Programs

USITT Midwest Regional Section presents a variety of programs during the year throughout the four states of the Midwest Section. We are committed to presenting programming that helps to educate our membership about new technologies and trends in all areas of the theatre and entertainment industries.

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The registration fee includes lunch each day. Hotel accommodations are not included with the registration fee and will need to be booked directly with the hotel. We have a block of Hotel rooms with Home2 Suites, mention METTS when you make your reservation to get a room for $140 per night plus tax. Transportation and other meals are not provided.

Continuing Education/Professional Development

For Certified Teachers here are the options we can provide at this time.

• Illinois
  • CEU’s will be issued through the Illinois Theatre Association (ITA)
• Indiana
  • We will be offering 18 hours of instruction, Educators using a Professional Growth Plan for license renewal should get administrative approval prior to registering.
• Michigan
  • Check back for more information
• Wisconsin
  • UW Madison credits are available for ANYONE attending – not just WI residents, though tuition is cheaper for WI and MN residents. 
    • Grad class, summer session and you would just let Robin in the Theater office know and go through the regular “special student” admit process.

Daily Schedule

Schedule is TBA

Workshop Descriptions

Counterweight Rigging: Procedures, Terminology and Terminations

Few of the many systems in our theaters are as misunderstood and potentially dangerous as our counterweight rigging systems. The session will highlight procedures for common tasks, including loading arbors, calls, hanging soft goods, lights, scenic elements, and dealing with out-of-balance situations; additionally, participants will use terminology appropriate to theatrical rigging and system components. Participants will also perform standard terminations with knots, wire rope clips, and swaged fittings and demonstrate an understanding of Design Factors and derating terminations. Participants will also gain knowledge regarding system upkeep and inspections.  

Six hours of instruction including:

• System components and terminology
• How to load and unload counterweight arbors
• How to run line sets and make appropriate calls
• How to hang scenic materials, soft goods and lights
• How to check a line set to see if it is balanced
• Correct procedures and uses for terminations
• How to deal with out of balance situations
• How to compute design factors, termination efficiency and working load limits
• How to read the ANSI standards for rigging
• About appropriate hardware

Attendees need:
Closed toe shoes (steel/composite toe preferred)
C-Wrench
Work Gloves
Pen or pencil

Eos Level 1 Console Training

All the basics to start working with your lighting desk. Are you new to the Eos family of consoles and want to hit the ground running with your first show? Learn all the basics you will need to get started in our Essentials class. This class will give you a solid foundation with the Eos family of consoles and prepare you to grow your knowledge as you are ready.

This full series of classes is applicable to all of the Eos consoles:
Element/Element2, Ion/Ion Xe, Gio and Gio@5, Eos Ti, and Apex

Limited to 8 Participants per-day

Theatre Safety and Management

Do you know what you need to know BEFORE you do a show? How to use an Emergency Action Plan? What are the three kinds of event security? Who’s ALICE? Who’s in charge here anyway? How to make money when you have nothing to start with? What are the top 10 terrors of the theater and how to fix them? How to hold emotionally painless auditions? Come to this day-long workshop to learn potentially life saving lessons for being safer whether you are on stage, in the wings, or in the audience as well as how to manage a winning educational theater program.

Getting Started with Video Projection

Understanding the fundamentals of projection usage in a theatre space from equipment, system setups, software, sourcing content, surfaces, and playback.

• Equipment-Projectors, computers-understanding all the ins/outs of lenses
• System set ups-How do I set up a projection system?
• Software-Qlab, Isadora, Powerpoint, PhotoGimp
• Sourcing content-Royalty free sources, Content creation
• Projection surfaces-Cyc, coroplast, muslin, painted surfaces, scrim
• Basic programming and playback-Qlab, Isadora, and even powerpoint.

Optional: Bring a laptop loaded with Isadora or Qlab.

Common Scenic Construction Techniques

This course will delve into the origins of theatrical stagecraft, and how it has evolved into the current form.  We’ll explore common materials and tools used in the industry, and detail how to create a proper technical drawing that a shop can use to construct scenery.  This course will also feature hands-on learning; after demonstrations of how to build basic scenic units, the participants will have lab time to build their own units under the supervision of qualified instructors.

METTS is Presented by:

METTS is also Sponsored by:

Event Policies

Please contact us if you need a refund or to change the workshops you have registered for. Refunds may not be possible after June 27th 2024. All workshop registration is first come first serve. As workshops get filled it may not be possible to make changes.

Please note that photographs and video footage will be taken throughout the Midwest Educational Technical Theatre Symposium. Photos and Videos will be used by the USITT Midwest Section for marketing and publicity in our publications, on our website and in social media or in any third party publication.

Registration for this event includes lunch each day of the Symposium.

Registration does not include transportation, Hotel/lodging, or other meals.