Breaking into the Business

boston college arts council

Friday, November 7, 11:00AM -1:00 PM
McElroy Conference Room, with snacks

Insert Text HereSean Patrick Flahaven, '95
Musician, Composer, Conductor, Arts Journalist, Arts Administrator

Sean Patrick Flahaven is a producer, writer, composer, conductor, and orchestrator based in New York City. He is currently Managing Director of the Melting Pot Theatre Company, an award-winning, off-Broadway company; Executive Director of the New Voices Workshop, a musical theatre writers' collaborative organization; and a board member of PS Classics records. His work has been performed in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Delaware, Chicago, and at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. As a musician, he has worked on the development and original productions of dozens of new musicals. He has also been an arts journalist for ten years, with over 200 articles published in Show Music, The Sondheim Review, BroadwayOnline.com, and elsewhere. A native of Minnesota, he received degrees in English and Music with multiple honors from Boston College; an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts; and an MFA in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College. He now teaches at both NYU-Tisch and Brooklyn College.

Students joined BC alum Sean Flahaven '95 as he discussed his experiences as a musician, writer, and producer in New York theatre, including strategies for finding career opportunities in unusual ways. Making direct use of the education and skills he learned at Boston College, Sean was able to immediately find work with major playwrights, composers, directors, performers, and producers on and off-Broadway and in regional theatres. He also has suggestions about applying to graduate school programs in the arts and how to make a living while pursuing career goals - without waiting tables. This informal seminar would be of particular interest to aspiring playwrights, directors, producers, actors, musicians, composers, arrangers, conductors, and arts journalists.