A Day in the Life: Seattle Rep Interns

How to create a teaching residency…

2011-11-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

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

2011-10-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-03T12:55:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

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'

2011-01-20T10:58:00.001-08:00

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

Changing Roles & Scaring Highschoolers

2011-01-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

Working in Production as the Production Management Intern, I’ve always thought I was missing something because I’d never been a Stage Manager. That’s how most people end up doing what I’m doing. I’ve dabbled in almost every other area of theatre, but never Stage Management. So it came to me as a great surprise when I found myself fulfilling the role of Assistant Stage Manager for the Roosevelt Playwriting Project.

The Roosevelt Playwriting Project is an annual class we do at Roosevelt Highschool in which three highschoolers write ten minute plays and three Seattle Rep teaching artists direct the playwrites’ classmates in the plays, culminating in a performance on the Leo K. I started out as the Production Manager for this project, planning and running production meetings, writing the tech schedule, and even making some props.

And then Friday, December 10th came. What’s inherently fun and stressful about the Playwriting Project is you do everything from focusing the lights, to programming cues, to teching the shows, to dress rehearsal to performance in less than twelve hours. It is a great view into the process of putting on a show in an Equity house. Now, Production Managers normally don’t do a ton of hands-on work during a day like this. They are there in case something goes wrong, but this project is an exception. Goodbye Amy Beth the Production Manager, hello Amy Beth the Assistant Stage Manager and child student wrangler.
Assistant Stage Managing was much more instinctual than I thought it would be. But it was surprisingly the child wrangling that turned out differently than I expected. Apparently I accidently frightened the students early on. During their initial tour I stressed to them that when onstage they could not move sets or props unless it was during their scene or they were instructed to do so as a scene change by the master carpenter. I guess I stressed it a little too much, because the students were so incredibly careful they even asked about picking up their own personal items when they were in the rehearsal hall! But the entire project went without any big glitches, and their was overall much laughter. And maybe it’s not a bad thing to scare a couple of highschoolers every once in awhile.

-AMY BETH, Production Management Intern

Jumping Right In: My First Months at SRT

2010-12-03T12:14:00.000-08:00

I was ready, and it was time to go to go west. I had never been to Washington State before, let alone Seattle. As I got off the plane, I was greeted by a wonderfully characteristic (and now quite endearing) light grey sky. I took a taxi up the hill on Queen Anne where I had rented a room in someone’s house, and two short days later began the walk down the hill for my first day at the Rep. As I walked down the hill, I saw the rooftop of the Rep, the building that would become my home, far sooner than I ever expected.

I was greeted by my wonderful supervisor, the Design Associate for the Rep, L.B. Morse. I was given a tour of the building.The Rep has facilities for everything I could imagine; I had never been in a theater so large with so many resources. I was shown my desk in the production office overlooking the shop floor and was quickly given my first job: sorting and inventorying the lighting template stock from last season.

Three days later I was in my first focus call for “Three Tall Women,” with the designer Allen Hahn and L.B. Morse assisting. The next day, tech started and I was there for every moment of it. We usually had nine a.m. work calls, tech that ran from noon to midnight (on our 10/12 days), and production meetings that ran until 12:30 a.m. or later. I was at the Rep more than I was at home, and I couldn’t have been happier.

Getting to see this beautiful show come together, helping to run worknotes, doing lighting paperwork updates, communicating with the union crew, and talking with the designer through the whole tech made me a big part of this process. When the show finally opened two and a half weeks later, I was ecstatic.

Immediately we began prepping our next show, “Dancing at Lughnasa,” and a week and a half later, I was in another tech, this time in the Bagley Wright Theatre, tracking follow spot cues and helping the designer (and my supervisor) L.B. Morse in any way I could. Another gorgeous show went up, and finally, with both shows open, I returned to working normal office hours and am currently in the storyboarding stage for a design project based on Connor McPherson’s play “The Seafarer.”

I feel so lucky to be able to be a part of this wonderful theatre and its community. The staff and volunteer organization, the SRO, has been incredibly giving and supportive of the interns. Additionally, getting to see the Rep’s beautiful productions come together and being a part of the design process has been one of the best experiences of my life as a designer. And I can’t wait for January to roll around so I can jump in to tech as the lighting assistant for “K of D!” Thanks for reading, and hopefully, see you at the Rep!

-MIKE FABA, lighting design intern

The Quickening

2010-03-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

We're still accepting applications for interns for Seattle Repertory Theatre's 2010-2011 season. Interns play vital supporting roles at Seattle Rep in production, artistic, marketing and throughout the organization, and our paid internships make terrific stepping stones to careers in theatre. You've still got a chance to get yourself in the running, but that won't be true for much longer, so get intouch with us now with your letter of intent, resume and two letter of reference. All applications must be e-mailed or postmarked no later than next Monday, March 15th. To learn more about the great internship program at Seattle Rep, including how to apply, visit our website here.

Internship Updates

2010-02-26T13:11:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, Seattle Rep will not be offering internships in Props, Painting or Technical Production for the 2011 season. Our thanks to everyone who applied to these positions - we wish you the best of luck in finding positions that suit your skills.

Meanwhile, we are quickly approaching our deadline for applications, and we still want to hear from you. We're especially looking for applicants for the awesome communications internship - if you like to talk and write about theatre and are passionate about bringing great work to terrific audiences, send in your application today. Learn more about the application process here.

Cute vs. $*%&

2010-02-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

We all know that one of the beauties of theatre is that it allows you to explore worlds different from your own. I am most definitely in the midst of that exploration as I assist director Wilson Milam on Glengarry Glen Ross. For those of you unfamiliar with David Mamet’s play, it examines the cutthroat world of sleazy salesmen, a world that is quite full of testosterone. Which is something that I myself am not full of.

I’ve really enjoyed working with Wilson and watching the extremely talented actors during our first week-and-half of rehearsals…but just to give myself a break from said testosterone, I Google Imaged the words “cute and cuddly” and thought I’d share with you my favorite result from page 1:

And now, back to the f#$(%*ing rehearsal room, as one of our dear salesmen would say.
--Christy Denny, Literary Intern

Now it’s all a blur…

2010-02-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

I’ll admit it. One of the most painful parts about being an intern is being available to your supervisors and waiting for jobs to come to you. That was what the majority of the first half of my internship consisted of. Although I was still discovering the wonderful lands of unions, equity and contracts, streamlining information into nifty Excel documents, and doing general research, looking back on a day to day basis, it wasn’t that much.

That has completely changed since I came back from my two week winter vacation. The primary reason behind my downtime was the fact that Seattle Rep produced two co-productions in the fall. Now that everything is in house for the second half of the season, my job has become much busier and much more fulfilling. Between all the craziness that is Glengarry Glen Ross, prepping for Fences, fully production managing the Roosevelt Playwriting Project, and Elisabeth (the Production Manager) letting me dive into some Stage Management stuff among other things, my hands have been pretty full. The creation and mailing (with general supervision) of contracts is now also completely in my world, so much so that Angie (the Assistant Production Manager) officially moved the contracts file organizer to my desk.

The PWP was an absolutely amazing experience. I’ve been itching to get back into organizing and managing projects like this ever since I left college. The event itself essentially became and intern-run project with all of our supervisors stepping back and letting us run the basic logistics. It allowed me to collaborate directly with everyone in the Production Department, diving into our prop and costume storage spaces, figuring out crew schedules, and really showing me hands on what it takes to put on a show in a large scale theatrical environment. We were introduced into the students, spiked, focus, teched, had a preview, and opened the show all in one very short day. Trying to balance scheduling with required crew breaks, the need to run through cues, and just getting through all the shows created some conflicts, but we got through everything, and by the end of the day, the show ran smoothly. It is truly awesome when you’ve prepared for something for months and then you see it all come to fruition in one glorious and tiring day.

-Krystin Matsumoto, Production Management Intern

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2010-02-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

This is actually my first blog post ever in my life, how thrilling right? Well I’m Rachael one of the two stage management interns here at Seattle Rep this season. I am from Seattle so yes, I am living with my parents which is really helpful with the stipend amount we receive as inters. Not so helpful with the 45min drive into the city and the $75 a month parking pass, but hey I love it so it’s worth it.

