For theatre alumni, connections are everything
Chris Lavin ’10 always knew he wanted a career in theatre, and ended up finding his niche in costume technology and wardrobe at SUNY New Paltz. He completed several summer theatre internships, a common place for theatre alumni to connect with students.
“We’re pushing from our end, saying to our students, ‘Internships are important.’ And our alums are coming back and saying, ‘Here are some internship opportunities,’” said SUNY New Paltz theatre arts professor Andrea Varga. “So we’re connecting from both directions. The connections are happening, and I’m pushing.”
Lavin heard Varga’s message loud and clear, and was “gung-ho” about making connections with alumni. Once he graduated, Lavin asked Varga to suggest some alumni he should link up with in New York City. Varga ended up connecting Lavin with Danny Paul ’83, an active member of the Theatrical Wardrobe Union (who served as the dresser for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” on Broadway, and was thanked by name in Neil Patrick Harris’ acceptance speech for the Tony Award for best lead performance by an actor in a musical). The two met and became friends, and Paul recommended several shows for Lavin to work on.
“Danny helped guide Chris, and within a year of graduation, Chris was in the Broadway wardrobe union, which is a big deal. He’s been working straight through since he graduated from New Paltz, but it was really Danny who provided important, practical, on-the-ground connections for Chris that I couldn’t provide,” said Varga, adding that Lavin has landed jobs on the Broadway productions of “Mary Poppins” and, most recently, “Rocky.”
The Paul-Lavin connection is just one of many examples of theatre alumni connecting with each other to further each other’s careers. Varga herself heard about her current job at SUNY New Paltz through fellow Florida State University alum Professor Jack Wade. “New Paltz alums from 10 years ago, 20 years ago, even 30 years ago are connecting other New Paltz alums with jobs,” said Varga. “It’s this amazing career network that they have.”
The theatre world is small and tightknit, making connections with fellow SUNY New Paltz theatre alumni not just helpful, but crucial—a point Varga and her colleagues work hard to drive home for their students.
“We already have a mechanism for alumni to connect with each other, because it’s our industry,” said Varga, who noted roughly 90 percent of theatre alumni end up in New York City. “It’s not some sort of vague thing, like down the road one of these connections might help you. It happens all the time in theater. There’s an opportunity today, and I want to tell my friends in the industry about it, because they’re hiring today.”
Part of getting the word out about professional opportunities for graduates involves acting as a connector between different groups of alumni, something that comes naturally to Varga and other theatre faculty. The theatre world is dominated by freelancers, from actors to designers to dressers, Varga explained. Some people secure staff positions, but they are “few and far between,” and most opportunities that arise in the theatre are immediate.
“One of the wonderful things about this program, and New Paltz, is that we really care about teaching our students that the connections they have here are going to be the connections they have for the rest of their lives,” said Varga. “This isn’t an experiment—this is real. This is the start of the rest of their careers.”