Things to Do in Seattle When You’re an Intern

You'll hear plenty this year about all the great on-the-job experience you'll get as an intern at Seattle Rep. But what about the city you'll be living in while you work your internship? Seattle's a great town with a thriving theatre community, a storied music scene and a well earned reputation as a first class city for arts and culture. For starters, here's a run down of good grub, great coffee, cheap beer and more, all just within a couple of blocks of the Rep.

The Lamb Burger at Athina’s Grill – As Sam Jackson would put it, “Now that’s a tasty burger!” The best priced lunch in walking distance from the Rep also proves one of the cruelest facts of nature - the cuter something was when it was an animal, the tastier it is when it is a burger. Sad but true, folks. Sad but true.

Coffee at Zingaro – Primo caffeinated beverages served by an exceedingly pleasant crew of skilled baristas, just a stone’s throw from the Rep. (Note: please do not actually throw stones at Zingaro. It would be rude.) Drink coffee? You’ll be drinking a lot of coffee here. Don’t drink coffee? That’s adorable. You’ll be drinking a lot of coffee here. Welcome to Seattle.

Jabu’s Power Hour – Featuring pints of delicious and powerful micro-brews – I’m partial to the Irish Death from Washington’s own Iron Horse, myself – for just one buck from 4:30 to 5:30, every weekday, Jabu's Pub presents a round of drinks that even an intern can afford. And since you’ll frequently run into our charming and talented IT staff here, invest a couple bucks in a few pints for them to keep your computer in working order and make sure you never have to hear the words “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” And if that’s not enough for you, I have four words – original Ms. Pac-Man table. Oh, yes.

Free Shows at Easy Street – Okay, so buying CDs is totally 20th century. But free shows never go out of style, and Easy Street Records brings among the best, no matter what sort of music suits your fancy. Check out artists like Brandi Carlile, The Meat Puppets, The Cave Singers and Jurassic 5’s own Chali 2na for the low, low price of absolutely nothing just a block from your desk.

Movies at SIFF – From festivals of contemporary Italian cinema to James Cameron’s Aliens, from the re-mastered version of Kurosawa’s classic Rashomon to The Wizard of Oz accompanied by Dark Side of the Moon, The Seattle International Film Festival (that’s SIFF if you’re nasty) theatre has plenty to delight movie dorks and casual film goers alike, and it’s just a couple of steps from your door.

Notes From The Management

I love the theater. I think that the theater is a wonderful place full of human interactions and scintillating dramatics. The theater is one art form that is truly a collaborative experience. There would be no theater if the community did not bind together to create it. A playwright can write a beautiful, layered play, but without a director and a producer, who will bring it to life? A director can have a unique vision for a play, but without actors, who will bring the characters to life? The actors can create revelatory representations of human life onstage, but without the designers, they will look as though they're still in rehearsal. The designers may bring innovative interpretations of the language of the play, but without an audience, who will see it?

More so than any other art form, the theater depends upon the communication between and artistic responses among a group of artists. Similarly, arts management depends upon an understanding and collaborative nature with all of the departments of the theater staff. I work primarily under Benjamin Moore, the managing director. Like Ben, I attend meetings with board members, I work on projects for different departments, and I learn how the managing director really serves as the glue that holds together the theater.

I've been having a great time so far, but I know there's still so much more to learn!

This blog post was written by Alyssa Simmons, Arts Management intern.

Hello from production!

