stagecraft (props and scenic construction)

stagecraft (props and scenic construction)

The specialisation in stagecraft (props and scenic construction) is both a creative, artistic education and an education in more technical crafts. Stagecraft is about actualizing the ideas and visual conceptions that a scenographer has for a performance – moving from ideas, models and sketches to full-scale realities. This specialisation will teach you to use your technical and craft skills for everything from designing detailed props to building large, spacious stage constructions.

You will need to be creative and inventive, a strong collaborator, and good at expressing yourself visually. It is also important that you are good with your hands when it comes to building and designing.

The work we undertake in the stagecraft specialisation ranges across practice-oriented teaching, honing your craft, learning about theoretical methods, and doing project work. You will learn about construction design principles, materials, design, technical and physical calculation, technical drawing, budgeting and planning, stage technology, technical execution, safety, design and style history, and about effective communication and dissemination.

Throughout the programme you will work closely with students from the other professional specialisations at the school and with a production team attached to a production (builders, tailors etc.). Hence, beyond being good with your hands, it is important that you thrive on collaborative work involving many different professional disciplines – and that you understand the kinds of artistic processes that seldom follow a straight path toward the finished product.

Stagecraft (props and scenic construction) is a specialisation which primarily educates props and stage managers. Being trained to perform both these functions offers you the prospect of a varied work life. A props manager acquires, designs and builds props, while the stage manager is responsible for the larger constructions and often serves as the leader of a team of artisans who build the scenography. Both the props and the stage managers are also often present when the performance is playing, making sure that all technical elements work well. This requires a strong flair for planning and timing. Thus, the stagecraft specialisation will also teach you about stage technology, technical execution, and safety.