Since this is my first blog post I should probably catch you up on what I have been doing so far: The first show I worked on was The 39 Steps, a Broadway national tour that came to us from La Jolla before starting their tour in New Haven. As my first show as an intern at the Rep, I'll be honest - it was really scary. Learning the “Rep way” was different than my college way. The next show that came to us was Equivocation from Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which offered a totally different experience.

Currently I am in my third week of Glengarry Glen Ross my first show of the season put on by the Rep. And again with a new show comes new people, new ways of looking at things, new complications, and new learning experiences. But that’s what its all about, learning and growing right? I think the thing I have learned most from my time at the Rep is things change. And not that I didn’t know it before, but really it’s not that just one thing can change - everything can change and from that change you have to adapt. Especially in stage management - you have to change so that you can work well and accommodate actors, designers, directors, crew members, wardrobe, everyone. The thing I love about stage management is you get to be a part of every aspect of the show and work with every person involved in the show, that is where the change happens because everyone does things in a different way and it is your job to accommodate for all those different ways of doing things and make them flow together. So far that’s been challenging because I hated change. But I’m growing and trying to embrace it.

The Training Wheels Come Off

2010-01-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

I am currently running work notes in the Leo K. Theatre all by myself! Well, the wonderful crew is here but my designer, Robert Aguilar, is not. I’ve found through this tech that I still have a lot to work on but it has been awesome to get a sense of what being an ALD will really be like. I think I explained in my last blog post that on Opus I was really just learning and then Equivocation was awesome to watch but it was kind of a different situation. Speech & Debate has kind of been my debut and I haven’t totally tripped over my frilly white dress yet.
I’ve encountered some new things that hadn’t come up before like creating paperwork for Owen Sharpe, our illustrious stagehand so he can change the colors on some booms during the show. I also got to try to keep up with some intense scroller moves during our big dance number and that is definitely something I need to work on. I’ve also been entrusted with some basic focusing notes like adjusting shutter cuts. At first this freaked me out because it felt like someone had handed me their hemophiliac infant and said “don’t break it”, like I was responsible for accurately executing their design, but its not as big of a deal as I thought. My supervisors would probably laugh if they read this since it is just a shutter cut but I’m just dramatic like that.
All in all it’s a great show to be making my debut with. The cast is mostly close to my age. It’s very much a comedy. Tech has really just been a lot of fun. You hear a lot of wisecracking and a lot of picking on each other. It helps keep the tension away.
Next we’re moving on to Glengarry Glen Ross which has one of the coolest sets I’ve ever seen. It’s going to make lighting more of a fiasco but our designer is Geoff Korf and from what I’ve heard he’s brilliant so I’m pumped to watch him work.
I’m going to go adjust some shutter cuts now.

A Different Energy

2010-01-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

It is constantly amazing to me how two shows in the same theatrical space can be so completely different. This summer I worked on The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abrigdged) and A Midsummer Night's Dream in Pennsylvania. I absolutely loved the first show, enjoying every moment that I spend in rehearsal. The second show, however, made me want to poke my eyes out and stuff them in my ears. And yet they rehearsed in the same place, performed in the same place.
Opus and Speech & Debate are similar. The two shows are so different in style, in content, in energy, and yet, unlike this summer, I love both of them equally. Opus had a more serious feel, with older actors, and a more cerebral approach. Speech & Debate is all about play. The cast is younger, and the rehearsals are structured around playing to find what works.
One approach isn't better than the other, they are merely different. And they are equally fantastic. As I continue in the process of rehearsal for Speech & Debate, I look forward to seeing what awaits me as I work on Fences and how that energy differs from the two I've experienced so far.
- Mike Bowers, Stage Management Intern

Get Your 5-7-5 On, Education

2010-01-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

In dreary winter,
playwriting residency
is a ray of light.

Please Don't Sue Us, Discovery Channel!

2010-01-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

You have family traditions. I have family traditions. One of my family’s traditions is that at our Denny gatherings, we watch Mythbusters. You know, the TV show where they take a popular myth and test it out to either prove or disprove. Since the holidays are about honoring family traditions, I would like to honor the Denny Mythbusting fascination by sharing a few myths I believed about Seattle/interning at the Rep that were busted:

“It Will Be So So So So So Hard to Live a Healthy Life on $200 a week.”
BUSTED! Ok, I’m no financial planner, but I do admit that it helped that last year I saved up some money to spend this year. So I did have a little cushion, but I was not rolling around in excess money. Still though, I find the rents in Seattle to be slightly cheaper than NY, DC, etc. And the generous Rep staff and volunteers constantly provide us with free (healthy!) food, living supplies, and entertainment... so the $200/week is quite doable (there are also paid front-of-house opportunities at the Rep).

“I Will Be So Busy at the Rep That I’ll Have No Time for Outside Theatre Projects/Meeting Other Seattle Artists.”
BUSTED! Life is super busy, but once you establish your routine it’s easy to find time for your own artistic projects. My wonderful supervisors in artistic land encourage me to do this, and give me the Holy Grail of young artists: Free Space. I directed a short play for the fabulous Northwest Playwrights Alliance, a talented group that performs monthly at the Rep, and then I led a month-long workshop in which I worked on one play with two casts: one in a rehearsal room, and one in an environmental “found space.” In 2010, I’ll direct another short for NPA, a full-length reading for Seattle Playwrights Collective, and I coerced my co-interns into creating a docu-theatre piece with me that we’re going to audition for a performance in an evening of experimental theatre. I love being able to assistant direct at the Rep, and then be able to put things I learn into practice.

“After I Move to Seattle, It Will Rain Hard Every. Day. Of. My. Life.”
BUSTED! I admit, I was expecting a daily downpour—and basically everyone I know on the East Coast seems to think the same thing. But not true. Yes, November – February tend to be gray…but unless you’re from a warm weather area, you’re probably dealing with darker conditions in winter also. And the winter rain in Seattle isn’t typically hard, it just kind of spits at you. But the rest of the year is pretty normal weather—there’s actually less total rainfall here than in NY or DC. When the sun is out, Seattle is GORGEOUS. Lakes, snow capped mountains, Evergreens, my new friend Mt. Rainier… Seattle is a hilly city, and the views from the top are amazing. So you can gawk at gorgeousness and build fierce leg muscles for free.

“I Must Drink Coffee In Order to Live in Seattle.”
BUSTED! What was it Mr. Ian Chant claimed in a previous blog? That Seattle will force you into coffee-drinking? Never fear. To those of you reading this who don’t drink coffee, I assure you that neither do I. I love tea, and Seattle has plenty of that also. So you can still go with people over to Café Zingaro, but instead you’ll enjoy a cup of Blue Eyes tea rather than some mocha frappa espresso half-and-half thing with skim and no whip.

Wait. Someone reading this doesn’t drink coffee, right?
… right?…Bueller….?

On Seminars

2010-01-06T10:08:00.000-08:00

As an intern at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, I participate in weekly seminars that focus on developing professional skills in a small group setting. Each Wednesday, all the interns gather, and Fran, the lovely intern coordinator, leads us in a discussion of some sort. We have had a visit from Jerry Manning, the producing artistic director, and we were scheduled to have a visit from Ben Moore, my supervisor. But, the week he was scheduled to appear in the intern seminar, he was out sick with the flu. When not hosting guests from various departments, the seminar focuses on things directly concerning the interns. Let's dissect yesterday's seminar. For the fall, all the interns were required to read A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. Then we had a round table discussion about the book. This book, published in 2005, posits a specific and not necessarily new theory. Namely, that as various left-brain oriented jobs leave the American workplace due to reasons the author lays down, Americans are moving into the "Conceptual Age" where right brain skills will be highly prized and necessary for success and achievement.

Pink then enumerates "six senses" that he feels can develop a a more evolved right brain , those six senses being design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. Now, let me say this: reading this book immediately raised a number of questions for me. The author splits the human brain into two spheres which function differently in regards to a number of stimuli. However, the author fails to acknowledge the fact that the brain needs both spheres to function at all. While an individual may be more adept usign the skills inherent to one half of his brain than the other, that does not mean that the other half of the brain is completely uselss to the individual. I became frustrated when reading the book because I view myself as someone who floats between both hemispheres of my brain. As a theater manager, it is important to me to use the detail-oriented skills that dwell in the left brain. I need to focus and understand each piece of a situation before being able to problem-solve for my organization. I need to be objective when dealing with sensitive situations rather than emotional so that I can select an outcome that is beneficial to as many co-workers as possible. However, at the same time, I am also an artist. I love to create dance theater pieces which allow me the full expression of my body regardless of the story I seek to tell. As an artist, I look at the world around me and see the interpersonal relationships among strangers. I search for the bigger picture. (Right now, I am very much into thinking galactically. Yes, galactically, as in, "How does this one action I have made affect anything that is going on in the universe?") I seek to relate to people not just on a personal level, but also on an emotional level. In this regard, I am very much a right brain individual. However, Pink does not acknowledge individuals such as myself. To him, there are only the right brain people, who will be the leaders of the free world in the new Conceptual Age, and then there are the left brain people who are slowly fading into obscurity. Clearly, I am a bit biased in regards to Pink's bifurcation of human individuals.

