Arts Day

February 1, 2012. Seattle Repertory Theatre. 6:30am.

In the dark and drizzle of pre-dawn, I met up with Corey (the costuming intern) and Jon (the visiting Yale fellow) and we all piled in Managing Director Benjamin Moore’s car. Our destination: Arts & Heritage Day at the state capitol in Olympia, organized by the Washington State Arts Alliance.

We arrived just in time to grab some coffee and attend an orientation session. Though I was familiar with a similar event in Missouri (my home-state), I appreciated the opportunity to expand my understanding of Washington state issues. Then, equipped with a rundown of arts-related bills under consideration, a map of the capitol, and Seattle Rep swag to give away, we headed out to do some seriously-awesome advocacy work!

Advocating for the arts always makes me feel empowered. There is something about walking through a rotunda on my way to meet with a legislator that makes me believe I am making a difference. It helps that I passionately believe the central message of the day: arts have a positive effect on engagement, education, and the economy.

Throughout the morning, I attended meetings with fellow representatives from a variety of cultural organizations. Legislators seemed very receptive to our message and most had a story to share about how the arts had positively impacted their constituents. At the noon luncheon, it was exciting to see numerous senators, representatives, and aides that dropped by to show their support.

The afternoon found us in more meetings, with some free time here and there to check out the Capitol Gift Shop (coloring book of President Obama, anyone?) and the nearby lake. Who knew that Capitol Lake is infested with New Zealand Mud Snails?!

Discussing the events of the day as we drove back to Seattle, our car-ride discussion turned into an animated discussion of the future of arts funding, especially government support. In this climate of tough budget propositions and deep cuts to the arts, it will take many more people adding their voices to ensure that elected leaders support funding and policies that allow people to enjoy, participate in, and benefit from the arts.

I’m proud to have been part of Arts & Heritage Day but will also be looking for other opportunities to share the message: theater and the arts are essential.

-- Melissa Fagan, Arts Management Intern

Ready, Set, Tech!

As a stage management intern at the Rep, much of my schedule is cyclical. For each show I work on, the stage management team has about a week of prep before rehearsals. We then have 3-4 weeks of rehearsals before going into tech. Next come previews, opening night, and finally the actual run of the show.

Right now I am in the final week of rehearsal for I Am My Own Wife, gearing up for tech. This is my first show this season in the Leo K, which is the Rep’s smaller space. In the smaller theatre the stage management team is compromised of only an Equity stage manager and an intern; there is no Equity Assistant Stage Manager. Because of this, I get to have more responsibilities. In addition to my normal duties, I am in charge of tracking all of the props and costumes. I also create and update a variety of paperwork- the props list, props preset, and deck running list among others.

Tech starts this Sunday, which for me will start at 9:00 a.m. when I will have prop check-in with the Master Carpenter. This involves going through the prop list item by item and handing over all of the props that we have been using in rehearsal. He then can organize them and have them ready to go once we begin tech later in the day. The stage manager and I will then check with the rest of the crew to make sure everything is going well for them, and to see if we can answer any questions. At noon we have the safety walk, which will give everyone the basic lay of the land and emergency procedures. The one actor will then get into costume, and somewhere around 12:30 p.m. we will start teching at the top of the show. After the dinner break, tech will continue until midnight, at which point the entire design team will have a production meeting. After the meeting, I start the “end of day” process: cleaning up the green room, distributing schedules for the following day, etc., which puts the end of my day somewhere around one in the morning.

The tech process can be pretty crazy, but it is also amazing to watch a show really take shape with the addition of all technical elements. Even though as a stage management intern you watch a show countless times in the rehearsal hall, seeing the show for the first time on stage is still really moving. But before long this show too will close, and it will be on to the next show and the next cycle.

-- Lisa Armstrong, Stage Management Intern

How to create a teaching residency…

How to create a teaching residency…

Necessary Ingredients:
• teaching artist (preferably 2 or more)
• great play (or theatrical text)
• supportive supervisor
• theatrical organization renowned for educational success
• two groups of excited and energized students

Steps:
• plan curriculum
• find guinea pigs (a.k.a., teachers willing to let you take over their class for two weeks)
• teach residency to brilliant youth

After I started working at Seattle Rep as the Education Intern, one of my first assignments was to work with another teaching artist (in this case, last year’s Education Intern, Ana Maria Campoy) to create a new in-school residency based around August Wilson’s play Fences. Ana Maria and I met countless times to plan our curriculum (oftentimes over drinks, which makes for the BEST creative process).