This is Tess Malone, the lighting design intern. It has been a crazy few weeks but it has been amazing. It feels like my internship really got rolling when we went into tech for Opus. I was assisting the designer, who is also my supervisor, the illustrious L.B. Morse, which was pretty intimidating since I had never been an assistant before. L.B. was amazing, though, as was everyone else. They were all patient, taught me a lot as we went and really guided me through the process. Focus started off a little rough as I was trying to keep track of who was where and then Lynne Ellis, the master electrician in the Leo K., swooped in and showed me her trick of using little markers on the plot to keep track. By the end of focus, I felt totally brought up to speed and ready to do my next show.
Tech was also an interesting process as I learned how to track cues and color scrollers. It was very enlightening watching everyone work and an interesting challenge in staying constantly attuned to what the designer is saying over headset and also paying attention to what is happening on stage. Especially since while you always have to be on hand, a lot of time is spent just sitting and waiting. I was on edge this time since it was my first tech, but I imagine in the future I will have to be careful not to drift into a daze.
Outside the rep, I also designed two shows - one in Tacoma in conjunction with Northwest Playwright’s Alliance and Probably Forgettable Productions called The Greatest Plays Ever Written By Nick Stokes and another at iDiOm Theatre in Bellingham called The City of Crooked Teeth. Both were new works, which was a new experience for me. It’s pretty cool to be able to turn to the playwright and ask “How did you picture that room/space/day/etc?” These shows were also my first two coming out of college, so it was my first chance to really test what I learned. Both were real emotional roller coasters as I tried to gain my footing out here in the real world, but I’m very pleased with the results and everyone I worked with was so wonderful. I honestly can’t even describe how amazing and talented all the people are. I have yet to have a negative experience.
Today is focus for Equivocation, which is a co-production we’re doing with Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It’s a huge show with a lot of lights so I’m nervous. I think this will really test everything I learned working on Opus. It may prove I’m not as ready as I thought. However, I’m not assisting this time so I’ll get to watch L.B. and the designer, Chris Akerlind, work and soak up as much knowledge as possible while helping where I can. Wish us luck!

Digging Out

Notes from the desk of Christy Denny, Literary Intern

I work best when I’m organized. But when life gets crazy, organization is the first to go..and I have to admit that things have gotten a little crazy lately. I realized recently that it looked like a tsunami had hit my poor little intern desk. So it was time to reorganize. To fill you in on what my first two months as the Literary Intern have been like, here’s a look at the various artifacts I cleaned:

“The Art of Quartet Playing: The Guarneri Quartet in Conversation with David Blum” and “A Handbook of Music Terms”: My first week or so, I researched for Opus. This is our first show on the Leo K stage this season, and it’s about a successful string quartet. As a musical neophyte, I dove into the classical music world, learning everything from “What does ‘allegro’ mean?” (told you, neophyte right here) to “How much money does a successful quartet make?” (Hint: More than I do). I then put all of this info (and more!) into a 25ish page dramaturgical packet that I gave to the actors at the first rehearsal.

Tech Schedule for The 39 Steps: But wait! Before Opus began rehearsals, we opened our first show on the Bagley Wright stage, The 39 Steps. I had a ball assisting director Maria Aitken and tour director Nevin Headley, who are two talented, accomplished, warm artists. This production is the tour of the Broadway show. It premiered at La Jolla Playhouse, but the company did tweaking and tech rehearsals at the Rep. I assisted Maria and Nevin for about two weeks: taking notes, reminding them of what they wanted to rehearse, etc. They are both fabulous, the show is fabulous, and the actors are fabulous—therefore, this experience was fabulous.

A Notebook of Many, Many, Many Opus Notes: Two days after The 39 Steps opened, rehearsals for Opus began. I assisted my super-talented supervisor Braden Abraham as he directed. It was so much fun to be in the room discussing the play with Braden and the wonderful actors, watching the actors try new things, and taking mine and Braden’s notes during runs and previews.

Various books on William Shakespeare and King James I: Woah. How do we go from The 39 Steps to quartets to 17th century England? Because our next production is Equivocation, which revolves around Shakespeare and the politics of James’s court. I excitedly indulged my “I’m a nerd for history” side by writing some articles for the various publications that go out to audiences.

Scripts. Lots and lots of scripts: I know. Shocking. The literary intern has a lot of scripts. And being a Nerd, I love it. What’s exciting is the breadth of scripts I’ve read—they tackle almost every subject in almost every genre by writers from all over the country. I love being in the rehearsal room so much, but I also love the days when I say, “Hey, I’m going to go to a café and read.”

So there you have it. The library books have been returned, the papers and notes are filed, and the scripts are in organized piles. My desk looks relatively sane.

…………for now……………..

