Stage Management Colleges

I am a senior in high school, and I've been doing musical theater shows for about 9 years now. I love being on stage, and i love being backstage as well. At this point, I don't think I'm good enough to get into a musical theater program in college, however, i don't want to give up theater. I would be a great stage manager, but to get into a good college, you need a strong portfolio. I've only been stage manager once, and assistant stage manager twice. I've worked lights, special effects, assistant directed, but how (or should) I put that in a portfolio for college? And if so, can you give me some college names that would be good for me? Thank you!

I would argue that a college degree is very important no matter what career path you choose especially in today's job market. BWW lists some fine schools with BFA programs in Stage Management.

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Go to college even if you major in something dry like, oh, Poly Sci. It is a great place to grow up.

Also take every stage management job you can whether, PSM or ASM. Learn by doing. You can do this in educational settings, community theatre, semi-pro, pro and so on.

Do investigate university programs. But also take plenty of directing classes and psychology ones too. A good stage manager is so much more than someone who manages what happens on the stage.

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What Goth said is becoming less and less true. The market is being flooded with young stage managers with degrees. More and more internships are requiring that you be able to receive college credit for the work you do, or to be a recent grad. Because of this that college experience is becoming more and more necessary.

That being said, do not limit yourself to only BFA programs. There are many BA programs that will give you the same training, and sometimes better since your courses won't necessarily be as rigidly laid out for you, this giving you more freedom to try your hand at a bit of everything.

Look at what is important to you and what your current tastes are. If you enjoy musicals then obviously you don't want a school that rarely does them. Conversely, if you enjoy Shakespeare and the classics then you'll want to find a school that has a stronger focus on those genres.

Look at the faculty. What is their background? Do they still work professionally or are they entirely sunk into the world of academia? Does the program bring in guest directors, choreographers, designers, etc, or is it the same handful of faculty members who do everything on every production? Do they allow students to direct or design main stage productions? A good stage manager has to know how to work with many different types of people, and much of your career will eventually end up being based on who you know.

Don't worry about your portfolio not being strong enough coming out of high school. Present what you have and make sure what you have is well organized and gives the viewer a sense of who you are and what you've done so far. The good schools are looking for potential, not a finished product. For a personal example, I didn't start stage managing until my freshman year of college (my original focus was scene design). I've been working professionally for fifteen years now, and am celebrating my tenth year as a member of Equity.

I will be pursuing PCPA, located in Santa Maria, CA next fall. They are a union rep theatre, but they operate their own 2 year vocational technical theatre conservatory. The only one of its kind. It's the perfect way to train at a union theatre.

Yeah, what AEA said (as usual)!