[SML] Aggregate hours for majors?

[Pat Kight]

The needs and reality of the educational institution, which is often 
trying to put on shows without trained/dedicated/dare-I-say union stage 
crews, rarely match the needs and reality of the industry. And there's 
something to be said for exposing aspiring actors to what it takes to do 
all the things that allow them to them shine on stage. If nothing else, 
it should make them more appreciative of the crews they work with on the 
off chance they wind up on the professional stage.

-- 
Pat Kight
kightp at peak.org

Richard Niederberg via Stagecraft wrote:
> You may give students a fuller education so they can be a Jack or Jill 
> of many theatre trades, but a master of none, which may be OK for your 
> school. Conscription may not be the best way to develop employable 
> specialists, though.
> /s/ Richard
> _________
>
> On Sun, Dec 20, 2015 at 2:14 PM, Blackfaer via Stagecraft 
> <stagecraft at theatrical.net <mailto:stagecraft at theatrical.net>> wrote:
>
>     Have you considered a longer term strategy that if you don't show
>     up to load in and strike you don't get cast in the next several
>     shows? That was my alma mater's rule and so far as I know everyone
>     was always at every strike...
>     >
>     > The biggest problem that I see (with this facet) is that we
>     don’t have buy-in from the majors that they need to be helping on
>     the tech.  I had required load-in put in the “contracts” of those
>     cast in the current show and about a third showed up (most of whom
>     are in my Stagecraft class and they knew they would have grade
>     issues if they didn't).
>     >
>     > I know that I’m doing both them and myself a disservice by
>     putting up the set myself because then they learn that if they
>     don’t show up, the shoemaker’s elves will do it, so I’m thinking
>     about making a policy that if I don’t have at least two students
>     at a work call, the work call is cancelled, and they get the set
>     (and lights) that they earn.  But, as our department is struggling
>     to gain recognition on campus, I think that would hurt the greater
>     cause and the students who actually show up.
>