What about those of us who do not fit in either box? What about those of us who meander between boxes? What of us? During the intern discussion, my fellow interns pointed out that at some point, you have to choose one area and focus on that specifically. You have to hone your skills in one field so that you can excel. For the record, I do not agree with that statement. I think it's important to have a varied array of interests. I think it is highly important to, as Fran told me when describing Dana the TD here at the Rep, "be a jack of all trades but a master of none." Why is this important? Why do we need to use our whole brains rather than just the half that comes easiest to us? 1. Because that's the way humans are created. You have both halves of your brain. In order to function wholly, you need to use both spheres of your brain. You need to develop logic skills as well as your emotional, holistic skills. 2. It's like exercise. If you focus on only one side of your body without strengthening the other, you become unbalanced. While it may be easier to live in the right brain world, if one chooses to completely avoid any left brain activities, those left brain skills will never fully develop and it'll that much harder when you are required to use those skills. I don't think it is possible to have a position where you solely use the skills on one side of the brain. For better or worse, depending on your personal views, it is essential to use both halves of your brain. I think it is especially important in the theatre to use both halves of your brain. You need to have some understanding of those skills that are not your strong suit even if you have no desire to ever use those skills. The theatre is an industry of collaboration. It is an industry that is founded on community. While it is important to focus on what areas in which you can excel, it is equally important to understand the areas where you do not excel. It's a balancing act. I do not think it is justifiable to simply say, "I'm not good at these skills. Someone else do them." I think that there are ways of using right brain skills to look at and understand left brain problems and vice versa. I think that life is much more interesting when allow yourself to fail, but then learn how and why you failed. Try something different. Dare to be mediocre. I encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone and discover another side of yourself. A Whold New Mind is a book with a specific perspective, but I don't agree with that perspective. I recommend the book as it's an interesting read, but I think the author has a biased opinion about the rest of the world who do not live in his prescribed boxes.

Why is it so dark over here?

2009-12-16T14:51:00.000-08:00

I bring you another friendly greeting from the production side of the Rep where our main source of light comes from the lovely glow of the scene shop. My name is Krystin Matsumoto and I am this year’s Production Management intern. I am among those first interns who started way back at the beginning of September. At the end of my senior year in college, I had never expected or really planned to move to Seattle, but here I am. I completely uprooted my life in California and moved ever northward to pursue a career in something I’ve always loved to do.

Anyway, enough about my sad separation from my home state. Seattle Rep is a truly remarkable place to be interning at. Not only are the facilities unbelievable (especially when I was used to doing cheap, college, “guerilla” theatre as someone had put it), but what truly makes this organization great for me is the opportunity to work with a group of fantastic people. I look forward to the fact that I have to go to the Rep because of the people I work for. From discussions on everything theater and musical theater, to our infatuations with Joss Whedon, Aaron Sorkin, and Stephen Sondheim, to talking about science fiction, battling the evil gnomes that turn on and off my desk light and steal my office supplies, and bursting into song in the production management corner (yes, I’m serious) these people are talented, funny, and know how to run a theatre. Not to mention, my supervisors are actually legitimately interested in what I want to do in the future and are willing to help get me there. I’ve learned a great deal about contracts, artist relations, equity and unions, all of which I was completely unfamiliar with at the beginning of my internship. Although generally, on a daily basis I’m still learning “how to be an intern” as I attempt to take up as many projects as I can and learn how to occupy myself when there is downtime, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.
-Krystin Matsumoto, Production Management Intern

Things to Do in Seattle When You’re an Intern

2009-11-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-10-30T11:02:00.001-07:00

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.

Cue the Saved by the Bell Graduation Song

2009-05-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

From Kiki, Audience Development

Yesterday we wrapped our mainstage season with the closing of Breakin' Hearts. Carrie Fisher has left Seattle and we're gearing up for the final, final show of the season: our Drama Intensive play HAMLET(ish). Practically all of the interns are gone now. Some are headed to New York, others are living the dream in their home towns and some are staying in Seattle and remaining hopped up on coffee. But we made it. We did the dang thing.

I want to thank all of you for reading and I hope that this blog has been beneficial in your internship pursuit. Good luck to all future interns and applicants!

Remember: Theatre is worth it.

As a stage management intern, I did this. You might too!

2009-05-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

From Liz, Stage Management

I spent 30 minutes recording the rehearsal hotline the first time I did it, but now, while working on my third show here, I can hit all the buttons in about 5 seconds and record the schedule without looking at the script.

I have become unafraid of the Bagley PCP. I, um, like it.

I have been given tasks such as: “Go find (something I haven’s seen for awhile that’s probably buried under lots of stuff). It’s probably somewhere in the production office, the stage management office, or the green room. I think it’s gray.” AND I have succeeded.

I have gone from not even knowing how to get to McMenamin’s to spending 3 or 4 nights a week there. Yes, I admitted that.

I’m getting good at identifying people by the sound of their footsteps coming down the stairs by the Intern Cave—which is cool. I’m also getting to know who washes their hands after using the bathroom and who doesn’t, which is, well, unsettling.

Tips:
-Always take your keys when you go to make coffee in the green room.
-Always cut open the big coffee bags with scissors—the 3 minutes it takes you to go get scissors will more than make up for the 27 times you’ll have to wipe up spilled coffee grounds if you don’t.
-Be careful when trusting the Bagley crew on any non-work related matter.
-Go to Athina Grill on Queen Anne Ave.
-Be careful not to lock your keys in the Stage Management office. :) That’s easier to do than it sounds.
-Acquire lots of warm black things to wear backstage.
-Take a stopwatch and see how fast you can walk down the LOONG hallway from the stage management office to stage right in the Leo K. Intern fun!
-Don’t smell the sponges. Just disinfect them.

Well, that’s it for me! Congrats to future Rep interns; enjoy your season!!

"It Was A Scene." -Becca Leshin

2009-03-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

From Hillary, Casting Intern

My birthday is March 18th- the day after St. Patrick's Day. Festivities are often collapsed with the national day of drinking. This year, a new theatre company in town hosted at St. Paddy's Day fundraiser at the local bar. I walked in and realized that I knew everyone there and, in that moment, knew that my internship had come to its fullest fruition.

There were the actors from our shows, who plied me with birthday drinks. There were the actors who introduced themselves to me not knowing that I already knew their name from my extensive headshot sorting and because I've seen them on stages in town. There were the folks who are directing and acting in the festival I'm performing in during April. And then there were all the Repsters. It was an amazing evening, and I knew that it was a sign of my legitimacy in Seattle that I knew everyone there.

So what's a massive theatre party look like in the professional world? We casting folk were delicately prying actors for casting gossip while actors were not-as-delicately insisting how right they'd be for shows we haven't publically anounced yet. People discussed the woes of day jobs, the highs of recent performances and their hopes for Seattle theatre. Drinks were flowing and meeting-and-greeting was the m.o. If small talk isn't your bag, run away. Theatre networking is built on the quick chats over a cocktail as much as the time spent in rehearsal rooms, carpentry shops and theatre offices. It's in the socialest of settings where you learn about people's passions, their experiences and their attitudes. You learn who you would want to work with and who you would want to avoid. I believe that for me, life in theatre is the ultimate mixing of business and pleasure. For me, I can't imagine a better cocktail.

Carrie Fisher Likes Shiny Things

2009-03-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

From Kate, Technical Production Intern

Things have definitely slowed down here in production. Betrayal and Seafarer are up and running and the next two shows are not technically intense; seeing as Wishful Drinking is coming on a truck and Breakin’ Hearts and Takin’ Names does not seem to have a very large set. So we have been busy re-organizing electro-mechanical (it looks fantastic) and cleaning the shop, plus making some artwork from the walls of The Road to Mecca set. The walls were covered in glitter, and apparently someone got word that Carrie Fisher loves shiny things, so we made parts of the walls into artwork for her dressing room. Random, I know. Today, I got to make a quick model of the Carrie Fisher set, so that we have something to look at instead of drawings.

