My first experiences were through a combination of college and summerstock.  I had experience at the high school level as well, but I’m not counting that.  Why?  I don’t think that helped me actually land my first job past the inspiration it gave me to pursue further education.  Perhaps I’m selling my high school experience short.

College provided me with plenty of real positions on real shows.  I was a Master Carpenter, then an Assistant Technical Director, then a Technical Director, an Assistant Designer to a professor, and finally I had the experience of designing three realized shows before graduating.  On top of that, through class work I learned all the theories behind processes, so even when I hadn’t had physical experience with a particular thing, I was able to combine theory with similar situations I had confronted in real life application and still be successful. 

My experience with carpentry in the educational world along with great letters of recommendation from teachers allowed me to be hired as a Carpenter at a summerstock immediately after my freshman year.  My performance during that first year allowed me to move up to Assistant Technical Director the following year, and when my interests broadened to painting, the same summerstock hired me as a painter.  I can trace the landing of my first charge artist gig directly to my experience painting at this summerstock. 

By the time I graduated from my undergrad, I could have worked just about anywhere I was interested in working because I had both great educational experience, and intense summerstock success to validate that education.  I chose grad school, which only increased value as a potential employee.

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