Behind the Scenes: Stage Management

Behind the Scenes: Stage Management

The stage manager is the ultimate communicator, diplomat, and problem solver in the theatre. They must ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible throughout the entire production process, and once a show opens, they are charged with “maintaining its artistic integrity.” Yet the audience never sees these very important individuals. Discover what stage management is about, find out about the numerous tasks they are charged with before and during a show, and understand why a play or musical cannot go on without them.

Experience will include:

An inside look at the role that stage managers play in the creation of a Broadway show.
A consideration of a stage manager’s duties throughout the run of a show.
Tips on how to pursue a career in Stage Management
Q&A with a Stage Manager

Seminar length: 1 hour

Behind the Scenes: Make-up Design

What does it take to subtly age an actor a few years for a specific stage role, to create fantastical, otherworldly characters or to define a time period and the various classes who comprised a specific culture? Make-up design is one very important and effective element that enables the theatre to be magical. Proper make-up design and application can define character, create a new world, and offer commentary on a theme. Talk and work with a top make-up designer and learn secrets and tips for successful make-up techniques that will enhance a performance or an audition.

Experience will include:

Ways make-up designers use make-up to create different characters
How to involve oneself in make-up design and make it a career
Q&A with a Broadway make-up designer or associate

Seminar length: 1 hour

Behind the Scenes: Costume Design

Costumes define character, story, relationships, time period and much more. If you’re interested in fashion, enjoy the possibilities that fabric offers, and love to analyze characters and define them by what they wear, you may be the right candidate for this seminar focusing on costume design. Learn how costumes are designed and created for a Broadway show, what costume designers need to know and be able to do, and how one can build a career in costume design. Meet with a top NYC costume designer and learn about various facets of the job, including how to create effective costume renderings, develop a costume plot, and anticipate and tackle to ever-elusive “quick change.”

Experience will include:

How one creates costumes for a new Broadway show
How to build a career in costume design
Q&A with a Broadway costume designer or associate

Seminar length: 1 hour

Behind the Scenes: Set Design

Effective set design may include complex, high tech elements working together in synchronization to create awe-inspiring effects, or it can be as simple as an evocative and stylized mound of earth and a tree, created to capture the essence of a show. A successful set design facilitates the unfolding of the events of a performance, helps define the vision of the director, and underpins the themes, moods, and emotions of a play or musical. Each theatrical set has the same basic goal – to pull the audience deeper into and connect them to the characters, events, and story. In this seminar, you will have access to an insider’s experience of what is involved in the process of designing a set for a show, creating and working with a budget, and moving a set into a theater.

Experience will include:

Set design for a Broadway show
How to pursue a career as a set designer
Q&A with a Broadway set designer or associate

Seminar length: 1 hour

Behind the Scenes: Lighting Design

Lighting design involves the creative combination of technique, artistry, skill, and technology. A topnotch lighting designer can illuminate a show’s mood, ambience, and emotion, define and refine the vision of the director, and focus the plot of a show. In the theatre, the process of creating effective lighting is complex and process oriented. Take advantage of the opportunity to talk with a Broadway lighting designer to learn how the power of light is used in the theatre, and what you need to do to make a light board, instruments, and electric components work for you.

Experience will include:

Methods of lighting design and use of the lighting board
How to pursue a career in lighting design
Q&A with a Broadway lighting designer or associate

Seminar length: 1 hour