Now, I am just keeping myself occupied until my boss gets out of a meeting and can give me something to do. Which basically means I am watching scores for March Madness, looking for a job, and discussing pets with my other boss. It is quite productive. I realized that since we do not have much to do for the next shows, I am going to have to think of some projects that I can work on for the next five weeks, or I will be very bored. Maybe I will ask if I can work on my coffee table. As of right now, it is a table top sitting (not attached to) on top of a small side table. Sadly, this means it often tips over if you put weight on the outer edges. But it sounds like a good intern project. I would actually be able to use the tools in the shop, and I would get a cheap coffee table. Oh, to be an intern. Mollie has managed to inherit several pieces of furniture from the props department, so we get the task of moving them into her house today.

I'd Want To Live My Life Too

2009-03-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

From Kiki, Audience Development Intern

Another day, another blog. Here are some extra projects I've gotten to work on to spice up the old resume and keep it interesting around here:

1. We do these things called Warm Ups before our performances and the way we describe it is: a pre-show interactive workshop to get you into the mindset of the play. Yeah, you're drooling just thinking about it. Well I was given the opportunity to write, research and perform one. We're doing The Seafarer in the Bagley Wright Theatre and it is set in Baldoyle Ireland. So my Warm Up is called Talk Irish with Kelly (my more Irish sounding real first name) and I teach patrons how to perform an Irish Dialect. People seem to be loving it. I'm just glad that I (so far) haven't lost track of what I was saying and stood there mumbling like an idiot. But hey, I do this 5 more times, so keep your fingers crossed.

2. Our Communications Manager, Joanna, let me be in charge of our Lobby Displays. We have these huge double-sided pannels that we put background information on for our patrons to peruse before and after the show. So I got to go through all of our publication materials (Offstage, online and Encore, our program) and pull out the relevant information that I liked and kind of put it all together for Seafarer and Betrayal. Then our Graphic Design intern Andry took all of my copy and created these huge pieces of paper chock full of cool facts and designs. They look amazing, Andry is pretty awesome, and it's fun to watch patrons reading them night to night.

3. Other than that I've been proof reading up a storm, organizing Subscriber Backstage Tours, looking for jobs, and coordinating Intern Applications. So, APPLY. This could be you.

A Week in Props

2009-03-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

From Mollie, Props Intern

This week was full of lots of exciting things going on at the Rep. On Wednesday we opened The Seafarer by Connor McPherson. The first half of the week was spent putting the finishing touches on the set and finishing up the props. Opening night was amazing. The show is one of the best that I have seen in a long time. All of the actors give such strong performances that there were many times watching the play that I forgot there were 800 other people in the theatre with me. I am so proud to be apart of the show and seeing it makes me realize how much I love working on theatre.

I also started working on another intern project this week. Since we got a lot of armchairs for the director to choose from we ended up with a few that we did not have space for in storage. Instead of giving one of them back to the Salvation Army where we got it I was able to completely reupholster it. On the other chair that I worked on I was only able to go as far as putting muslin on it but with this one I was able to completely re-do it. As an added bonus I was also going to be able to take the chair when I was done because there was no room. Therefore I got to pick the colors and make a few design choices when it came to the colors. I also got to practice a lot of skills that I have been learning about upholstery. There were yards of cording to make and I had to make a new cushion when it was discovered the old one was made out of down feathers. The only problem that I ran into was that I did not have enough of the blue velour I was using to do the back and the cushion. However, I did have plenty of the accent green color that I had been using so the back of the chair is green and the cushion is green with blue cording. It actually turned out pretty well and I am excited to see it in my apartment. Well I really need to go finish sewing the cushion and clean up before going home so bye for now.

Stressed Out

2009-03-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

From Holly, Stage Management Intern

For the last four weeks I have been working on The Seafarer with Wilson Milam. I have been the most excited about this project from the start of my internship. I am working not only with Wilson, but also with Elisabeth our Production Stage Manager and I got to me Eugene Lee! (scenic desinger for Wicked, Sweeney Todd, and SNL only theatre people can truely appreciate this name dropping). It has been fabulous to see Elisabeth, normally my supervisor as a Stage Manager. Her style is calm and cool on the outside with the experience and knowledge to vent to the right people at the right time. She also has been really great with keeping me in the loop, even if I don't need to know. She will also explain to me why and how she came to a decision in a tough situation. This is the coolest thing ever!!! Handling difficult, tricky situations is a large part of Stage Management's job, but its hard to learn. I have been really lucky to have an SM that can explain her thought process.

She also gave me the responsibilty of the prop preset sheet as well as prop tracking. After coming off of You Can't Take It With You and watching Claire do a heavy prop show I felt very ready to take on the task and I felt more like a part of the team, rather then a bystander. BUT little did I know that unlike Warner Shook who knows what he wants and sets it, this director likes to keep things fresh and new...every day! From an artistic point of view I TOTALLY get this, but it makes it very hard for the actors to find themselves in the story and character and makes it almost impossible to create a Props Preset list so that when you go into tech things are set properly.

I can honestly say that I have woken up nights freaking out about props! I know...ridiculous. I have had dreams about calling a show, most Stage Managers do, but props! This is whole new territory. So sleep has been rare these last few weeks and knots in my back have doubled. The positive thing is that I have been able to work with Stina the ASM for this show and my SM for the last two shows, on the deck. She has taught me a lot on the deck that she couldn't while calling a show. I love learning new tricks on how to be more prepared. This process has been really difficult. It has made me question whether or not Stage Management is what I want to do, but I am very glad that I have had it. Both my SM and ASM are amazing and have been very supportive and forward with praise and helpful criticism, which is great!

We are now in our first preview and I feel like the show, the crew, and myself are all getting a handle on it. I think that show is going to be great! But these previews are going to be rough.

Stay tuned....

PAINT

2009-03-05T13:03:00.001-08:00

From William, Paints Intern

Paint. Paint. Paint. That is what I feel like I am covered in as I write this blog entry about my time thus far as the scenic arts intern at the Seattle Rep. A usual week for me is balanced between on set work and personal projects. For instance, right now I have been learning different painting techniques for marble. Past projects have included carving and sculpture work, recreation of another artist’s work, (I chose a Sargent piece), and a landscape. Before I leave I will also work on a still life painting. I do each project on a 3’x5’ canvas.

Nancy Knott, my scenic painting mentor has been extremely generous in sharing her wealth of knowledge as a scenic painter and visual artist. I have learned a variety of new techniques and am constantly inspired by the joy that she exhibits in what she does. I often observe that communication is one of the most important skills that a scenic painter needs to bestow. A scenic painter is pretty much the paint brush for the set. It is important that the paint team and the designer are all on the same page so that the desired goal is achieved.

One of the most exciting aspects about doing an internship at the Seattle Rep are the connections that you make. For example, Eugene Lee, scenic designer for Wicked and a variety of other Broadway shows, just designed the set for The Seafarer, which opened last night. As a scenic designer myself and long time admirer of his work, I was elated when I had the opportunity to sit down with him for lunch and have a conversation about his career. The entire time as I was eating my bacon, I couldn’t believe that Eugene Lee was right in front of me, sharing his story in such a down to earth way!! It is those experiences with incoming artists and the highly skilled staff at the Rep that have made my internship a very positive experience.

Interning...on Betrayal

2009-02-25T12:50:00.000-08:00

From Becca, Literary Intern

It’s opening night for Betrayal, the third and final show that I get to work on this season. It is directed by Braden Abraham, the Associate Artistic Director and my supervisor. It was great already knowing Braden before rehearsals began. He took the time to keep me involved in the process, which made the experience even more valuable. I learned a lot and had fun along the way.

Aside from learning and observing, there were also some unexpected moments working on Betrayal. Here are some (hopefully amusing) highlights from my experience on the show:

-One of the scenes takes place in a restaurant. During down time, the actors practiced their napkin-folding skills and created the always entertaining “napkin chicken.” It’s really amazing the kinds of things actors know how to do to keep things interesting.

-There are projections in the show of one of the actors playfully lifting a little girl in the air. The day we filmed, our young star (I think she was 3) got camera shy. It took about an hour of coaxing and the promise of hot chocolate to get the footage we needed. It of course looks wonderful on stage.

