Emily is a BA in Arts Applications, is greatly involved in the arts on campus, and recently attended the Southeastern Theater Conference. Here is her account:
On March 3, 2010, I made my way along with over four thousand other students, professors, professionals and presenters through winter storm conditions to Lexington, Kentucky for the 61st annual Southeastern Theatre Conference. Being that the only other theatre conference I’d attended had only a few hundred total participants, and that this time, I was alone, I was understandably nervous. That nervousness increased Wednesday evening as I sat down in one of the early workshops, a resume review. Peeking over at the resume of the girl next to me, I saw that not only had she been the costume designer for several small professional shows, but though she had not yet completed her undergraduate degree, she was also already accepted into a prestigious post-graduate program in costume design. I started to feel that I was in over my head—NC State doesn’t even have a theatre major!
That fear was shortly assuaged once we broke into smaller groups for one-on-one resume reviews. True, there were many attendees whose experience levels towered over mine, but there were many others who, like me, came from smaller theatre programs, or who simply did not have the opportunities afforded art school students. The folks I met in that small group review were also the ones I ended up hanging out with at different events throughout the conference.
The next morning, the conference truly began. The third floor was packed with my peers in professional dress, carrying portfolios and prompt books, waiting in a winding line that filled an entire lobby until the doors opened to the Job Contact Service offstage job fair. JCS serves as a way for theatre companies to find technicians, and it was the main reason I was there. The room itself is set up with narrow aisles bordered on both sides by booths for each of the companies and festivals. Many of the companies conduct interviews at their table, but most ask you to sign up for a scheduled interview time. My fellow technicians and I made our way around the room, but after a while, all there is to do is wait for your next interview.
When I left the job fair, I felt like I had walked into an entirely new conference. In the interim between my arrival at the convention center and when I stepped back out, hundreds of actors had filled the space. Many were chatting in small groups, while others were gesticulating their monologues, singing or stretching, preparing for their number to be called to audition. By lunchtime, the small groups were excitedly discussing from which companies they’d received callbacks.
These callbacks, along with many interviews, occurred in the rooms of the adjoining hotels. Exiting the elevator to the fifth floor of the Hyatt, I was greeted by the sight of actors every few rooms down, all waiting for their scheduled callbacks. They were looking for jobs just like I was, and this performance was their interview. The anticipation in the air was palpable. When I left that interview, the girl waiting in front of the adjacent room, a complete stranger, asked, “How’d it go?” I told her that I thought it went pretty well, that I hoped my good energy transferred to her and to break a leg. Maybe it’s because SETC is a theatre conference, or maybe just because we’re all part of a similar experience, but everyone there shared that conviviality, striking up conversations where there would normally be awkward silence—in elevators, waiting in lines, between tables in the food court.
By the time Friday rolled around, I finally got to attend some of the amazing workshops and see the work submitted by students to the design competition. SETC also hosted theatre performance festivals of regional youth theatre; keynote speakers on a variety of topics; a competition of 10-minute plays written, casted and performed over the course of the conference; socials and an ending night gala for networking and celebrating—there was always something to do, and definitely more than one person could fit in his schedule. It was lively, it was fun, it was big, and though some people might find that too intense for a professional conference, well, that’s the theatre.
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