Rachel D’Amboise
MFA STAGE & PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT, 2018
Following graduation from the School of Drama’s MFA Stage and Production Management program in 2018, Rachel D’Amboise spent a summer as the associate production manager for the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, assisting the festival production manager with execution of designs, personnel management, venue operations and more.
In 2019, Rachel became the full-time, year-round production manager for City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh’s South Side, where she oversees production logistics including budgeting, scheduling, and coordination among departments, for the company’s ambitious season of new plays.
Before coming to CMU, Rachel was a production coordinator and stage/production manager for Act Two at Levine Music, where she organized education programs, fully-staged productions and acted as a main point of contact for parents, students, vendors, and partnerships, among other duties.
Alumni Q&A w/ Rachel
Rachel: How to triage work. It’s an absolutely fundamental skill in production management. You can’t throw 100% of yourself at everything that’s on your plate. It isn’t sustainable. That’s a hard lesson for some of us to learn. You have to know how to evaluate the significance, time sensitivity, impact, and energy expenditure of any given task and determine which things should get how much of your attention. And you need to learn how to communicate those limitations. It’s complex and really something you can only learn through practice. It’s not sexy, but it’s realistic. And it’s a skill that will help you live a more balanced and fulfilled life in this field.
Rachel: I liked that the program offered an MFA in both stage and production management – at the time, I wasn’t certain which I wanted to pursue more. I also knew the coursework, the mentorships, and the connections would be valuable. Ultimately, though, the deciding factor was how I felt in my interview. The faculty and staff weren’t just interested in my skills and qualifications, they were curious about who I was as a person. Of all my interviews, it was the one in which I felt most comfortable and genuinely myself.
Rachel: The camaraderie of my peers and mentors and those lightbulb moments of understanding are irreplaceable.
Rachel: A good education isn’t just about absorbing information; it’s about learning new ways of thinking. At the School of Drama, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and skills you need for an excellent professional career – you’ll also leave with the mental tools you need to engage with challenges and possibilities you haven’t even dreamed of, yet.