Once we had mapped out our basic plan of attack, we sat down with theatrical education genius Scott Koh, Director of School Programs at the Rep. Scott helped us fine-tune some things, and found us two willing teachers at local Roosevelt High School. Ana Maria, Scott and I met with the teachers, pitched the residency, and set up our first class time.

The next two weeks were a blur. I had such a blast being in the classroom with these amazing students, and teaching Fences, which is such a brilliant text. Not only that, but I feel such a sense of ownership over this curriculum. It was an awesome opportunity to create something like this from scratch, and then get to put it into practice. Only at Seattle Rep!

-- Matt Giles, Education Intern

Seattle Rep: First Impressions

I have only been at Seattle Rep just over a month, but I already feel so…in it. I am the Artistic Literary intern, and after one month I have been a part of all artistic and season planning meetings, I read and write reports for five new plays a week, and I am currently in tech rehearsals as assistant director for Circle Mirror Transformation. I have even picked up a few night shifts at the front desk! If there is anything I know as of now, it is that there is no shortage of jobs to get done here at Seattle Rep.

As a playwright, this internship is already providing me with useful tools to apply to my work. On a completely basic level, the internship gave me the opportunity to move across the country and live in a new city. The change in location has automatically fueled my creativity and brought freshness to my writing. Reading new plays has also been a great way to expose myself to the kind of work playwrights are putting out RIGHT now, and has given me an insider’s view of what works theatrically and what does not. I am given a real say and feel that my opinions are heard and respected. I write up a script report for each play I read and am afforded the opportunity to recommend the plays I really enjoy. There is significant trust placed upon me, and the staff treats me as a young professional who can handle important tasks.




Over the course of my internship, I will assistant direct three plays: Circle Mirror Transformation, How to Write a New Book for the Bible, and Red. Working so closely on Circle Mirror Transformation with Andrea Allen, the director, has shown me what it is like to be a part of the full rehearsal process of a show at a professional, regional theater. Up until this point, I have only interned with organizations that provide play development and workshopping, so finally being a part of a fully-realized production has exposed me to a world I did not know previously.

Coming from New York City, I was not sure of what to expect from Seattle’s theater community. However, I have been floored by the talent, drive, and giving nature of the artists I have met and worked with thus far.

…and to think, this is only the beginning!

-- Christine J. Schmidt, Artistic Literary Intern

When I was asked to write this blog post, it was suggested to me that I use it to give current and future interns a look into what my job backstage entails. Since I started as one of the Rep as one of two stage management interns in August, I have been asked what my job backstage is roughly 10 times. And honestly, I still don’t have an easy, or good, answer to the query.

Most people wake up with a reasonable expectation of what their workday will hold for them. In fact, many of my non-theatre friends find it unnerving if they don’t have some inkling of what tasks their bosses will ask them to complete that day. This was never a career characteristic that appealed to me, however. That wasn’t for lack of trying. After spending five years working in a large library (resulting in my uncanny knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System) and another three years spent as an architecture student, I was fully prepared for a comfortable, predictable work week. I’m still not sure what made me take the leap of faith away from architecture to theatre my Junior year in college. All I knew, is that I was going to throw myself into it full force and not look back.

Two years later, I find myself sitting backstage during a dress rehearsal of Seattle Rep’s production of The Brothers Size trying to form the words to explain my job. A job I love, but that seems to always escape general summary. The challenge of stage management is that your job will vary greatly depending on the show and the people you are working with. As an intern for the Rep, I have been incredibly lucky to experience three shows so far, that each differs greatly in the job requirements former.

For The Brothers Size, for example, my involvement in the tech process went something like this:
The first day of tech, at around 9am, I met up with the ASM, Props Master, and Master Properties for prop check-in. This is the time that the 50 or so tires that were used as props and scenery in The Brothers Size were moved into the theatre. All the tires except for about 6 were set in a pile up stage. The thing to know about this pile is that the actors climb on it, stand on it, sleep on it, take tires off of it to sit on, or stack into various shapes as needed. This was not your ordinary pile of tires. It was a very specific structurally planned pile that had taken about three weeks to work out in the rehearsal hall. The challenge of the next two hours was to recreate the same pile of tires on a distinctively different stage.

