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 FOUR YEARS OF UNDERGRAD AND THREE YEARS OF USITT: A REFLECTION   

by Matthew Boerst

    I have been an undergraduate student for the past four years, two of those at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point and two of those at the University of Minnesota. I have been a designer and technician for the past three years and have attended the national conference for those three years as well. I have begun to identify as a dramaturg for the last two years. Beginning this year, I have started to think of myself as an advocate for students (and the field). Through this lens, I want to talk about my experience at the conference both this year and in the past and reflect on what USITT has taught me about myself, my career and the field that I want to work in.
    My first year at USITT, I was excited about becoming a lighting designer. I was in my second semester in Theatre Design and Technology at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point as part of the BFA program. I was excited about lighting design but knew very little, especially about the technology side of it. At this point, I was more of a designer than a technician. I volunteered in the Light Lab at the conference and ended up finding a lot of joy in getting to work with the amazing equipment that goes into that space while also having the opportunity to work with helpful and talented people. I learned A LOT. And I met some people that I have seen every year since. I am eternally grateful for that. I don’t even remember what else I did that year - I think that speaks to how impactful the experience was. I would encourage anyone interested in finding a place and people at this conference to volunteer in their first year of attendance, to get a bearing on it all by helping put it on.
    My second year at USITT, I had just transferred to the University of Minnesota so I could pursue some other passions - playwriting and urban planning. I wanted to expand my breadth of work and wanted to do it in a city. What I found at the University of Minnesota was a really strong student chapter of USITT, and a new one at that-  a chapter that leveraged its place in the Twin Cities to bring in professionals for professional development roundtables. I also came to the practice of dramaturgy through an amazing mentor, Talvin Wilks. Going to the conference that year meant de centering myself from the design and technical aspects and thinking about the broader strokes. I attended sessions about working outside of theater as well as management and leading a student group.  I decided that networking would be the big thing for me. I discovered that I was really interested in leadership and in talking about advocacy and equity. These discoveries came late in the week, but would guide my experience for the next year’s conference.             My second year at the conference is when it began to feel like a reunion of sorts.  I got to see friends and mentors from UWSP;  I got to see people that I met volunteering in Light Lab, and ended up volunteering again and meeting even more amazing people. It wasn’t about the knowledge for me - it was about the people and the conversations.
    At USITT 2019 and my third year of attendance, I reflected on my earlier experiences and used that to think about what I wanted to end my undergraduate career with. As of now, I’m a dramaturg, lighting and scenic designer, technician, planner, aspiring artistic leader, student group leader, and writer. All of the jobs that I had provided a wide breadth of conference experience. I did the following (and more):

1. Helped, alongside the officer and rep team for our group, to plan and execute the travel and lodging plans for 13 students from the UMN USITT student group attending the conference.
2. Attended the sci-fi theatre workshop and collaborated with an amazing artist on a production concept!
3. Went to the lighting community meet-up and got to be involved with thinking about programming for next year (there’s some cool cool stuff in the works!)
4. Went to the NBS membership meeting and spoke up about making a scholarship to the Prague Quadrennial more accessible. Got to see and meet the people who work in the theatre community in this area (there’s so many of us!!!)
5. Roamed the expo floor numerous times, where I…
1. Talked to people about jobs
2. Personally thanked some of the people at Staging Concepts, who helped our student group get to the conference by sponsoring our fund raising event, Thank You Places
3. Looked at some cool new tech
4. Ran into so many friends!
5. Represented the U of M at our booth, talked to some prospective students about our programs.
6. Decided to miss sessions and grab food or relax instead (sometimes you’ve got to do this, it can get overwhelming so fast)
7. Went to the Is Now When We Panic? Conference session and heard a lot of interesting perspectives on problems facing higher education theatre departments (and heard some really great solutions).
8. Went to the Equity Diversity and Inclusion reception and met some really amazing people who I kept running into at the conference (the receptions are honestly some of the best events at the conference).
9. Went out to eat with our huge group and Matthew LeFebvre; got to debrief a bit.
10. Went to the USITT Student Chapter Leadership roundtable with some younger student group members who want to take the helm with the group next year (they have some amazing ideas, keep an eye on UMN USITT)
11. Went to Analysis for Designers: The Dramaturgy of Concept and ended up having a brilliant conversation with a friend about the idea of mapping to analyze a script.

    All this is to say that a USITT conference is a hive, it is a place to return, to regroup, to replenish, to learn and to grow before going out and doing it on my own. USITT has helped me to make decisions and find paths that I didn’t know I could take, that enrich my work and my engagement with it, that help me to keep a finger on the pulse of the theater (and the entertainment industry). In reflecting on it all, I see that my attendance has been integral to my growth as an artist and professional in ways that aren’t just about knowledge, but awareness and values as well.  [ ]

Matthew Boerst is a USITT NBS scholarship recipient and student at University of Minnesota.