National Student Drama Festival

[Sarah Q]

The technical team consists of around 80 volunteers from a variety of backgrounds who come for the unique experience to work and learn together. In ten days they build two theatres from empty rooms, run performance venues, support visiting companies, attend workshops and get involved with fringe events.

 

This is an open invite for you to apply to join the Technical Team at the National Student Drama Festival in 2008.

 

NSDF08 is taking place in the North Yorkshire seaside resort of Scarborough from Saturday 15th to Friday 21st March 2008, with the Technical Crew meeting in arriving in Scarborough a couple of days earlier.

 

No experience is needed, just enthusiasm and hard work over long hours - we are always looking for new faces. The technical side of NSDF has always been something of a compromise between a teaching forum for new theatre technicians and the need to set up and operate over a dozen shows in several theatre spaces during the week. Thus, you will be learning and immediately putting into practise your newly gained knowledge, as well as sharing your existing knowledge and experience with others on the crew.

 

If you attend the Festival you will meet and work with about sixty other technicians with a wide range of skills and experience. Some will have no technical experience at all. One of the main aims of coming to NSDF as a tech crew member should be to learn as much as possible. Another important aim is to have fun.

 

The technical crew's job is to build, convert or simply use seven venues and provide technical support for fifteen or so shows throughout the week. The venues range from existing theatre spaces (e.g. the Round and McCarthy Auditoriums at the Stephen Joseph Theatre) to empty school gyms (e.g. the New Hall). The latter type require floors to be laid, drapes to be hung, grids to be constructed, seating units to be assembled etc. Along the way, you will learn about every aspect of building and running venues, either through formal workshops or simply by doing it.

 

We are always short of crew and so there will be plenty of work for you, especially during the first few days. Hopefully, you will gain experience in all aspects of theatre work: from working at the top of towers to learning how lighting control systems operate. No-one is going to make you do something that you really don't want to do (e.g. going up a tower if you are afraid of heights) but conversely, if you are particularly keen to try a specific job, just let us know.

 

Workshops give you a chance to learn about certain aspects of theatre in more detail. Most involve a mixture of theoretical and practical work and are run either by visiting professionals or by members of the technical crew. When you are not busy working in venues or attending workshops you may even want to see some shows!

 

The Festival's social centre is the Spa Complex and, when you are finally released from your chains, this is the main place to go. The bar is open until late, there is usually something happening in the Grand Hall and the Festival magazine, Noises Off, is produced overnight in a nearby room. It is edited by the Noises Off team but anyone who wants can go along to write articles, comments, reviews etc. or help with the production work of layout and printing.

 

If this sounds like the way you'd like to spend next Easter then read on at www.nsdf.org.uk/technical and fill in the application form (attached below). If you would like any further information please have a look at our unofficial crew website www.nsdftech.org.uk or feel free to contact our Technical Director, Anna Cole, with specific questions at techdirector@nsdf.org.uk or you can PM me through this site.

 

We look forward to seeing you in Scarborough!

Tech_Application_24sept07.doc