Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2005 - 40

Practical activity is common in the classroom. Scenic, lighting, and costume design students create renderings, sketches, and models in class. Students interested
in stage management or technical direction create mock
prompt books or sample technical diagrams. However,
for students to appreciate the complexities of their disciplines they need to work in an active scene shop, participate in live rehearsals, and fully experience the artistic
collaboration process leading to a real opening night.
We believe that students learn most effectively when
in-class lectures and discussions are followed by practical
experiences. In addition, we emulate our colleagues in the
sciences by mixing things together and observing what
happens. At Susquehanna University, we treat our theatre
spaces as design and technology laboratories where artistry and skills are discovered, honed, and tested through
collaboration, demonstration, and practice.

Promising young designers who have successfully
completed the one-act festival assignment may
then be invited to serve as an assistant to the
faculty designer for a mainstage production...
The primary practical learning experience at
Susquehanna is our annual one-act play festival, during
which students demonstrate the competencies they have
acquired during classroom exercises. Because the festival features student-directed plays, participants get a
sense of working for a fledgling company entirely operated by young professionals, with minimal (but always attentive) faculty supervision. Our one-act festival is a fully
funded main stage event featuring five plays arranged in
two separate evenings of entertainment presented in repertory over a long weekend. Senior students in the
department's directing course are the festival's artistic di-

rectors. The entire festival is administered by a student
production manager selected from students interested in
theatre administration. A single scenic environment suitable for all five plays is created by a student designer in
consultation with the directors and a student lighting designer creates a lighting rep plot. A student technical director executes the scenic design and prepares
stagehands for the production. This past year we appointed one costume designer to each evening. so two
students handled costuming for all five plays. A separate
stage manager was appointed for each evening, with a
house crew serving all plays backstage.
The one-act festival often provides a capstone experience for ongoing opportunities of increasing difficulty
and responsibility. At Susquehanna University we follow
the leadership training progression that many schools
have adopted. In order to become a production stage
manager for a mainstage production or the technical director for the one-act play festival, a student must first serve as
an assistant stage manager for at least one production under
an accomplished student stage manager or work as an assistant technical director under faculty supervision. Student
stage managers may progress from less complicated studio productions to supervising large-cast classic plays
and complex musical productions, while students interested in theatre technology may serve as assistant technical directors for increasingly more complex productions.
The production manager for the one-act play festival, our
most responsible student position, coordinates scheduling,
budgets, personnel and facilities, under faculty supervision.
Promising young designers who have successfully
completed the one-act festival assignment may be invited
to serve as an assistant to the faculty designer for a
mainstage production, which may lead to supervised
mainstage design opportunities of their own. This progression allows students to first develop their own voice
as a designer before applying in a modest setting what
they have theoretically practiced in the classroom.
TD & T

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