Friendly Neighborhood Education Intern - Update 2

What it is home slices,

While other interns around the Rep are heading into the final stages of their internship, I am just getting started with the second leg of my tour of duty in the Education Department.

Earlier this month the spring semester at the The Center School (for more info on TCS see my previous blog entry) began and for us here in Education that means the beginning of the juggernaut-goliath- beast that is Drama Intensive. With the Playwriting Project freshly under my belt I am ready to tackle (not unlike this guy I tackled during the Rep Thanksgiving day touch football game –see attached photo) head on the juggernaut- goliath- beast.

Drama Intensive is our hallmark theater program with TCS. The program is divided into two classes: a performance/ rehearsal section (taught by Scott Koh) and a design section (taught by Jess Smith), that work together to bring to life a new full length piece of live theatre. I get the distinct pleasure of assisting on both classes. It is without question the coolest part of my job.

You may be asking yourself, “Hey where does boss lady, Andrea Allen, fit into all of this?” Good question. The boss lady herself serves as master playwright in this exciting process. In year’s past Allen has done adaptations of plays like the restoration comedy School for ScandalMy Life is Greek Tragedy. This year’s piece is inspired by the ancient Greek stories of Pandora, Persephone, and Penelope. The currently untitled play is also born out the students’ personal stories and improvisational scene work done in the classroom. On top of all that goodness, Scott and I are composing original music for the show (see below for more details). I think it is safe to say that this year’s Drama Intensive is going to mother of all Drama Intensives, and if not, it will surly be the most rocking.

In other education intern news, I have had the entire week off from the kids because of mid-winter break. As much as I miss being in class and working on the play, I had the opportunity for new adventures this past week. Yesterday Jacque, rock star communications intern, and I visited Seattle Pacific University for a career/intern fair. We proudly represented the Rep among a hundred or so different companies, programs, and internships. As if talking to prospective interns and patrons of the Rep wasn’t awesome enough, we also got free food and I high-fived a card board cut out of local weatherman Steve Poole (for my sake and yours, I hope Jacque does not attach the picture of this event. I think will save us all a lot of trouble and embarrassment. Just take my word on this one). [Sorry Chris...I couldn't help it. Yes my friends, this is Chris with a cutout of the local weather guy.]

Today, Scott and I commandeered the PONCHO rehearsal hall to hash out some songs for DI. We rocked it old school on a tape recorder with Scott banging on the keys and me doing my thing on the 12 string. So far we have about four sketches of songs and musical themes. Our goal is to give each story its own theme. I am looking forward to presenting our tunes to our in class band of students when school picks up again next week.

There you have it, the quick and dirty update from friendly neighborhood education intern. Questions, comments, or concerns feel free to hit me back at chrisd@seattlerep.org.

As always I remain,

-Chris D.-