OnStage Blog: People with theatre degrees and those pursuing them have heard countless comments suggesting they haven’t made the right choice.
“You know you’re not going to make a lot of money, right?”
“Why don’t you get a more practical degree?”
“So you want to wait tables for the rest of your life?”
Some of these comments have come from theatre folks themselves, such as:
“Yeah, I’m going to be an actor, which means I’m going to live in a cardboard box forever.”
These perceptions towards theatre degrees are disappointing for a variety of reasons. Obviously, these sorts of comments are far from uplifting.
10 comments:
I completely agree with this article. The first thing the author points out is that negativity from both sides is not helping our community succeed. even I have looked into the future and not felt completely comfortable with the likely outcomes, but getting a degree in theatre prepares you for so much more than you even realize. I think the three skills the author points out are three of the most overlooked skills that working in the Theatre gets you. There is no better way to learn these skills than on the time crunch of a big production with everyone counting on you to perform. Like the article says, you learn that organization is key to being efficient. With the varying demands of a show, Time management is learned quickly, prioritizing that which has no other choice. To me, one of the most obvious lessons that theatre makers learn is communication. There are so many different minds that are involved in making theatre and learning how to communicate throughout is a skill that can be applied in any other situation.
This is an interesting article. I like that it supports those who choose to pursue a major in theater, but what I don't like about it is that it doesn't address more specific aspects of a theater major. I, for example, am not an actor so the skills the author associated with the interaction of others may not apply to me in the same way they would apply to an actor. Just like, how the organizational skills of a stage manager may not apply to the skills of an actor. I'm not saying this article is wrong, or that being an actor means you're disorganized, I'm just saying the purpose of this article isn't worth a whole lot besides to say that those who get a theater degree should do it because they love it.
I agree with Hannah, but I think the article was talking more broadly about the skills every theater individual needs to survive in his or her own discipline. In the example of an actor, while an actor might not need the same organization skills as a stage manger, an actor still needs to keep track of his or her responsibilities and stay on top of his or her work. Acknowledging that fact, I think the article was too broad and you could argue that almost any degree would teach someone organization, time management, and communication as those are basic skill for getting through life. The article does not address numerous other skills that apply to almost all areas of theater and can be applied to other careers. Some examples include: problem solving, viewing situations from different perspectives, thinking critically about a situation or the world around you, and critiquing your own abilities.
Usually, when people call a degree ‘useless’ what that really translates into is a degree with non-transferable skills. Because inherently a degree can’t be useless if it allows a person to succeed in that field. No one is going to look at a successful actor and call their degree useless, because that actors is using the skills they learned in their field. So when my con-descending cousin calls my theatre degree useless, what he really means is that I can’t use those skills in any other field. And obviously, I don’t think that’s true. But the reasons listed in this article are kind of basic. In theory, these are things you could learn anywhere and anytime. So here are some additional skills a theatre degree teaches you, that are sort of unique to theatre:
• A unique understanding of emotion: Especially for actors, the ability to recognize, understand, and reproduce the nuances of the physical expression of emotion.
• Physical Endurance: Heavy lifting, building, moving, dancing for hours on end each day leaves theatre majors will a particularly lasting endurance
• Techniques for Creativity: Learning how to think outside the box effectively and on the spot
• In-The-Moment Decision Making: I mean absolute, last second, there’s a problem and curtain is in two minutes decision making
• Frankenstein-ing existing practices to get the desired outcome
Throughout my senior year, I was asked what my plans were after high school more times than I could count. It was annoying at times, but I do have to acknowledge that it strengthened the part of myself that chose to pursue theatre because I knew it was the right choice for me personally, not because of the support and admiration I could garner with a more “profitable”, and therefore noble, career in our capitalist society. The skills gained when pursuing a theatrical degree extend far beyond the walls of a theatre and into life, and I think Townsend does a wonderful job picking out three that are commonly imperative across all professional fields. I enjoyed her words about the importance of communication in all sectors of your life, not just professional, but in any interaction and partnership.
