Career perspective
With the Production and Stage Management study programme you develop yourself primarily to become production manager, stage manager or executive producer who can function at every imaginable level of the performing arts, like theatre, dance, music or opera performances, towards the realisation of special events or the organisation of concerts and festivals. Tasks and responsibilities may differ per genre, company, producer or even per production. In each function it is important to combine communicative, business and organisational qualities with a broad creative, artistic and technical insight and know-how of the working methods and processes within the performing arts.
production manager
The production manager is responsible, together with an artistic team (director, choreographer, dramaturge, designers) for the design, planning and execution of a production. As production manager you create the conditions in which the ideas of the artistic team can be realised. You are the contact person for scenery and costume designers, you confer with technicians and coordinate the different performances of a company or festival. You are responsible for different aspects: time, money, quality, information and organisation.
stage manager
The stage manager is what you might call the ‘traffic controller’ of a performance. As stage manager you arrange rehearsal facilities and develop an operational strategy that serves as basis to cue a performance. You keep in contact with singers, dancers and actors, but also with technicians attached to the company and those of the theatre where the performance is staged. You communicate signals for lighting positions, sound arrangements and scenery changes, etc. This function is mainly to be found with opera, ballet and musical productions, but also with other theatre productions there is an increasing demand for stage managers. Because in the professional field there are vacancies for only a few stage managers , currently no more than two students are admitted to this specialisation annually. An increasing demand for stage managers is expected in the future.
executive producer
The executive producer (or head of production) works out the artistic, technical and financial policy plans of institutes for the performing arts. Together with the commercial director, you draw up a budget and a seasonal planning for means and personnel. Subsequently you work out the details of this strategy by drawing up a plan for each production, for which you carry responsibility together with the production directors.
other functions
Producer, managing director and impresario are functions that Production and Stage Management does not directly prepare you for, but they are logical future steps in your career. During your study you will encounter several subjects that contribute to such a development; for example in the third year you are expected to write a cultural business plan.
The brief history of the study programme already shows that graduates do indeed find employment in a variety of responsible functions. Former students work not only as production manager but also as managing director of small theatre companies, as assistant stage manager for musical productions, as assistant to the director or as deputy head technician with theatre companies.
