Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2019 - 40

spots available in their musical theatre
program. With that kind of market pressure and successful alumni performing
on Broadway, are conservatories likely
to change any time soon?
I hope that conservatories-which,
in a different era, gave me a great education-will continue to evolve and embrace not only these technologies but
also new performance forms, since I
think there are good reasons to do so
from a purely artistic perspective. As
I wrote in 2002, "Whatever you may
think of the cultural impact of these
new forms of entertainment, the audience is voting with its dollars, and the
language of live-performance storytelling is now evolving fastest outside the
theatre world. These new high-tech
mega-spectaculars have taken traditional theatrical techniques, and have
morphed and augmented them into
something new." Of course, the highend mega-spectaculars like the Taylor
Swift tour have proven this point from
17 years ago, but from a theatrical perspective, cost-effective show technology trickling down has allowed even

more storytelling innovation to happen
on smaller, technologically driven productions like the amazing Say Something Bunny in New York and countless
others.
But in 2019, the conservatory is
not the only game in town, and, with
my background, if I were a technical theatre student looking for a college today, I would be considering
my options. Students can get a great
education in a number of four-year
bachelor's programs (like at City
Tech), and career-oriented associate's
degree programs around the country
can provide a great start in the industry. In addition, all kinds of in-person
and online training options are offered
by unions, institutes, manufacturers
and others.
As a passionate lover of all kinds of
live shows and a long-time advocate for
show business, I still believe, as I wrote
in 2002: "We need to bridge the worlds
of ivory-tower theatre education with the
commercial world of live entertainment
production. I believe this bridge would
be beneficial not just to the technical

JAY

O.

students, but to the whole art of performance. When high-tech systems such as
video, moving lights, computerized sound,
mechanized scenery and show control
are mastered by even average entertainment technicians, they can advance the
state of their craft, which will allow artists
to advance the state of their art."
John Huntington is a
professor of entertainment
technology at New York City
College of Technology/City
Tech, and author of Sow
Networks and Control Systems. Through
his company Zircon Designs, Huntington
freelances as an entertainment and show
control systems consultant, and sound
engineer, and is an award-winning
photographer and storm chaser. He blogs at
www.controlgeek.net

Works Cited
The Broadway League. 2019. "Statistics -
Broadway in NYC." Research & Statistics. https://
www.broadwayleague.com/research/statisticsbroadway-nyc/

G LERU M

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ENTRY * INTERMEDIATE * ADVANCED LEVEL CLASSES

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