Tim is the Musical Theatre Coordinator, stage Director, and an Assistant Professor at Western Connecticut State University. With over 30 years of experience as a stage actor and director, Tim not only teaches acting at the university but also coordinates the entire musical theatre program, overseeing auditions and admissions, as well as directs one or two stage productions per year. Tim urges any interested students to get as much stage experience as possible. Although post-graduate degrees are typically required, it’s the time spent on stage that will set the right candidates apart.
Transcript
So, my name is Tim Howard, and at Western Connecticut State University, I am a professor of theater. And, I'm also the coordinator for the BFA Musical Theatre Program. So, it's really kind of broken into three parts. The first is, I'm the coordinator for the Musical Theatre Program; and we have, we'll have next year we'll be at our cap, and so we'll have 64 music theater. It's by audition only. So, that is a huge part coordinating the program, doing the auditions, basically keeping it up and functioning. Then, the second part is to be a director of one or two shows per year, usually large musicals is what I'm asked to do. And, then, the third part would be being a professor of theatre. And, so, I teach Acting II; I do Music Theatre Workshop, occasionally Acting for the Camera, when we offer that, Audition Techniques. And, then something called Transition Workshop, which is basically bridging academia with the professional world of show business. So, we prepare the students then to start thinking of themselves at the end of that four years as a business. And, train them to be completely prepared with a professional resume, and head shots, and website, and a reel, and business cards, and then take them into New York City. And, actually, they get private auditions with agents and casting directors. And, so, that's the broad range of what I do at West Conn. Once we start rehearsal, it's usually six weeks of rehearsal, and then we go into tech. So, it's approximately seven weeks that would be involved, rehearsing from 7:00 at night to 10:30. So, the preparation is a lot of what I do prior so that I can come in, particularly with the large-scale musical. There's a lot of staging. The last show I did, there was 35 people in the cast. So, you can't just kind of come in and wing it. You have to have the picture in your head. So, I would end that at 10:30, do the rehearsal schedule for the next day, try to go home and get some sleep, and get back up in the morning, and coordinate the program, answer all the administrative stuff, and then I, yeah, and then I have usually three to four classes that I'm teaching, in addition, throughout the day. So, it's a busy schedule, but, you know, I'm the luckiest guy in the world.
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