-The amount of liquid that the actors have to consume on stage is astonishing. I think one of them has to drink 2 beers, 4 scotches, and about a bottle of wine during the show. Of course it is all just really colored water (except for the beer which is O’Doul’s) but it’s amazing how much they have to drink. At least they are more hydrated than they have ever been in their lives.

Furniture!

2009-02-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

From Mollie, Props Intern

This week has been all about furniture. I started by completely rebuilding a chair that was donated by a previous SRT employee. The chair was in pieces and covered with at least three coats of paint. Some wonderful 1970's green and orange were included in the mix. I first had to strip off the paint which meant that I used stripping gel to try and get it off. The problem with the gel is that it will strip anything, including your skin from your body. I was careful in using gloves but not careful in my choice of gloves because the stripper ate right through the latex. When I finally switched to industrial strength gloves I was able to successfully get the paint off.

Stripping a chair requres a lot of steps. First there is the first application of the stripping gel, then your scrap off the paint. Since this never gets all of the paint off you muct do a second application. Then you wash it with mineral spirits and finally use steel wool and refinisher to get the stain off of it. The whole process took me about a day to get completely clean. Then after a quick sanding the pieces were ready to go together. Luckily all of the pieces still fit together nicely so all I had to do was glue and clamp.

This was the fourth chair this week that I have had to repair. I fixed two chairs for Betrayal and fixed up another chair that was to go back into stock. I have gotten quite good at fixing these chairs. My other time this week was occupied with getting a cast iron stove, runs to the warehouse, and making two dozen fake tangerines. Another week and more props.

My Life is a Giant Game of Mousetrap

2009-02-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

From Kate, Technical Production Intern

Well, we have entered into another crazy period here in the scene shop! Last week we spent Thursday and Friday on load-in for Betrayal in the Leo K. space and started tech on Sunday. Then Monday (President’s Day!), we began loading in Seafarer in the Bagley, and we go into tech for that show on Friday. Who doesn’t love two overlapping tech schedules? Basically it means my next day off is sometime in March.

Before all the craziness happened, I was working on another intern project. I have been learning about using PLC (programmable logic control). Basically I use ladder logic in a computer program then dump my program into a plc. Then I can run various devices off of the plc. Right now, when I push a button, it fires a solenoid, which hits a limit switch, which lights up a bulb and starts a timer that counts to three and then resets the system. I have decided my next course of action is to make a giant automated game of Mousetrap!

I can’t believe that I only have 10 weeks left of my internship. And it is going to go by in no time, between these two shows, and then we have Kevin Kling and then Carrie Fisher. I am really excited about everything that I have left, but at the same time it is a sad realization that my time at the Rep is soon coming to an end. And it is not exactly the best time to try and find a job! That is why anyone out there should go for this apprenticeship. A guaranteed job for a season is a very exciting prospect right now. Well, on that note…now it is back to work on load-in!

Hi, it’s me, Brian, the Lighting Design Intern!

2009-02-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

From Well, Duh

I haven’t blogged in a while because I’ve been very busy with my internship! What’s great about this internship is that I have a chance to work on projects outside of the Rep productions… not that there is much time outside of the Rep productions… but there is time.

I am about to go into tech for Betrayal directed by Braden Abraham. I’m extremely lucky to be assisting L.B. Morse on the lighting. This production will be artistically exciting and fun to be a part of… surprises behind every corner!

Outside of the Rep this month, I will be designing lighting for a production of The Altruists directed by Morgan Aldrich. The production is going to be in the Theatre Puget Sound, Theatre 4 space in Center House, Seattle Center. http://www.twohourstraffic.org/ for more information.

Now on to talk about the love of my life – Vectorworks! We have just received our copy of Vectorworks 2009 and I have had a chance to experiment with the program. I must say, VW09 has some fantastic updates and is much more elegant. I have placed the entire Theatre Puget Sound space into 3-dimensional Vectorworks. What’s so great about 3D drafting is that the user can actually walk through and take virtual photographs of the space. Using VW Spotlight, the user can hang lights on pipes, turn on the light and see the beam, and even change the position of the beam’s focus. Every day I keep learning more and more about the program. It is a powerful tool.

Seattle is lucky to have such a wonderful public library system! Many days of my internship have been spent in the art stacks looking at various images for visual research. I have looked at literally thousands of paintings, photographs, and graphics, and I always find something really interesting. Not to mention that the Seattle Central Library has a very fascinating architectural structure… definitely worth researching. The building is loosely based on the structure of the human body. Every visit to the library reveals the genius behind the design.

I am also an expert on mercury vapor street lamps. I had to research these units for our production of The Seafarer next month. Apparently, the government is phasing out the usage of these instruments because other lamps are more efficient, like sodium vapor lamps. We got lucky and found an old-fashioned street lamp for our production… I wonder how many years until such a search would turn up fruitless.

Another fun fact about mercury vapor lamps: I saw some wonderful images of cities at night taken by astronauts in space. Most of central Tokyo and other Asian cities still have mercury vapor street lights, so they glow a green-blue. Most American cities appear orange from sodium vapor lamps, but still some old neighborhoods in East Coast cities glow a mercury blue-green. The images were beautiful and I might not have stumbled on them if it weren’t for my work on this show.

‘Til Next Time,
Brian (Design Intern 08-09)

The Center of it All

2009-02-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

From Michelle, Education Intern

I work in a small, windowless office just down the hall from the main administrative offices of Seattle Rep. Our Education Department is often missing people; we are a department full of teachers, writers, event-planners, and parents, and you can’t do all of that from the office. On days when I am not teaching (and especially on days when the arts are not recognized in the economic stimulus package), it can be hard to feel like a part of the world outside of our department. Other days when I am in the classroom, when students are at the Rep, or when we are working on a big teacher training event, it feels like I’m at the center of the world.

We have recently started our biggest project of the year – the Drama Intensive class at The Center School High School. Class is divided into three phases. Phase 1 is happening now, before we go on mid-winter break next week. Our goals are to get to know the students, build the ensemble together, and gather lots of writing for Andrea, our playwright. She will begin writing the script for this show – an adaptation of Hamlet – over break after sifting through many pages of high-school student writing. We move into Phase 2 during the month of March, when we will be spending five weeks learning about Hamlet, discussing Shakespeare, and cutting our teeth on some advanced acting and design lessons. Spring Break happens at the end of March, and then we come back in April to jump into Phase 3: play production. We will have a complete original script by then, have a class divided into acting and design students, and only six weeks to rehearse and transform the Poncho forum before performing this show for the entire Center School and other friends of the Rep.

I am particularly excited about this project because I get to work closely with Beverly and Scott, two fabulous teaching artists and staff in the EDU department. We brainstorm ideas for class and work together to craft a curriculum that gives these students a professional experience performing new work. I am particularly excited to work with students in the design portion of the class. This year we will not be in the proscenium Leo K space, but in the black-box Poncho, opening the door to a whole world of opportunities for creative transformation.

In my spare time, I’m also working on creating some materials for our Teaching Artist Training Lab coming up in March, as well as running our second-to-last student matinee for The Road to Mecca. I also hold a couple of other odd jobs, which are pretty easy to do with the Education Internship. My hours at the Rep are a pretty regular 9-5, plus an evening or weekend here and there, so I also work as administrative assistance for a small arts nonprofit nearby, and I teach a theater seminar at the UW.

Sound like a lot of work? It is, but it’s a good year to be an intern. Unlike everyone else in the world, I have a steady job until June, and I'm also getting paid to learn a whole bunch about regional theatre during an interesting and transforming time in history. And I figure that while I’m here and not responsible for much outside of continuing to pay rent, I may as well be at the center of it all.

Kiki Says I Win At Life

2009-02-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

From Corinne, Costume Shop Intern

Kiki says I win at life. I trust her. But it sure doesn't feel that way right now. I've got less than 40 days left here in Seattle, here at the Rep, and it's an effing bummer. BUM CITY!

Of course, sitting in a dressing room disguised as an office that is littered with boxes and return information papers, I know I won't miss THIS particular job. But just the thought of being out there in the world without the DIRECT support of the amazing people here...it's just a wee bit scary. I don't want to think about that day when I can't say I work at the Rep. Which is coming up way too quickly. Blargh. Today is not the day for me to right an inspiring blog.

