Year 2: A Review
While my freshman year at CCM taught me an astounding amount of information about the basics of theatre design and production, my second year gave me a thorough introduction to the more specific fields of prop making and scenic art. Because my major is a “BFA in Theatre Design and Production with a Concentration in Stage Design, Properties, and Scenic Art,” each year focuses on an area of theatre and becomes more specific to what I actually want to do as a career. When I entered my second year, I had just come out of a summer working as a properties artisan at a less-than-professional company and was ready to learn how to do things “the CCM way.” Because I had never taken an art class prior to entering college, I wasn’t confident in my painting skills and was very nervous about taking a class devoted to painting for the stage. The professor of the class, to my confusion, was overjoyed at my lack of experience, which I later found out allowed him to mold me to learn his approaches to and thought processes regarding scenic painting. Some of my classmates struggled with giving up their personal techniques, and I’m actually glad to have been such a clean slate. The techniques I learned in the class have helped me to become a noteworthy scenic artist at the company I currently work at.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the most important connection I made this year, which was with my new department advisor. My freshman year, I had a different advisor who had bigger problems to worry about than answering some freshman’s scheduling questions. I felt like I was bothering him to ask questions and forgotten about and learned to make my own way in regards to scheduling and summer job applications, which went as well as can be expected. When I arrived in town to start my second year, I realized I had been moved to another advisor. I never realized how impactful it would be to have an advisor who takes the time to care about his students and understand the issues we face in one of the more challenging years of the program.
Going into my third year, I would like to tell myself to remember not to overload myself. I took on a lot of responsibility and extra work my second year, and though my resume and portfolio benefitted from my maxed-out schedule, personally I was a bit of a wreck. The third year is when students in my major start taking design classes, and while I am very excited for all the possibilities this year could hold, I need to remember that it’s better to do fewer things very well (and keep my sanity) than to try to take as many classes as possible combined with as many CCM production assignments as possible combined with as much outside work as possible. If you wait to sleep until you’re dead, odds are you probably aren’t going to have a very good time.
My second year has solidified my career goal of becoming a New York-based scenic designer. After talking to alumni who are already out there doing it, I realized that I would love to create art in the theatre capital of the world. This realization has inspired me to apply for only design-based jobs for the rest of my time in school, and to work hard in school to increase my chances of getting one of these rare jobs.
Even after completing half my time at the University of Cincinnati, I’m still excited to go back for my third year, and to experience all the excitement and spectacle that constantly flow through the College-Conservatory of Music.
