A Practical Guide to Starting a Career in Technical Theatre: Section 8
In A Practical Guide to Starting a Career in Technical Theatre, Steve Shelley distills the methodical and tactical steps required to secure a first job and begin building a career into seven distinct "toolkits." This introduction provides a brief overview of the topics explored within this particular toolkit.
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Resources Toolkit
This section lists several useful websites encountered over the years. In my experience, these websites appear to be legitimate sources of information. That said, the Internet is very fluid. New websites, in any category, can appear on a daily basis, while a link may suddenly be a 404 dead end. When it comes to seeking information on the Internet, proactively perform new searches to seek current and up-to-date websites.
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any decisions made by anyone interacting with any of these websites. Before you take any action, perform your own due diligence.
Periodicals and Podcasts provide you with links to a number of hard copy magazines and online zines, and some number of organizations that are focused on some part of technical theatre.
Organizations and Unions list general and specialty groups associated with the live entertainment industry, followed by a selection of union websites, including both domestic and international.
Blogs and Forums and Sites includes blogs written by producers, to technical forums, along with lists for stage management, scenic artists, audio, properties, makeup, and lighting.
Links and Lists include Actor’s Equity, Costume Collection, history of Local One, Local 829, as well as general theatre crafts, and several lighting archives.
Broadway and Commercial includes links to current Broadway shows, Off-Broadway shows, as well as regional and touring productions in North America.
Business Cards, Apps, and Phone Apps includes web sites ranging from companies that produce business cards, to apps for smart phones.
Conferences and Festivals lists the higher-attended theatrical conferences and festivals in North America.
Summer Internships lists venues and organizations that include established internship programs. To our knowledge, many of these organizations provide housing, and none of them require interns to pay fees. Do your own research.
Summer Stage Information includes articles found in the New York Times that lists 15 of the larger festivals, sorted by genre. There is also a listing of professional summer theatre companies found on the cengage.com website, but we can’t vouch for its accuracy. Finally, the page also includes an old Summer Theatre Directory, last published in 2009.
College Resources, Lists, and Books includes links to college scholarships, links to schools that include technical theatre and design programs, and books that list colleges that include theatre training programs.
Contracts provides a small sampling of websites showing live stage employment contracts. This is not a well-documented topic; there’s a link to basic design contracts, basic stagehand contract, and a “comprehensive guide to theatre contracts” that provides a general overview of theatrical contracts in general.
General Jobs and Apprenticeships provides a sampling of websites showing live stage employment opportunities. Like everything else, it changes very rapidly. The best advice is to continue to periodically consult search engines, mentors, friends, and colleagues.
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A Practical Guide to Starting a Career in Technical Theatre is published by Field Template Press, and is available for purchase or download on Amazon and other fine literary websites. Visit the book’s website here:
