Student Blog: Back to School: Winter in Toronto and the Busyness of the Theatre Student

At the end of fall semester, I felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks, and whilst retreating to my small Canadian town for the winter holidays, I vowed to allow myself some serious R & R. The metaphorical bricks, realistically being assignment deadlines, lack of sleep, long days in the theatre, and a bought of Covid-19, made for a long and tiring fall semester.  This is a sentiment shared by many in my program. Taking the train home, I was so eager to sleep off the effects of the semester and gorge myself on Christmas cookies.  I, unfortunately, can be classified as a serial busy-body, causing a suspicious lack of resting in my hometown, and instead copious efforts towards working on costumes for an upcoming production that I was the head of wardrobe for.  While I definitely did enjoy my fair share of Christmas food, 80s movies with my parents, and sleeping in until 10AM, I don’t think I was truly prepared for the onslaught of work that would hit me non-stop when returning back to school.

In my second year of university, I found myself to be a begrudging Business student, and was inspired to transfer programs into the Performance Production Program, an arts degree that would allow me to “explore all facets of production design including costume, scenery, lighting, digital media, and sound while gaining hands-on experience participating in live shows and industry collaborations!” Now, two years later, I am back in second year for the second time and I am so happy with where I am at.  My current courses consist of Landmarks of Choreographic Development, Design Communication III, Production Technique IV, and Research Methods.  Most students also take an extra course or two, but as an upper year student, I had some courses that were transferred over from my previous degree.  This allows me to take a slightly lesser course load.   My courses are interesting and engaging, though some focus on aspects that I am not necessarily pursuing as a career.  Production Technique IV is currently catered towards lighting, sound, and projections, which I consider to be terribly boring. I often find myself longing for last semester, when our workload was costume and carpentry based. While I don’t think I will be lighting up a stage anytime soon, I appreciate the well roundedness that this program provides in terms of knowledge of theatre.  

The Performance Production Program at Toronto Metropolitan University is heavily taught through practical hands-on experience that is referred to as “show call.” Show call affects the average prod student’s life on the daily, and is essentially labour outside of class time.  First years are subject to 50 hours a semester, second years 150, third years 250, and I am under the impression that in fourth year there is a culture of “goodluck,” with no cap on hours.  While not everyone reaches these caps, they are in place to ensure that everyone gets at least some time of hands-on experience.  This semester, I was one of the Assistant Stage Managers for Choreographic Works, a contemporary dance show featuring original creations by 2nd and 3rd year students in the Performance Dance program. I had never ASMed before, and found myself really enjoying it! The paperwork and organisation was definitely up my alley, and while yes it was a lot of time in the theatre, I enjoyed the opportunity to bond with others working on the show. I clocked in around 70 hours with this position, something I am happy with and find to be a perfectly reasonable amount of time.  I look forward to the remainder of the semester, with no show call, and thankfully, getting home from school sometime before 10:00 PM.

I am a woman who loves extracurricular activities, and I am proud to have just finished up my stint as Head of Wardrobe for Grease the musical! That role was so new and challenging to me, and spending over 150 hours organising, leading, and sewing was a massive task. The show closed early February, and therefore the past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of theatre.  I’m also currently in the process of rehearsals for Catch Me If You Can the musical where I am in the show as well as the Head of Wardrobe for that production! Nothing like keeping the personal schedule full.

As February comes to an end, I reflect on the first few months of the semester and see how tired I am, as well as how proud I am.  Being in school for theatre is something I am so grateful for, especially as someone who started in a completely different program. Theatre is such a driving force in my life and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the semester has in store for me!

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