Hello!
I'm so glad you can join us on our quest to level-up support and funding for high school theatres!
I'm Beth Rand - that's me in the photo above with some of my former students. I'm the one on stage left! - and here's my story...
I'm so glad you can join us on our quest to level-up support and funding for high school theatres!
I'm Beth Rand - that's me in the photo above with some of my former students. I'm the one on stage left! - and here's my story...
ACT I
I began working in educational tech theatre in my own 950-seat high school theatre, back in the day. And when I say 'back in the day', one of my jobs was to continually move the carbons close enough together as they burned in the carbon-arc projector. And, it took at least three or four people to run our light board - it was a huge dead-front board and it took up the whole proscenium wall back stage right. We would each be assigned a lever or two - sometimes three if we were short of crew - (two hands, one foot!). That was when I got a feel for what light really 'does' - no pushing buttons on computer boards for us!
It was also when I got my first taste of how a high school theatre should be managed. The school was ahead of its time. We had a professional Theatre Manager, two professional technicians, and a paid student stage crew. The theatre department and music department used the theatre for their performances, but it was also rented out to the community, for everything from ski films (cue the carbon arcs!) to full length operas. The theatre had a full fly system, and we learned about theatre safety!
INTERMISSION
I went to university and got my bachelors in Stage Lighting.
I raised three awesome kids!
I went back to university and earned my Teaching Certificate.
I went back to university - again - and got my masters in Entertainment Business (sort of an MBA for the entertainment industry)
For several years - scattered within this time - I worked in construction management, property management, and as an architectural lighting designer.
All the while, I was designing lights whenever I could fit in a show, including a stint as a Resident Lighting Designer for 5 years, as well as consulting on the construction and/or equipment upgrade of several school theatres.
ACT II
In 1997 I started working in educational technical theatre at our local schools. I've now worked in over 26 theatres; professional, university, but mostly high school theatres. For many years I freelanced as a Lighting Designer for over 100 plays and musicals.
Then in 2010 I began my career as a High School Theatre Manager. I continued that for eight years.
It was while I was a Theatre Manager that I discovered just how little support and funding there was for high school theatres. All of the schools I worked in had build multi-million dollar performing arts centers, and had given little thought to staffing them, or even safely operating them.
Enter Beth stage right!
ACT III
In the eight years I was a Theatre Manager - for four different high school theatres (four and five years concurrently, two years, one year) - I spent my time reforming the theatre operations, based on what I had experienced in my own high school; introducing staffing models, scheduling procedures, administrative systems, financials, event management processes, even branding methods, as well as - the reason we're all here - educational programs, and most importantly safety protocols (I strongly believe that without safety, nothing should happen in a theatre - reality is, sadly, another thing).
So frustrated was I with the way that high school theatres around the country were being run - or, rather, not run - that I wrote a book!
It was then I realized I could also develop a course from that book, and instead of trying to reform the handful of theatres within my grasp, I could teach other's to do the same! And here you are!
AND... CURTAIN
But, wait. Hold! Come back stage with me. Work with me on my life's quest to level up support and funding for school theatres! Take the TMT course with a cohort of your peers from across the country (and even the world!) - or do the tutorials independently if you can't commit to ten weeks in row - and use what you learned to level up the operations in your own school theatre. But don't stop there, let others know about the TMT course too! Together we can create widespread awareness of what it takes to run a school theatre! We can make what we know to be right, the new standard in educational technical theatre and school theatre operations!
I began working in educational tech theatre in my own 950-seat high school theatre, back in the day. And when I say 'back in the day', one of my jobs was to continually move the carbons close enough together as they burned in the carbon-arc projector. And, it took at least three or four people to run our light board - it was a huge dead-front board and it took up the whole proscenium wall back stage right. We would each be assigned a lever or two - sometimes three if we were short of crew - (two hands, one foot!). That was when I got a feel for what light really 'does' - no pushing buttons on computer boards for us!
It was also when I got my first taste of how a high school theatre should be managed. The school was ahead of its time. We had a professional Theatre Manager, two professional technicians, and a paid student stage crew. The theatre department and music department used the theatre for their performances, but it was also rented out to the community, for everything from ski films (cue the carbon arcs!) to full length operas. The theatre had a full fly system, and we learned about theatre safety!
INTERMISSION
I went to university and got my bachelors in Stage Lighting.
I raised three awesome kids!
I went back to university and earned my Teaching Certificate.
I went back to university - again - and got my masters in Entertainment Business (sort of an MBA for the entertainment industry)
For several years - scattered within this time - I worked in construction management, property management, and as an architectural lighting designer.
All the while, I was designing lights whenever I could fit in a show, including a stint as a Resident Lighting Designer for 5 years, as well as consulting on the construction and/or equipment upgrade of several school theatres.
ACT II
In 1997 I started working in educational technical theatre at our local schools. I've now worked in over 26 theatres; professional, university, but mostly high school theatres. For many years I freelanced as a Lighting Designer for over 100 plays and musicals.
Then in 2010 I began my career as a High School Theatre Manager. I continued that for eight years.
It was while I was a Theatre Manager that I discovered just how little support and funding there was for high school theatres. All of the schools I worked in had build multi-million dollar performing arts centers, and had given little thought to staffing them, or even safely operating them.
Enter Beth stage right!
ACT III
In the eight years I was a Theatre Manager - for four different high school theatres (four and five years concurrently, two years, one year) - I spent my time reforming the theatre operations, based on what I had experienced in my own high school; introducing staffing models, scheduling procedures, administrative systems, financials, event management processes, even branding methods, as well as - the reason we're all here - educational programs, and most importantly safety protocols (I strongly believe that without safety, nothing should happen in a theatre - reality is, sadly, another thing).
So frustrated was I with the way that high school theatres around the country were being run - or, rather, not run - that I wrote a book!
It was then I realized I could also develop a course from that book, and instead of trying to reform the handful of theatres within my grasp, I could teach other's to do the same! And here you are!
AND... CURTAIN
But, wait. Hold! Come back stage with me. Work with me on my life's quest to level up support and funding for school theatres! Take the TMT course with a cohort of your peers from across the country (and even the world!) - or do the tutorials independently if you can't commit to ten weeks in row - and use what you learned to level up the operations in your own school theatre. But don't stop there, let others know about the TMT course too! Together we can create widespread awareness of what it takes to run a school theatre! We can make what we know to be right, the new standard in educational technical theatre and school theatre operations!