Today, I have officially been an intern at Seattle Rep for one month

And oh what a month it’s been. Moving 3,000 miles from family and friends for an internship that pays next to nothing in a city that you’ve never seen before—it was a big, crazy step for me. I’m not sure my head has stopped spinning just yet.
It doesn’t help that things in education land (as public programs manager Fran refers to our little world) move about one million miles a minute. In just 31 short days, I’ve experienced a sold out student matinee (850 middle and high school students here for The 39 Steps just one week after I started), a consortium of Washington State’s most prominent arts educators and funders, a meeting of Seattle high school principals and arts education advocates, a meeting of the SRO (Seattle Repertory Organization, our great volunteer group, several post-play discussions, and countless meetings with Rep staff, teaching artists, classroom teachers, parents, and students. And with another sold out student show (this time for Equivocation), classroom workshops, a playwriting residency, and study guide and curriculum creation for Fences and An Illiad all on the agenda for November and December, I’m not expecting things to slow down any time soon.
It’s a good thing that Fran, Scott, and Andrea, my fellow education staff, are funny, passionate and just downright awesome people to work with. It’s also nice to know that just about all of programs we do here, from matinees to residencies to The Center School Intensive to Bringing Theatre Into the Classroom (all of which I’m sure I’ll expound upon later) really are all about the kids—remembering that totally makes the hard work worth it.
And on the days when "doing it for the kids" just won’t cut it? Well, apparently it’s pretty easy to find a cup of coffee in this town.

From Sarah Roquemore, Education Intern

This Is Why I Love What I Do

We'll be bringing you thoughts, notions, missives and other various and sundry items from all the inretsn here at Seattle Rep this year. Getting us kicked off with his first meditation on interning at Seattle Rep is Mike Bowers, one of our two Stage Management Interns:

I came into this internship unsure of whether or not I wanted to continue as a stage manager. I had worked on a show this summer that had made me seriously question if I loved it enough to continue putting up with bad attitudes, not feeling appreciated, and the general wear and tear of doing shows.

Then I had six weeks off, where I did nothing but stay up late, sleep in, and hang out with friends and family: Not the best way to prepare for a new rehearsal process in a place unlike any other that I have worked.

So the rehearsal process for Opus was a little bit rough for me. There are moments where there’s nothing to do but sit and watch as the director works through a particular moment with the actors, and the stage management table remains quiet. I found those moments to be incredibly frustrating, as I am one of those people who is used to multitasking.

And then tech happened, and it all came into focus for me. This was the first time that I’ve worked in a union house, so I wasn’t responsible for setting props and placing spike tape and the other minutiae that would drive me crazy on other shows. I was able to focus on the big picture. Watching transitions to see what would work and what wouldn’t. Making sure that the actors had everything that they needed before they entered the stage. Helping the wheel turn, as it were.

And that is why I do this. I have a love of being helpful and useful that only gets put to use when I am backstage during the run of show. So, as I continue to run this show and prepare to work on others throughout the season, I had a better understanding of where I am in this field, and where I’m going.

Now. If only I had worked lined up after this already…

The More You Know!

Ian Chant, Your Friendly Neighborhood Communications Intern here with our long overdue 2009-2010 Seattle Rep Interns Inaugural Blog Post.

Like most of the interns, I've been here for a couple of months, and I've learned one heck of a lot, and not just about writing press releases. Writing copy for our lobby signage and articles for Deeper Look gives me an excuse to spend a lot of my days doing research, which is a lot like homework if homework was a lot of fun (all together now: NEEERRRRRDDDD!). As tends to be the case in research, the most interesting parts of have been the bits of information you pick up in the periphery.

For instance, writing about The 39 Steps, I started out researching author John Buchan, who wrote the original novel. From there, I learned about the Governors General of Canada, holdovers from Canada's days as a British colony who carry out the ceremonial duties of British royalty in Canada. Then I spent a while giggling at Canada, because they still have these Governors General. I also came to the realization that if I am ever granted a title as awesome as His Excellency The Right Honourable Lord Tweedsmuir, I can probably die a happy man.

With Equivocation coming up later this month, I've spent this week knee deep in Jesuit history. I got to interview Fr. Jack Bentz, a Jesuit priest, theatre veteran, and really awesome guy. Then I started doing my homework, and the hits just kept on coming. I learned about James I of England, and by extension the King James Bible, the profoundly scary King James Only evangelical movement, witch hunting guidebooks like James' own Daemonologie, and, by an accidental click through, LeBron James. I learned about the history of the Catholic Church and the sordid world of the popes - a pope who kept his own private zoo, a pope who was murdered by the husband of the woman he was sleeping with, and my favorite, Pope Stephen, who had the pope prior to him exhumed, put his corpse on trial, posthumously excommunicated him, and then had the body thrown into a river. And that's not even touching on the anti-popes, which is also a title I would like to have at some point.

The point of all this being- learning is fun. Learning weird, unexpected things is especially fun. And I'm getting to do a lot of that here. I hope everyone else is having as much fun as I am - check in next week and you can find out. For now, I'm going to go put that Eagles Greatest Hits CD back on, because that's just how we roll here in marketing.