New Term, New Decisions

Tomorrow we begin our third term. We kick off with a week of research presentations and then settle into a routine schedule. Thursdays will be various lectures for our producing course and Fridays will be something called Options. On Fridays all the Masters students from all courses will engage in an elective class that was selected last term. 

I will be in 'Writing for Musical Theatre'. We will focus on the craft of book writing for musicals. The book of a musical is the text script of dialogue that is spoken between songs. Writing a book for a musical requires a set of techniques that are not usually needed when writing a non-musical. There are special considerations for how to transition into songs and how to deliver plot information quickly between songs. This will be a unique class, rarely available, especially to those not specifically geared to a career as a script writer. Good stuff!

On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays we will work on placement assignments with production companies or on our own independent projects. I'm looking at a few projects on which I would like to focus but I will certainly keep my eyes peeled for exciting placements that might be available. 

This term is going to be crucial because in many ways, it is the last term. Come June, when this term ends, the baby birds will be forced out of the nest. Our MA classmates will be done with their course. Those of us on the MFA track will move on to our second year, which is independent study. No more classes. The MFA students will have the support of our school and its resources but we will gain our credits by working in the field and submitting written assignments regarding the work.

Therefore, this term will be a time of great reflection and decisions. I will be taking the time this term to set myself up for all of next year. I will need to decide what exactly I want to accomplish and how I wish to document my journey. I will need to decide where I wish to work and how I wish to work and with whom I would like to work. There is still much to explore in the theatre scene here in London and also throughout the UK and Europe. All this knowledge awaits me and I am excited to dig in and examine my choices.

For now, I must focus on the marketing research my team and I will deliver this week. 

In the meantime, go see some theatre!

Take care!

-m