This article is very interesting to me. The author decides to write about why a theatre degree is not useless and I very much think his points are valid. His points remain around valuable human skills that everyone should have but not necessarily skills that everyone does have. The part that I find most interesting though is that he starts with a bunch of comments, I and I'm sure many others have heard, that center around what I find to be one of the biggest problems we have today. The comments show a mindset. This mindset is oriented around making money and has a core of negativity to it. The author responds to this mindset and tries to justify why a theatre degree is not useless and tries to justify it to a mindset that is surrounded by corrupted thoughts. I think that was the wrong move; I believe the author at that point should have brought light to what theatre is about and why it’s a good degree to have. Theatre isn't about making money necessarily but about creating a very good story or piece to invoke emotions in the audience and bring the audience through a journey - to bring the audience through a Catharsis. Should there be no "theatre people" out there, then there are not any emotions being purged from people and things, I think, could be a whole lot worse. The other part to having a theatre degree is that people who want to get them, get them because they enjoy theatre and want to enjoy their job. This cannot really be said for the majority of people with that mindset in my personal opinion as based on my own interactions with people who believe theatre is not a good degree. So, the author, I think, should have pointed out what’s wrong with that mindset and why theatre is actually way more important than most realize.
It is soothing to hear from this author that the skills we learn as theater majors could benefit us in other jobs. However, I have some problems with the depth that this article goes into. First, I believe that most majors or career choices won't fail to teach anyone about time management, conversational, and organizational skills. Those three things are necessary in general to hold any kind of job. I think this author explaining these things as benefits to the program are true but also provide false hope. Most who go into theater do it because they love theater. I'd like to believe that a good number of these people are also aware of the difficulties that can be brought on by theater including the lack of pay for the extent of hard work. So when I say I believe the author is installing false hope, it's because one who goes into theater thinking that it'll be okay because of the skills they learn that could apply to any job will not be committed enough to one specific job, in this case being an actor, technician, director, etc.
I visited my grandmother this summer. I was talking to her about school and classes when the fact that I took welding last semester came up. Her response was “At least you’ll have some hard skills to fall back on if the theater thing doesn’t work out.” So, it’s nice to see articles that complement that view of my degree and life choices. It is very true that many of the skills we learn are applicable to other industries. CMU drives in the values of organization, time management, communication, time management, hard work, and time management. By no means are we locked into theater for life. We will have opportunities in other careers. But we will also have opportunities in theater. The author of this article assumes that we will not make it in the industry of our choice. While the title might sound like it says everything we want our relatives to say, it really doesn’t. Everyone at CMU will be able to work in the entertainment industry. Our degrees are far from worthless and provide much greater benefits than a few good soft skills.
I definitely think this article makes very valid points in stating how a theatre degree can be beneficial in other fields outside of theatre, however I think most majors people go into require at least some form of understanding how to communicate, effectively manage time, and be organized. Theatre at it's basic does further emphasize these "vital skills" and it's encouraging to hear another voice say it. Carnegie Mellon at it's core being instills these values in us- which even in week 1 I can see. The school encourages the idea that you can get work done and you will get work done in a timely, effective manner while staying organized and communicating any issues with your professors. I would venture to say that we truly can get work in theatre (or a vast range of other fields if we so please) from the skills we learn with our "impractical theatre degree".
Years ago, I was told by a college TD that I had no talent and would never make it in theatre. That I didn’t possess the skills necessary to be an artist that would make a name for myself. I am now currently enrolled in an MFA program at one of the country’s best institutions for Drama. While interesting, the article falls dramatically short in the skills learned by pursuing a degree in theatre. I am not a draftsman. The last two years that I spent as a TD, I didn’t need that skill. My degree will teach me drafting and provide me with tools, tips, and tricks that others have learned over the years and this will enable me to become a draftsman. It will allow this in a controlled setting and if I have questions, I have resources to go to. Yes, indeed our program teaches time management, organization, and other skills needed in life, but it also allows for the exchange of dialogue, teamwork and collaboration, and disappointment and how to deal with disappointment. It allows the flow of ideas and new perspectives. Above all else, a degree in theatre, especially technical theatre, teaches such a range of skills that a person can then take out into the real world.
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