Stage Combat Teacher Certification Workshop

I'm Mason Tyer, a violence director and stage combat teacher in Minneapolis. For the last several years, I've had the pleasure to learn from some of the best teachers of stage and film violence in the world. I've been sharing that gift to others in bits and pieces for a few years now, but I'm preparing to step up into the role of a long-form instructor.

Up comes the Society of American Fight Directors Teacher Certification Workshop, a three-week application-only intensive evaluating and refining overall teaching capacity as well as specific stage combat acumen. The accepted students are candidates to become Certified Teachers, those who the SAFD publicly endorses as experts in safe and effective stage combat instructors. With the SAFD being arguably the largest stage combat educational body in the world, this endorsement is significant both within the theatre industry as well as within academia.

The single unique aspect of being a Certified Teacher is the approval to teach Skills Proficiency Test-eligible courses. These tests, at the end of over a minimum of 30 instructional hours, are opportunities to perform choreographed fight scenes for adjudication from a veteran stage and film violence expert known as a Fight Master. These Fight Masters provide feedback and growth opportunities for these students to continue improving their performance skillset, an experience relatively uncommon in other acting courses.

The opportunities that open up, both professionally and artistically, are potentially life-changing: better access to teaching roles within academic institutions that otherwise require credentials before hiring considerations; networking opportunities available only to certified teachers inside and outside of stage combat; and the obviously increased income from long-form private instruction.

The cost for this investment is significant, however: Six years, eight long-form classes as a student and 24 more as a teaching assistant, a dozen 2-5 day workshops across the country, two month-long internships, and several thousand dollars to make all that happen. And I have done so with joy and a rigor many call "unyielding" and "a little much, man, chill out a second". But the next leg is the most expensive:

Tuition - $3525

Housing - $735

Food - approximately $300

Application fee - $35

Home expenses while away and not working - ugh, more

So now, for the first time, I ask for your help. I've considered every dollar I spent as an investment rather than as an expense, so I will treat every dollar sent to me the same way. Essentially, you'll get store credit to Mason Tyer.

What I can most immediately and relevantly offer:

Once I return from the certification workshop, I'll be able to offer:

Less relevantly, I can offer:

I take my work as a teacher very seriously. Any support you provide, will be exponentially brought forth to every student I have the pleasure of supporting.