Hey, the sun is out though! And Eugene Lee and Wilson Milam are getting in town this week! And..... hm, and I dunno.

People aren't as nice when you're making returns. They love you and treat you very well when you are buying expensive suits; they will bend over backwards to help you. But when you want to cancel an order because it didn't arrive in time, or want to return an expensive suit that didn't fit, they do things like act nasty or hang up on you before you've finished asking all your questions. I guess I can understand. Retail sucks. But so does schlepping dozens of winter overcoats and 3-piece suits all over the friggin' city. I should get to hang up on them. Even in person. 'Click,' you're done.

I bet this blog isn't long enough, but I really should get back to packing Zappos returns and whatnot. Hooray for packing tape!

ps - Kiki totally came to visit me, however not in my "office" - but can we really hold it against her if she combined her work visits with her fun visits? I guess we could. Maybe we will.

You're Wanted On The Telephone

2009-02-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

From Hillary, Casting Intern

Hi. This is Hillary, I'm calling from the Casting Department at Seattle Rep. May I please speak with [insert name here].

I have said this many many many times in the course of my internship. So it seems logical to me to share with perspective casting interns one of the most prominent parts of my upstairs (office) life. I'm on the phone ALL THE TIME.

Casting is a people job. You evaluate the performances of..people. You schedule auditions with...people. You talk to people about...people. Then you deliver casting decisions to, yup, people. Lots of this happens over the phone. Word to the interested- if you hate talking on the phone, this really isn't the right internship for you.

I have spent entire days calling actors and agents with bad news. I have spent hours on the phone scheduling bookings with agents who are in New York- I came into the office at 7:30 so I could catch said agents before they disperese for lunch. Sometimes, actors call me. I give them the info about general auditions, and direct them to appropriate websites. Sometimes agents call me, trying to get us to see auditions from actors we're not interested in. They ask probing questions that slide off their tongues as if they were asking about the weather, and it's my job to tell them only what they already know and not to reveal any decisions we've made. It's like a dance that happens between the recievers of our telephones.

Sometimes I call actors. I call them to tell them that, unfortunately, we don't have an offer for them. Delivering bad news is the worst. On the flipside, I get to deliver good news too. I also facilitate "getting to know you" type meetings. One time I called an actor who has primarily worked in television, and since he was new in town, we wanted to invite him to come, meet our department and then read for one of our shows. That phone call lasted almost an hour. Because he was chatty, and we ended up talking about how we're both newbies in Seattle, about how he shouldn't stop wearing sunscreen just because he's not in L.A. anymore, and about how it's so nice that I called him personally. And there's the key. If you are excited by the prospect of shooting the breeze over the phone with someone you've never met, this position could be a great fit.

Lots of drinking… and some shrinking…

2009-01-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

From Liz, Stage Management Intern

It’s really hard to eat while working 6-hour block rehearsals. We get 10 minute breaks and one 20 minute break. I usually spend most of those 10 minute breaks getting stuff ready for the next scene, washing prop glasses (there’s a lot of drinking in Betrayal), refilling prop liquor bottles, re-corking prop wine bottles (fun!), etc…

If I have something for lunch that I don’t have to cook or assemble, I usually have time to eat it on our longer breaks. I’m not really good at making quick lunches like that for myself (yeah, I know I just could make a sandwich…if I had bread…), so I usually end up eating room-temperature pre-packaged Indian food from Trader Joe’s, or lots of Clif Bars.

One actor in my show observed that throughout the entire show (which will probably be only a little over an hour long), he consumes 2 pints, several glasses of scotch, and an entire bottle of wine. He also commented that this is the most well-hydrated he’s been in a long time… right before he dashed off to the bathroom.

Our set is really cool, too. One wall moves downstage after every couple scenes, thus making the playing space smaller and smaller. Nothing like having an affair with your best friend’s wife in a shrinking room to help us all get our annual dose of awkwardness. Here are my wall position choices for Scene 10 of Betrayal (Pinter only wrote 9 scenes): The wall moves to the edge of the stage, thus pushing all of the characters to their deaths in the front row of the Leo K, or symbolically into hell. Adultery’s a bitch. OR the wall moves to the edge of the stage, thus squishing the characters between itself and the “fourth wall.” The second option allows for exhibition of the actors’ balance, mime skills, contortionism, and facial expressions heretofore only practiced in their bathroom mirrors at home. Moral of the story: be faithful to your spouses and loyal to your friends, or the very buildings themselves will exact revenge in a drastic act of karmic retribution.

I’m also excited about the looks in this play. Scenes are set in several years between 1968 and 1977, and as always, our costume designer is awesomely accurate with the period clothes… and period glasses… and period hair… What is it about a man with an overly long moustache wearing plastic glasses with a brow bar that either makes me think child molester or gay porn? Forgive my stereotyping. I think the current wig count for one actress is at 7. Sweet. Hair is fun… anyone for a 1970s hair-speriment party?

Playwriting Project

2009-01-26T15:25:00.000-08:00

From Verhanika, Production Management Intern

This past Friday was the second of two days of the Playwriting Project. A short synopsis: 2 local high schools with higher level drama programs write their own short plays, rehearse with our teaching artists, and then get to perform on the Leo K stage. They get to use our props, our costumes, our professional crew, and our talented interns.

The project started out as something I brushed off. I felt like I was going to be a secretary and a babysitter since I was responsible for generating some paperwork and moving tech along. After a great conversation with Michelle, the Education Intern and a producer on this project, she empowered me to treat it like another one of the Rep’s productions and to make it my own.

With this in mind, I moved forward and led our team of props coordinators, costumers, stage managers, and support staff to create some pretty decent theatre. There were a few hiccups along the way as we overcame snow and cancelled meetings, miscommunications, and a variety of management styles, but overall the experience was incredibly positive and rewarding. As the only opportunity to actually Production Manage within the Rep, I became determined to make it the best and most rewarding for me personally. It was an opportunity to flex my management muscle and give it a good workout.

I’ve already started my cheat sheet for next year’s intern so they don’t walk in like I do, feeling like everyone else is holding on to the secret of making this project smooth, but just not sharing.

There are some places that you definitely do not get to be a production manager. Union rules are something that the staff is more familiar with than you, so learning to step back and let them deal with that is a huge part of this project. Also, even though you have that title, other interns do not work for you as it would be in professional theatre. Therefore, even though I was encouraged to use it, I never pulled the “because I’m the Production Manager, and that’s why” card because it would prove to alienate my fellow interns, rather than empower them to work together with me.

I learned a lot and found this incredibly rewarding, but I sure am glad it’s over. Another day with high schoolers may have forced me to pull out the hard liquor around lunch time. Needless to say, the staff did celebrate afterwards with well deserved martinis.

Aside from the Playwriting Project, which did take up a large portion of my time, I have been updating my cover letter and resume and starting to apply for jobs after the internship. Having the support of the four women who work in my immediate pod is amazing. I passed around my cover letter and resume and got help wordsmithing e-mails to Seattle Production Managers. I have to admit, I am a bit terrified of how our chances of getting positions after our internships has significantly decreased due to the current state of the economy.

The second half of the internship should prove to be interesting since I now know my job and can focus more on my role within the Rep and how I feel about a career as a theatre artist. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Mr. Van de Graaff is Kicking My Ass

2009-01-23T11:43:00.000-08:00

From Kate, Technical Production Intern

(I don’t actually know if I am allowed to say ass on the intern blog, so we will see if that is still in my story when it gets posted.) Anyway, recently there has been a bit of a slow point in the sets department (at least for the intern). Mecca just opened and we have several weeks until the craziness starts with a back to back load in and tech of Betrayal and Seafarer. So I have been working on props for the high school Playwriting Projects with Mollie (the props intern) and doing my own intern projects. I have been currently been working on building a Van de Graaff generator, which after researching online seemed like a somewhat simple task. That was where I first went wrong. There are so many parts that interact with each other that it is very important that everything is exactly right. Also, making the generator from found materials means I am not always working with the ideal materials. Then finding the right materials for the belts and rollers that have a far enough spread on the triboelectric series that you are getting the maximum effect, then getting the wire combs close enough to give a good charge but far away enough to not accidentally catch and rip your belt. So Mr. Van de Graaff is probably somewhere laughing at my foolish idea of simplicity. I have spent a significant amount of time working and fine tuning, only to have it shock me (which is a good thing in this case) and then immediately the belt ripped. This is what happens when you are working with balloons. It is amazing to find out how hard it is to find durable rubber that does not have carbon in it. So far I have only been able to find balloons and latex gloves. Both of these are not as durable as one would hope.

