So. Now that I have left ESU. Some thoughts I want to share.
Now first of first, I enjoyed my time at Emporia. I'm glad I went there. Thankful for the time and opportunities I received. The people were great, the productions were great.
Things I'm glad to have left behind.
Attitudes. Emporia is a generalist program, which means, they teach you in all aspects of theatre. They TEACH you in all aspects of theatre, doesn't mean you have to DO every aspect of theatre. Sure, take the first couple of years to get a feel for things, it isn't uncommon for a few actors to decide they like designing after being taught, and vice versa, in which there is nothing wrong with that. We are taught all of this if anything to have a respect for one another. The bare minimum is to have the knowledge of what each other does (actors and technicians) and the most to get respect for one another. That statement about respecting each other, is usually for the most part directed to the actors.
What I debated saying at Curtain Call as my senior speech but decided not to was this.
"One cannot survive without the other. No matter how beautiful the sets, the lights, the costumes, if an actor is up on the stage sucking majorly, obviously didn't do their research, lines not memorized, no one gives a shit what the designers have done. This is also applied the other way around, an actor could be giving the performance of his/her life. But if the design team isn't cohesive to what the actor is doing, they could care less to what the actor is saying."
It bothers me A LOT.
At my time at Emporia I was called pretentious, rude, stuck up, a diva, stupid, among several other things. Not once, did I call a technician or designer that. I respected the work put into the show, and most cases thanked them for their work.
Yes, I am an actor. That is what I wanted to focus on. I did the bare minimum for the technician side. Meaning, I did the practicum's, I took and passed all my classes devoted towards the technical side of theatre. Guess what, technicians did the exact same thing when it comes to the acting side. If a person is a self-declared technician, they have to take two acting classes and audition twice. I had to take stage lighting, intro to design, costume design, scenic design, stage costuming, and directing along with 42 hours in the scenic shop and 42 hours in the costuming shop. Yes I bitched about it, but no more than when people had to audition when they didn't want to. I passed my classes. I will admit, there is NO WAY I put in 42 hours in the scenic shop. Several times I showed up and was sent home and just told to take the hours. I probably put in half the hours in reality.
What the point is, it's so easy for technical people to bitch about actors, when one cannot survive without the other.
Case closed.
Discuss. PLEASE.
As s person who acted a LOT in undergrad, but is getting a masters in technical theater, I would say that we get our fair share of bitching out as well, particularly those of us who work closely with the actors such as costumes and make-up. I have been called petty, I have been called a terrible designer, I have been cussed out, I have had people show up unshowered and smelling horrible even though the makeup people are required here to rinse their mouth and smell nice for the actors. I have had people almost vomit in my chair and still I have treated them with respect. I have even had people wipe off my work and make me re-do it. The most common form of disrespect is actors showing up late. My time is just as valuable as their's, and at CCM makeup is the first to arrive for the show and the last to leave EVERY night. When an actor show's up late, and we go over our allotted time for that actor, we get in serious trouble whether they showed up late or not. Yes, there are more requirements for technical theater at Emporia, but the real world is there are also more JOBS in technical theater and more different skills to learn than there is for acting. They are just trying to prepare you for the theater world as a whole. Yes, I have called actors divas, but if you can't be respectful to the person who washes your underwear or puts make-up on your unwashed feet every night, then that is exactly what you are. I don't think you are a diva, my friend, but some people are, just as some technicians are a real pain in the ass, but that's a whole other comment....
ReplyDeleteNothing like stage managing puts all my work I've ever done into perspective! When I'm acting - I tend to side with the actors view points. When I'm stage managing - I have a hard time with actors. I find the actors to be more oblivious to the whole process, but attribute that to the fact that all the actors I've worked with while stage managing were students and all the designers, directors and shop heads are faculty. Several times when I was acting in this last show I would catch myself breaking my own SM pet-peeves. What I also like about SMing is that while I think you could probably pull a lot of parallels to directing Dyl, the big difference is that I don't have a vision for the show. I don't get any blinders by having directors' or designers' or actors' vision. I am simply there to keep everyone organized. I agree with both you and Tricia - I htink a common courtesy and respect for one another and the realization that we are all working on the same project is what is important to keep in mind. I think I have a fairly good grasp on that, my problem now is not judging others for not having it. That is something I am struggling with right now - I am attributing some of instinctive perfectionism and Senioritus to that as well... I have an opportunity to figure that out this next year in my new job and will constantly be working on that goal...
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