Savannah College of Art and Design is one school that offers intensive training in lighting design sans university affiliation. Here students perform a scene from Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.

As chair of a mentor project sponsored by USITT— which pairs students and young professionals with professional educators or designers—I get a lot of calls, faxes and e-mail from students wanting guidance on the direction their training should take. There are so many choices for students to make—especially when they don’t quite know yet which genre of lighting design (e.g., theater, film, TV, theme parks, etc.) they wish to study.

If you have your heart set on design, you should weigh several factors, the first of which is the faculty at the institution you’re considering. They are the key. An exceptional new theater facility doesn’t “teach” you design; great designers, who also teach, do. But the real choice students must ponder at this stage of researching and applying to schools is to find out which style of program will best serve your needs.

University Theater Design Programs
My own MFA is from the department of theater, film & television at UCLA, which was ahead of its time back in the 1960s because it did not require a thesis, as Yale, for instance, did. Rather, you had to pass a board review of your realized design work. Today, many fine programs are inextricably entwined with large universities. However, the academic curriculum imposed by these same schools may not be the correct place for some design students to study their craft. Very often these undergraduate college programs do not leave much room for design courses beyond a couple of electives. And in many universities, you’ll find that the real nuts-and-bolts design courses are reserved for the graduate program.

Professional Training Programs
An alternative training method is what is commonly referred to as “professional training.” Although many professional programs are affiliated with universities, most are run out of institutions that are specifically geared to intensive training in music, art or theater. Examples would be California Institute for the Arts, North Carolina School of the Arts, The Parsons School of Design or The Savannah College of Art. These schools do not impose the general educational requirements of a normal undergraduate program. While such courses may be available in a school that is associated with it, the emphasis here is on full-scale immersion in a specific field of study, be it music, art or theater.

A scene from PCPA’s summer 1999 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream shows an imaginative lighting scheme.

Many of these programs are attached to professional acting or production companies where the students work closely with professionals, frequently participating in productions alongside them. In a program like this, students are not required to write a thesis. Self-starters who possess a lot of drive, dedication and talent thrive in these types of pressure cooker settings.

One excellent benefit that students derive from these types of programs is that they often invariably pave the way for students to make that bridge into the professional world. The drawback is that some of these professionally trained designers do not possess the same level of communication skills, both oral and written, as their college-trained counterparts.

Conservatory Programs
Often when we think of a program like this we think of the Juilliard School of Music. There are similar prototypes founded on the same principles for art and theater, but that style of program is more commonly found in England and elsewhere around Europe. The Goodman School, which is now part of Chicago’s DePaul University (see SD August 2000), is another such program. One rather unique program is a two-year professional training course run by a junior college—Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California—called The Pacific Coast Performing Arts (PCPA). They do seven productions a year with full student interaction with professional actors and designers.

Other Alternatives
And yes, there are other ways for you to get your education. Many LORT theater companies have internship programs. There are also quite a few I.A.T.S.E. locals that conduct such programs for stagehand training as well. They don’t normally lead to a degree, but offer an invaluable resource: on-the-job training, where fledgling designers work side by side every day with a professional, learning by doing until they eventually make that jump to journeyman status. For some, this can even be a good preliminary taste of formal college training.

PCPA’s resident lighting director/designer Angeline Summers (standing right) observes her conservatory students at work in class.

Be advised though: Your formal training, be it at a university, a professional training program, a conservatory or an internship, is only as good as what you take from it. Learning to be a designer takes many years beyond your formal education. Your next stop is to find that designer/mentor who will take you under their wing and teach you what they do.

Students who are contemplating which option they should select are urged to choose carefully. Review the faculty’s professional credentials. What do graduating students say about their teaching skills? Make sure you go armed with the facts and background of the program.

Everyone has individual needs, and not one program works for everyone. When researching possible training programs, do your homework harder here then you ever did in high school. The decision you make will almost surely have a direct effect on your future. But once in a program, give it your all. It is ultimately up to your own energy, desire and commitment.