Jobs 2010 - October 28

By Jonathan McFadden & Shatesha Scales

mcfaddenj@thejohnsonian.com, scaless@thejohnsonian.com

Display head by Mika Parajon

Editor’s note: Keep up with the job market for Winthrop graduates with reporter Jonathan McFadden. This is the third story in a three-part series about where alumni are now.

Once graduating, political science graduate Josh Walker and mass communication graduate Kyra Warren packed up their belongings and moved to St. Paul, Minn. 

Thanks to a video audition they completed during their last semester of college, the two landed jobs as actors for Creative Learning Ideas for Mind and Body (CLIMB) Theater. 

They currently tour schools across the Midwest with CLIMB and perform original educational programs that touch on social issues ranging from bullying and acceptance to methamphetamine use and the environment. 

How they got the job?

Toward the end of her semester, Warren went to the website Backstage.com and noticed that CLIMB was holding auditions. So, she sent in a video of herself performing the same monologue as three different characters. 

They liked it. 

“I was contacted for a phone interview and a week later I was offered the job,” Warren said.

Walker also got the job through video audition; however, he said landing his first job was not simple. 

“I auditioned for many of theaters all over before I go this job,” Walker said. 

One of those auditions included a trip to Chicago to the Illinois Theater Association Auditions to audition for theaters in that area. 

Now, both theatre minors are employed.

At the beginning of their contract, Walker said a typical rehearsal day would start at 8:30 a.m. and last until 5 p.m. But now that they’re touring across the Midwest, no two days are the same. 

Kyra Warren ‘10“Now we have to drive to schools, load up our sets and sound equipment and set up in the school. It’s a lot of work," Walker said.

Warren said every “call time,” the time the actors are expected to be at the theater, varies, but even with the hectic schedule, changing jobs isn’t an option. 

The chaotic schedule is why she loves working with CLIMB, Warren said. The best part about her job is getting to know the different individuals involved with theater, from her fellow company actors to the children at each school they visit. 

“I love getting to perform for children and seeing them run up to you after the show and tell you how much they loved it,” she said. 

Walker agrees. 

“I love that I'm acting as my job because this is what I want for my life. I also love that I am able to work with children and make a difference for them,” he said. 

Advice to students

Walker said he had no internships prior to getting the job, but he has had plenty of experience with theatre. He actively participated in the theatre program during his time at Winthrop. 

“My theatre classes were a great preparation for the show,” he said.  

Warren was heavily involved with the theater program as well, but said her mass communication degree has also been helpful in her career so far. 

“Taking those classes also helped because I come in contact with many different people every day, and that broadcast background gives me an extra confidence to network and deal with people,” she said. 

When it comes to finding jobs, their technique is simple: Keep trying and don’t get discouraged. 

“There are many people in the world who are trying to get jobs, and just because you don’t get hired does not mean  you are not good enough,” Walker said. 

Warren suggests students keep an open mind and said students should apply for everything and anything that may interest them. 

“If someone had told me a year ago I would be living in St Paul, Minn., I would have called them crazy, but you never know what door can open,” she said. “Take a chance.”

Minors meet success

Similar to Warren and Walker, other theatre minors manage to find success in the entertainment industry.

Andrew Vorder Bruegge, department chair of theatre and dance, said many students who minor in theatre or dance do so because of their experiences before college. Once they come to college, though, they decide not to major in the arts because they are unsure of what to do with those skills, so they choose to minor instead.

“They’ve already committed to this major over here and it’s too late to change, so they minor in theatre or dance and do exceptionally well,” Vorder Bruegge said.

Vorder Bruegge, who said he himself majored in psychology in college and minored in theatre, said some minors have the skills to work in a professional company if they wanted to.

Minors also aren’t the last picked when it comes to auditioning for the theatre department’s productions.

“We don’t give any preferences to majors,” Vorder Bruegge said. “If a minor wants to audition in a show, we’ll cast them as we would a major.”

For students majoring in theatre, the recession hasn’t had too much of an impact. 

“Whether it’s a recession or good times, people in the arts really have always worked very hard to get work,” Vorder Bruegge said. 

These graduates, Vorder Bruegge said, have to be willing to go where the work is and walk through whatever doors may open.

Even during a recession, industries such as theme parks and cruise ships are still making money and are venues in which theatre and dance graduates may be able to find employment. 

Still, even in liberal arts, education jobs were some that were hit hardest. 

Up until 2008, Vorder Bruegge said theatre education and dance education graduates had 100 percent placement in schools.

“They picked the jobs they wanted; they were turning down jobs,” Vorder Bruegge said. “They had jobs in March before they graduated.”

Once the recession hit, the jobs began to vanish.

“They don’t get jobs right away; it might take them a year,” Vorder Bruegge said.

Because of this, the theatre and dance department has placed considerable changes into its curriculum to provide students with a more career-planning focus.

Preparing to work

Josh Walker ‘10With workshops that help students prepare for specific auditions, guest speakers in classes and career forums, the theater and dance department is preparing its students for the competitive industry that awaits them.

“We’re trying to impress upon them the fact that they have to be extremely proactive, extremely assertive and persistent about their careers if they want to work in the entertainment industry,” Vorder Bruegge said.

Internships also help.

Vorder Bruegge said the theatre department has connections with places such as Carowinds, schools and community theaters in the region that are always looking for students to work for them.

“There are all kinds of people out there who need artists on a show-by-show basis,” Vorder Bruegge said. “They’re hiring a choreographer, a director, a costume designer and our students, even while they’re students, can get these jobs.”

Other opportunities for theatre and dance students include Narroway Productions in Fort Mill and the York County Cultural & Heritage Museums, both in their administrative offices and in Historic Brattonsville, which reinacts Civil War-era events. 

Such employment opportunities are also available at businesses and corporations that are searching for liberal arts graduates, Vorder Bruegge said.

“An actor can do a whole lot of things besides just act,” Vorder Bruegge said. “A dancer can be productive in many, many ways besides dancing.”

Theatre and dance majors are people oriented, able to solve problems and are good at collaboration, all things employers search for, Vorder Bruegge said.

Vorder Bruegge is confident that students who receive a theatre or dance education can be vital members of the economy and valued assets to any company.

“They can write well, they can think and express themselves well, they know how to collaborate. And they know how to adapt,” Vorder Bruegge said.