The main responsibility of the ASM and intern during a Bagley Wright tech is to keep track of everything happening backstage and any movement of props and scenery onstage. We direct the crew on where to restore props to when we rerun scenes, update the deck run list with any fly, motor, quick changes, prop handoffs, and where actors are entering and exiting and make sure their pathways are clear for their exits. For this particular show, I was put in charge of tracking the movement of the tires and rail moves while the ASM tracked costume pieces and motor cues.

-ASHLEY ROLPH, stage management intern
Read more from Ashley’s world back stage later.

Farwell Letter - Being Trusted at the Rep

I honestly cannot believe it is almost over. When Diana reminded me that it was my turn to take a stab at the intern blog she said it might be interesting for you eager readers, and the current interns to hear about my experience on a whole at Seattle Rep. Hearing it put that way sure threw everything into perspective and highlighted the fact that I will soon be leaving this daily activity I’ve come to know as my job.

Now I realize “job” might not seem like the most romantic way to put it, but let me give you a sense of what being an employee at the Rep is. I am one of the two Artistic Interns, and as Casting has to happen before the season gets started, I was the first intern on contract. The very first day I walked in I met my boss (Erin Kraft, Casting Director), shown the copy machine, bathroom and my very own desk. About ten minutes into my first day of work, I was sitting in a meeting with Erin, Braden Abraham (associate Artistic Director) and Jerry Manning (Artistic Director). I was excited to say the least, but didn’t want to seem like too much of an eager puppy. Then I was handed a set of keys. I didn’t realize until later how symbolic this little necessity was, but I’ll get to that.

As the days and weeks went by I learned my job, got lost numerous times in the winding back passageways of the building, (I’m not going to lie, I still do) and had many conversations with Rep employees. I’d talk to Shawn who operates the front desk in the morning, I’d talk to other interns as they trickled in, or to designers, or to Jerry, or to visiting artists and to most people that walked by my desk. I began to realize hierarchy was basically undetectable inside the building. Though I have definitely made my fair share of copies during this internship, I have also been included in important discussions about season planning, in the casting of this season’s plays in reading and discussing new plays submitted to the theatre for consideration. Basically, I’ve been given the responsibilities of a trusted employee of the Rep. Jerry likes to refer to this as “giving the keys to the kids.”

Early on, I realized that this internship was sink or swim. At the time, the idea of screwing something up and being known as that intern that ruined the Rep was perhaps more than a bit daunting. Now, thankfully, I know I was never being tested. I was being trusted. The staff at the Rep respected me-the-little-intern just as they respect Mr. Jerry Manning. To be the low guy on the totem pole and respected as a strong base is a priceless and humbling experience. I’ll always appreciate it.

As I near the end of my time here at the Rep I have not only come to respect and appreciate the institution that it is, but also what it instills in me. I am proud to say that I have worked for Seattle Rep and that I can still (for a bit) say that it is my job. I have a greater sense of pride for the work of theatre, an undeniable respect for my colleagues and a better understanding of the kind of artist I want to be. And I will take that with me. For now, not forever, farewell.

Sara Rademacher
Casting Intern
Seattle Repertory Theatre 2010-2011

Half-Way Through & Still Kickin'

Last night was the opening night of the The K of D, an urban legend and tonight is the show at Rainer Beach high school. Which means two nights in a row the interns are all coming together to support each other and all the hard work we have been doing at the Rep. We become more and more immersed in our jobs and it's nice to touch base.


I am just past being half-way done with my internship and already feel I have changed in many ways since of I have been here. I found myself speaking with two designers last night about when reviews will be coming out for The K of D, an urban legend. I knew who would write the reviews and when. I have more and more faces to put with the names I see everyday in the office.



I have been working as a Lobby Manager in the Front of House and at the Front Desk. Both have been great opportunities for me to see the theatre outside of the External Relations bubble. The staff here is so huge. At first it was overwhelming, now I find it full of life. There is much to learn here, not just skills to add to your resume or personal growth, but also things to learn about each unique person who is at the Rep. I am looking forward to the second half of my internship. I know there will be more obstacles, but there is much that has been done so far.

-DIANA FENVES, Communications Intern