Another problem is that cutting a spherical balloon into a cylindrical object is just about impossible. But Dana suggested a form of latex that is already cylindrical, condoms. So I spent a good portion of my day yesterday searching the building with him for condoms (not exactly normal work behavior). Otherwise I was going to have to go to the grocery store across the street and buy them. Dana told me to buy some pickles too, because just buying condoms is awkward. I’m still don’t think pickles are the best choice in that situation. Today I am actually taking a break from my project because we are teching the Playwriting Projects (which is probably good because even though I like the project, I was frustrated to the point of wanting to throw things yesterday). It will be good to come back Monday after two days off and make a fresh start. Plus, I need to finish soon because the shop guys are all getting antsy and want to play with it.

Treasure Chair

2009-01-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

From Mollie, Props Intern

This week marked the end of working on The Road to Mecca. With the show opening in just a few days most of the prop notes were finally finished and it was time to move onto the next show. Since we are doing back to back load-ins we are currently working on both Betrayal and Seafarer. Betrayal is a lot of pulling props that we already have in stock so I started working on Seafarer. Two armchairs were found at the local Goodwill for use in the show but the chairs needed to be made for use on the stage. I had to completely take the upholstery off the chair so that we could adapt it for the show. The chairs were these awesome green vinyl. I am pretty sure they were from the 1970's and therefore the vinyl was a little dirty to say the least.

I started from the bottom and worked my way up, taking each tack out to reveal some pretty nasty padding underneath. One of the best parts of taking apart the chair was all of the treasures that I found inside. Here is the list of items: denture cleanser wrapper, 100's of bobbypins, 26 cents, a set of house keys, an alien head guitar pick, a Valentine's Day note from Laura to Josh, lots of dirt, and a school photograph of a girl from the 1950's. It was pretty crazy. I was hoping to find the insides of the chair lined with hundred dollar bills but I guess I couldn't be that lucky. After I completely stripped the chair. I made a plywood base to replace the springs that were once the seat. By gutting and replacing the springs with plywood I took off about 20 pounds from the chair.

Now the process of repadding out the chair has begun. My first step was to cover the areas in thick foam, then padding over that, and finally cotton cloth to keep it all in. Once the final fabric is chosen for the chair I will be able to go back and put the last layer on. I am currently working on making a cover for the seat cushion but that shouldn't take me too long. I am hoping to have the chair ready for rehearsal by the end of friday, but we will see what happens.

Well that is all. Quite an eventful week.

Okay - Time to do this Blogging thing.

2009-01-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

From Corinne, Costumes Intern

So I'm sitting in one of the dressing rooms, which is now my make-shift "office" - glamorous, yes. Well, the lights make it look glamorous, but the lights also make it really hot. And being in a dressing room by myself is kind of lonely. Occasionally I get visitors, but not as often as I wish. Kiki should come visit me. (Let's see if she reads that and does it - tune in to the next blog to find out....)

But really, being a Design Assistant sounds glamorous but I'm starting to feel the scary weight of RESPONSIBILITY - (gasp!!). Basically I've been driving around town, shopping at Nordstrom and Mario's and Brooks Brothers and etc etc etc.... Sounds lovely, getting to go out shopping, and parts of it really ARE lovely, like the beautiful 3 piece suits, and getting to pay expensive prices for expensive things. Of course, I will also have to be the one to return all of those beautiful expensive things and disappoint all of those sales people who worked so hard to cater to my and the designer's every whim. But something in that is kind of fun too ;p

But today I'm sitting in a dressing room, opening packages, shopping on Zappos, and reading the most absurd "I Saw U" ever: "Pregnant Hottie At Fun House" (in this past week's Stranger, vol18 no18). PLUS - the shop manager, Denise, totally brought me a leftover inauguration brownie from yesterday's awesome inauguration potluck. That makes today great. Ah, and two babies have visited the costume shop today with their excited little squeals and shiny eyes. That always makes me happy.

Well, I guess it's time to get back to internet shopping. Somebody come visit me. Or I may begin talking to the clothes....

Time In Between Shows

2009-01-21T12:46:00.000-08:00

From Becca, Literary Intern

After You Can’t Take It With You opened, I have had a lot of time working in the office. For a few weeks my main focus was reading off the literary shelf, which means reading plays that have been submitted to the theater and then writing script reports. I also have been writing letters to playwrights and agents.

After all this reading I started working on my actor packet for the next show I get to work on, Betrayal. I have spent some serious time at the Seattle Public Library and the library at University of Washington. So for the past couple of weeks I have been doing a lot of research and writing about London in the 1970’s. Rehearsals start on Friday so before then I need to make sure my packet looks good and then assemble them for everyone in the rehearsal room.

I guess some other intern highlights would be our skit and working on the Playwriting Project. For this program the Rep invites high school students to perform the new work they have created with the help of teaching artists and interns. I helped with tech last week and it was great to see how excited the high schoolers were to be making theater in the Leo K.

Still Waiting for Godot

2009-01-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

From Courtney, Stage Management

Remember that time The Rep was going to do Waiting for Godot?… me too! Well we’re not. We’re doing something better instead! The Road to Mecca by Athol Fugard. All the deep thinking of Godot without the confusing dialogue… well mostly.

Hi again! This is Courtney or, as our sound engineer Nathan would call me, the “size small” stage management intern. Last time I wrote to you about the many hats I wore during The Three Musketeers and well… this time around… things couldn’t be more different. This show is not about crazy running around but more about keeping a calm and warm environment for our actors.

The Road to Mecca. Three actors, two acts, and some crazy South African dialect! There’s really not much to report as I sit here in tech with a novel on one side and a crossword book on the other (my colleagues are betting on the Nenana Ice Classic) so I’m going to talk about life outside of the rep for those of you wondering what it’s like to move to this fine city from places elsewhere.

Up until August of 2008, I have always lived in the NYC area (See: Long Island and Westchester.) In my senior year at SUNY Purchase, I decided New York City wasn’t for me. The freelance lifestyle and fast pace of the city wasn’t what I wanted out of life having work there one and off throughout my college year at various companies and theatre. This is something that my brother and I frequently discuss / argue about seeing as his is a scenic designer in NYC and loves it. When I got accepted to the PATP at Seattle Rep, I knew this was my chance. A very close friends and former classmate of mine, Tammy, had previously done the internship and was still living out here so the first thing I did was call in a favor and ask her for a place to stay while I got up on my feet.

Within my first weeks here, I found possibly the best place to live ever. Magnolia. It’s a small island-like thing about 8 minutes from the rep by car and about 15 minutes by bus. I talked with another intern and we now happily share a really nice 2 bedroom on the first floor of what looks like a condo that also has a fireplace… Did I mention we pay $895 a month (That’s $450 each!) That being said, my first tip to any folks moving to Seattle is to get a roommate. Most studios aren’t under $650 so if you can live with a roommate… you should.

Next: furniture. We’ll I’m no trust fund baby so I had to figure out this next battle. I wound up getting a $50 full size bed and frame (new mattress) from someone at the rep… and a free couch from someone at the rep… and nice blue lounge chair from someone at the rep… (Are you picking up what I’m throwing down?)

This next step for me was a big one. Purchasing a vehicle. This is not exactly needed if you don’t mind taking the bus, but I do. Now, being the poor little rebel I am, I could never afford a car… so I did the next best thing. I bought a moped (See: Vespa). I bought a 1993 Honda Elite for $850. It costs me about $2 a week to fill up and you don’t even need to have insurance on it and being that I part for free, it’s soooo cheap to maintain. Of course I highly recommend getting a place that you can walk to the rep but for me, I found my dream apartment just over the Magnolia bridge.

The biggest advice I can give is: CRAIGLIST. If you don’t know about craigslist.com you should. While there are scams, if you use it wisely you can get all sorts of cool things. That is where I found my awesome apartment (which is run by a legit real estate firm AND my awesome moped). They also have lots and lots of free furniture that, if you’re nice, someone at the rep might help you get to your apartment.

