Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Pulling back the curtain on performance spaces
needhamobserver.com: If you’ve ever seen one of the Broadway-caliber shows put on by Needham High School students, you would never guess that behind the scenes, the quality and management of the performance spaces in town is sorely lacking.
I think that there is an incredible amount of nuance to the construction of performing arts facilities for schools, and this article made me think through a lot of those issues. I have been in a surprising number of high-school auditoriums and seen a lot more through pictures online. It seems to me that there are a lot of schools that are pushing to the extreme limits of their resources and facilities, but there are other schools that have far more resources than they can possibly use, and end up having a lot of very expensive waste. I think that it is important for schools to reasonably allocate funds for the performing arts. While funding for the performing arts is very important and can lead to student’s creative outlet and career opportunities, schools have a wide range of issues which could always use more money. One thought that I have is that good staff members are far more important than fancy equipment. My high school had a fairly small budget for productions and dated equipment, but we had many part time teachers who were all involved in the industry and could share real insight into actual productions and what it was like working in the overall industry.
This was a wild article to read! I know that most school theatre programs and community theatre programs don’t always do everything the absolute most safe way and might decide to not follow the highest of safety standards, but this is just wild. I do not understand how anyone allowed everything to completely fall to ruin and become such an unsafe environment for all of the performers, crew, and creative team. I am so glad that this was brought to the community's attention and that corrective action is being taken. Overall, I am glad that they are getting the funding they need in order to fix and repair that damage and dangerous circumstances. I also hope that they can find a good technical director that will be able to problem solve the current situation and decide an order of priority of what needs to be done first in order to create a safe working environment.
Highschool theatres I think are just notorious for suspicious building practices, workarounds, and cutting corners. I think it’s funny the article addresses this highschool like it’s dire work standards need professional aid–which it does–but it also just sounds like an average highschool theatre operation. In a magical fairy world every highschool theatre program would have a full-time technical director but the professional industry is already kind of short staffed in that regard alone. In retrospect to my personal experience in high school theatre and stories from my classmates here it’s a wonder none of us died. Cat walks without all the required OSHA pipes, rigging masonite with yarn, duct taping things that should not be ductaped, and inhaling dangerous substances such as E-6000 seem to just be universal health violations high school theatre goers encounter. It’s like a glorified right of passage to have stacked a ladder on a chair on a platform to hammer something into a wall supported by a crooked L bracket and dreams.
It is always saddening to see programs that have so much talent but fall below the curve because of the lack of good quality tech. I grew up in a school that struggled with a lot of the same problems as Needham did. The shows were not of the same caliber but they could be improved with better set, lighting, costumes and a stage. Unfortunately, my school for a long time had trouble getting access to a stage. Typically they were forced to spend a lot of their budget for a show just to rent a space to perform in. While things have changed in recent years there is still a struggle, and I have seen it in many other schools that my friends attend and even in the many community theatres around my area. It is sad to see that what seems to be a national shortage of technicians affects the quality of shows that are able to be put on, and it is even sadder to see that all of these theatres main problem is a lack of funding. It is such a shame that the arts are so criminally underfunded everywhere and go so unappreciated for the beautiful things that they are.
Personally, growing up I have always loved Sondheim, he truly was a musical genius. I do not think I have seen or listened to a musical by him that I have not enjoyed. As a musician and an avid music enthusiast I especially love the complexities of his scores especially in musicals like Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd. While the musician part of me hates that he wrote Into the Woods mainly in 12/8 just because it is annoying to count, I really do appreciate the complexity of the score as a whole. So, working in 12/8 is well worth it. I do think it is interesting that Sondheim seems to have all the sudden gotten super popular, but I suppose that is the way the world works. Unfortunately, many artists throughout history have not been recognized as the genesis they are until they have passed on.
5 comments:
I think that there is an incredible amount of nuance to the construction of performing arts facilities for schools, and this article made me think through a lot of those issues. I have been in a surprising number of high-school auditoriums and seen a lot more through pictures online. It seems to me that there are a lot of schools that are pushing to the extreme limits of their resources and facilities, but there are other schools that have far more resources than they can possibly use, and end up having a lot of very expensive waste. I think that it is important for schools to reasonably allocate funds for the performing arts. While funding for the performing arts is very important and can lead to student’s creative outlet and career opportunities, schools have a wide range of issues which could always use more money. One thought that I have is that good staff members are far more important than fancy equipment. My high school had a fairly small budget for productions and dated equipment, but we had many part time teachers who were all involved in the industry and could share real insight into actual productions and what it was like working in the overall industry.
This was a wild article to read! I know that most school theatre programs and community theatre programs don’t always do everything the absolute most safe way and might decide to not follow the highest of safety standards, but this is just wild. I do not understand how anyone allowed everything to completely fall to ruin and become such an unsafe environment for all of the performers, crew, and creative team. I am so glad that this was brought to the community's attention and that corrective action is being taken. Overall, I am glad that they are getting the funding they need in order to fix and repair that damage and dangerous circumstances. I also hope that they can find a good technical director that will be able to problem solve the current situation and decide an order of priority of what needs to be done first in order to create a safe working environment.
Highschool theatres I think are just notorious for suspicious building practices, workarounds, and cutting corners. I think it’s funny the article addresses this highschool like it’s dire work standards need professional aid–which it does–but it also just sounds like an average highschool theatre operation. In a magical fairy world every highschool theatre program would have a full-time technical director but the professional industry is already kind of short staffed in that regard alone. In retrospect to my personal experience in high school theatre and stories from my classmates here it’s a wonder none of us died. Cat walks without all the required OSHA pipes, rigging masonite with yarn, duct taping things that should not be ductaped, and inhaling dangerous substances such as E-6000 seem to just be universal health violations high school theatre goers encounter. It’s like a glorified right of passage to have stacked a ladder on a chair on a platform to hammer something into a wall supported by a crooked L bracket and dreams.
It is always saddening to see programs that have so much talent but fall below the curve because of the lack of good quality tech. I grew up in a school that struggled with a lot of the same problems as Needham did. The shows were not of the same caliber but they could be improved with better set, lighting, costumes and a stage. Unfortunately, my school for a long time had trouble getting access to a stage. Typically they were forced to spend a lot of their budget for a show just to rent a space to perform in. While things have changed in recent years there is still a struggle, and I have seen it in many other schools that my friends attend and even in the many community theatres around my area. It is sad to see that what seems to be a national shortage of technicians affects the quality of shows that are able to be put on, and it is even sadder to see that all of these theatres main problem is a lack of funding. It is such a shame that the arts are so criminally underfunded everywhere and go so unappreciated for the beautiful things that they are.
Personally, growing up I have always loved Sondheim, he truly was a musical genius. I do not think I have seen or listened to a musical by him that I have not enjoyed. As a musician and an avid music enthusiast I especially love the complexities of his scores especially in musicals like Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd. While the musician part of me hates that he wrote Into the Woods mainly in 12/8 just because it is annoying to count, I really do appreciate the complexity of the score as a whole. So, working in 12/8 is well worth it. I do think it is interesting that Sondheim seems to have all the sudden gotten super popular, but I suppose that is the way the world works. Unfortunately, many artists throughout history have not been recognized as the genesis they are until they have passed on.
Post a Comment