon Television, Cirque de Soliel, Blue Man Group, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Guthrie Theatre, Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Goodspeed Opera, Alley Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Walt Disney World, Vincent Lighting, and the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.
Last updated August 13, 2009
