Write a Theater Resume
When seeking any type of job, an employer will ask for a resume. A resume is a history of your education, employment, and skills. Creating a resume for acting or other types of theater work is really not that different, as you include your education, experience, and skills, just like a standard resume.
Contents
Steps
Formatting the Resume
- Begin with your biographical information. Center and bold your name at the top of the page. Below your name, add any relevant professional societies you are in; acronyms are fine. Underneath your name, add your address, phone number, and email, not bolded.
- Even in the theater world, it's best to use a professional email, such as your full name in email form.
- Actors have two additional space limitations. It's common practice to staple the resume to the back of an 8x10 headshot. If you have an agent, you'll also need to leave room at the top for the agent's letterhead.
- Include your website and description if you want. You can also include a website if you have a professional one. In addition, it used to be standard to include your eye color and hair color for acting jobs because most photos were black and white. However, these descriptions are not strictly necessary today.
- Put your education next, especially if you're a writer. If you're an actor, you may want to put your experience next instead. For education, you need to include the school name, the dates you attended, the degree you were awarded, and the city and state of the school you attended. This section is especially important if you don't have much experience in the field.
- Don't forget to include workshops and any other formal training you've had in this area, especially if the person you studied under is well-known.
- Add your experience next. As stated, you may want to put this section above education if you're an actor.That's also true for directors and stage technicians. Highlight what you've done.
- You don't need to include every job or role, just the ones that are most recent or that were particularly notable. When you're first starting out, you'll have some obscure roles, work in some obscure theaters, or direct some obscure plays, and that's fine. You won't be expected to have all the experience you need right away.
- Subdivide experience into types of credits. How you divide this category depends on the type of work your applying for. If you're an actor, you'll divide by types of roles. If you're a technician, you'll divide by the type of work you're doing.
- For instance, if you're an actor, begin with your theater credits, then go to your movie credits. Television should be last. You can also include web series, voice overs, commercials, and theme park or cruise ship work. Otherwise, go in chronological order.
- If you're a technician, you'll divide it into categories such as "design work" and "production experience." As a stage manager, you certainly want to include your stage managing experience, but you might also want to include when you worked as a stage hand, as well as any acting jobs you had. Similarly, as a director, you need to include your directing experience, but stage management and acting roles are also relevant. As a writer, you want to include the plays produced that you wrote, but stages readings are also relevant.
- Make three columns in this section. Include the name of the theater, movie, or show in the first column. Next to that, you need the role you played or the job you worked. Finally, you need the name of the director, if it wasn't you. You can also include big name stars here.
- Create a skills section. In this section, you list any skills you have competency at. What you list may change depending on the job.
- Generally, as an actor, you can include skills such as accents you know, languages you can speak, sports you can play, and musical instruments you can play. You may also want to list other special talents, such as stage combat. Also, this section is a good place to list your vocal and dancing abilities. A short bullet-point list is fine for this section.
- You may not need this section for every type of resume. For instance, it makes sense to include in a resume for stage management, since you can list skills such as "able to work with power tools." However, it may not make as much sense to list it in a writer's resume.
- Add awards. If you have any special awards, you can include them in a short section at the bottom. However, you can also place it under the skills section, or add it in the appropriate area with your experience. If you put it in your experience, use an asterisk to reference it, and put it at the bottom of the appropriate section.
Making Your Resume Stand Out
- Make it relevant. You should always tailor your resume for the job you're applying for. For instance, if the job is an action film, the casting director will likely be more interested in your film credits than your stage productions. You can still include a few stage credits, but you want to focus your resume on your film credits. If you're applying for a stage management position, you need to highlight what you've done as a stage manager and play down your acting roles.
- Catch your employer's eye. Generally, you have, at most, 20 seconds to catch anyone's eye who's reading your resume. Most of the time, your resume is skimmed to see if you seem like a good fit. Make sure the design is clean, and you use the design to highlight what's most important.
- For instance, if your experience is more relevant than your education, you should include that first.
- Weed out the extra stuff. That is, your resume doesn't need to include every job you held in high school. It also doesn't need to include every high school play you had a role in. Stick to the most current roles you've played, the jobs you've had on the stage, or plays you've written; you don't want to overwhelm them with information.
Knowing What You Shouldn't Do
- Don't lie. While it's sometimes acceptable to stretch the truth a bit, you should never out and out lie on your resume. In a digital world, you can be easily found out, and you may even be caught out in an interview when the interviewer asks you a question. Stick to the roles you've actually played, the jobs you've actually had, or the plays you've written that have been produced.
- Avoid long or busy formatting. It's almost always best to keep your resume to one page. In fact, it is often standard practice to staple your resume to the back of an 8-by-10-inch head shot for acting gigs, giving you even less space. Avoid patterned paper or designs that make your resume look busy or difficult to read.
- You may use paper with texture.
- Don't send it without proofreading. Fair or not, you will be judged on your grammar. If your resume is riddled with typos, it is likely to get tossed out. Read it over yourself before sending it, but also have someone else look at, as he or she may catch typos that you don't.
- Try reading it aloud. Because reading it aloud takes more time, it will help you catch any typos and grammar mistakes.
Tips
- 10 point font is the absolute minimum size you should use. 12 point is preferred.
- Look at sample resumes to use as a formatting guideline. You can find these online, or ask relatives for their examples.,
Related Articles
- Make a Resume
- Write a Functional Resume
- Include References on a Resume
- Post Your Resume Online
- Write a Resume as a Graduate Student
- Be a Reporter
Sources and Citations
- ↑ http://www.pace.edu/career-services/sites/pace.edu.career-services/files/PDF/TheatreResumeGuidebook.pdf
- ↑ https://www.uwosh.edu/theatre/syllabi/sample-resume-technical-theatre
- http://www.actorsinfobooth.com/how-to-write-a-resume
- http://castingdirectorworkshopsla.com/resources/properly-format-acting-resume/
- https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/resume-musical-theatre-auditions/
- ↑ http://www.csub.edu/theatre/_files/Resume%20Examples.pdf
- ↑ http://sightlines.usitt.org/archive/v46/n10/stories/Resume.html