And now some quotes from the people I’m on headset with:
Jeremiah (Props Master): Get the money up front.
Jeff (The Bagley Wright Flyman): Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can get an intern to do today.
Nathan (that guy I mentioned before): I am aware of all internet traditions. Cheeze-Wiz is a meal in a can!
Case (Bagley Wright Crew Chief): Krylon© tastes like mittens…
Imelda (our fabulous wardrobe supervisor): Life. Acceptance. Love.
Lori (the ASM): Shouldn’t you be working?
Cris (the SM): Is this going to be published online? I have nothing to say.

Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam

2009-01-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

From Kiki, Audience Development Intern

I'm assuming that if you're reading this that you are a cool person. Therefore, by being a cool person, you obviously watch the show The Office. The Rep is like The Office. I will now list my case in points:

1. I recently went back home to the midwest for my two week hiatus. Some interns get one week during the holidays, others leave for partial breaks during the season. It's something that you'll negotiate with your supervisor about what works best for the both of you. While I was away I was sent a Facebook wall post by our very own Kate-Technical Production Intern-about how she was looking for something to do and was sad that I wasn't there to harass. Luckily she still found a way during my absence. When I came back to the office my computer and keyboard were covered with post-it notes depicting a conversation that she was having with one of her multiple personalities. Not exactly a prank that Jim would play on Dwight, but unconventional office behavior nonetheless.

2. Liz-Stage Management Intern-left a terrifyingly huge picture of Hillary Clinton's head on my desk with a yet another post-it note covering Hill-dog's mouth. She exchanged the picture for a bag of Oreos that were on my desk and wrote: "Mmm! Oreos are almost as good as winning the Democratic Nomination! ...wait..." If we ever have a Diversity Day, I'm bringing that sucker. (And yes, she did actually take the Oreos to eat. I'm just as appalled as you are.)

3. Remember that episode where they play basketball and it is The Office Guys versus The Warehouse Guys? Yeah we did basically the same thing but with football and teams were Admin vs Production. You'll love the raw, unbridled joy and rage that it can bring out in people.

4. We love to throw parties, although we usually don't have Angela approved streamers. A gross oversight in my opinion. We have frequent birthday parties, opening night soirees, receptions for donors, and we have beer:30 every Friday in the shop. You'll do work at the Rep, believe me, but you'll also have time to just chill with your co-workers and get to know them.

5. Whenever something is awkward in a meeting or at one of our desks we do a fake take-to-the-camera. I'm not even close to making that up.

So if you like The Office and want to be apart of it, just skip the audition process and tell your agent that you're applying at Seattle Rep.

Just Keep Swimming

2009-01-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

From Michelle, Education Intern

The Playwriting Project is going swimmingly. And by “swimming” I also mean, at times, “drowning,” “treading water,” or “a third of a triathlon.” Here’s what it feels like:

Drowning
At the beginning of this whole crazy project, we had four weeks of rehearsal with our casts to get 10-15 minutes of play blocked, polished, and spruced up for opening night. When snow hit Seattle, week 2 of the project got all but axed from our schedule. Monday and Tuesday were late start days, meaning that rehearsal at each school was cut from 50 minutes down to 30 minutes. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all declared snow days, so we had no rehearsal at all. Just to put the icing on the cake, this crazy schedule and early start to winter break meant that we, as directors, weren’t entirely able to distribute the most updated versions of scripts or emphasize the importance of being off-book by the 5th of January (the day we got back from break). I chalked the whole thing up to “An act of god,” which is not covered by most insurance policies.

Now, in the first week of January, we are being slammed with all that didn’t get done in December. We keep counting the days of rehearsal left before tech – 4 for Roosevelt, 7 for Woodinville – and hoping that it all gets done. One of these days our actors will learn their lines. One of these days the shows will be entirely blocked. And maybe, if we’re really lucky, we’ll even have time to make them funny and polish our transitions. A girl can dream, can’t she?

Treading Water
Besides the fact that everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, this project is tons of fun and I feel like I am always staying afloat. Our fabulous design team keeps everything chugging along toward the day of the performance, and I know that having our tables and chairs and chocolate bunnies in the care of Kate and Mollie means that it will all get done. Brian will make our lights work somehow using his light-designer voodoo, and Corinne has already been a total rock star in getting us costume pieces (a burned wig? Really?). Verhanika (production management intern) has taken such a huge weight off my shoulders by keeping me on task and doing everything she can to make sure this thing goes off without a hitch. Kiki and Drew are coming up with the most innovative marketing strategies for this project, like excellent playwright-themed posters and cool buttons for the students.

At the center of it all, I feel like I am in the eye of the storm. I know what all is going on and where at any given moment, but as long as I hold up my end of the bargain and keep everyone organized (again, with the help of Verhanika), it will all happen. That feeling is amazing, and keeps this project above water.

A Third of a Triathlon
My amazing department head, Andrea Allen, once said that an hour in the classroom is worth three in the office. After spending every morning in the classroom during this rehearsal process, I definitely agree. While I’m directing, I am very much focused on the task at hand – block five pages, get through the show, give the kids some acting tips. But the moment I finish up and return to the office, I definitely feel it. Today I had three hours of rehearsal, and I got back to the Rep at 2:30pm feeling beat. I love being in the classroom, but I am learning that it’s hard work to be “on” for that long at a time. I imagine my experience in the classroom is similar to being a professional swimmer. Dive into the water, and then don’t think about anything else until you come up at the end. And wow, I got pretty far but now I could use a moment to breathe.

Swimming
The Playwriting Project is not quite all that I’m doing, but it sure feels like it. From time to time I also start thinking ahead to next semester when I will be helping to teach the Drama Intensive course at the Center School HS. Earlier this month the school board recommendations on school closures were announced, and TCS is no longer under consideration for being closed – hurray! We have some sort of student matinee for The Road to Mecca coming up next month, and somewhere in there I’m also working extra jobs to make ends meet, and spending time on myself to stay sane. It’s going, going, going.

As Dory says in Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming…”

PCP and Voodoo Doughnuts

2009-01-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

From Liz, Stage Management Intern

Hello! I just got back from Indiana... where it was -5 degrees with a -30 wind chill. I remember looking at my family, my hair frozen, and saying, "There are places where this doesn’t happen!" So, all of you future interns from cities where snow on the ground is NORMAL all winter long, be prepared to get some laughs at the expense of those native Seattleites who squeal in pain when the temperature ventures into those "unimaginably cold" lower 30s. Anyway, I was fortunate to avoid any snow-related travel cancellations, although I’m sad to have missed the excitement at the Rep. Apparently there were a few sleepovers on the days when traveling home for the night would have been the equivalent of flirting with death. Those nights would have been fun!

Also, boom closed while I was gone. Courtney was able to take over my job for the last week of the run so I could leave, as I had bought my plane tickets before boom got extended. My jobs (and then Courtney’s jobs!) during each show consisted of the following: checking the prop and costume preset, collecting and locking up valuables from the actors, changing the backstage paging system, cuing an actress to enter at the top of the show, bringing an actress water and Kleenex during her one time offstage in the entire show, and helping actors offstage with a flashlight.

The paging system (the PCP) is used so actors and offstage crew members can hear pages backstage before the show. ("Attention members of the boom company! This is your 5-minute call. 5 minutes to the top of the show. 5 minutes!") The PCP settings also control when what’s happening onstage can be heard backstage and throughout the lobby. For example, this can be embarrassing if for some reason someone complains loudly about an actor onstage and the monitor is piping that complaint directly into said actor’s dressing room, and that actor's easily-agitated significant other hears the same thing in the lobby...etc.

The PCP is much less complicated in the Leo K than in the Bagley. There’s a multiple-page chart of the correct settings of the Bagley PCP in the Rep’s stage management handbook, if that makes its complexity any clearer. It’s so complicated it’s not even an intern job—the equity ASM gets to handle it. Ha. What this really means is that the hardest part of changing the Leo K PCP is remembering to do so. Nonetheless, I needed some reminder signs for myself with the letters PCP in 400pt font…

My next show will also be in the Leo K theatre. I’ll be working on Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, thus continuing my now two-show streak of working on plays with one-word titles. Preproduction for Betrayal officially begins the week of January 19th, so from now until then, I will be getting as much of the preproduction paperwork (props list, scene breakdown, calendar, artist welcome letters…) done as possible in this pre-preproduction phase… and being very open to random distractions, such as helping lead a tour of high school students around the building, or taking a day trip to Portland for a Voodoo Doughnut. It’s all part of living the dream!

Hi, I'm Hillary. How Can I Assist You?

2009-01-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

From Hillary, Casting Intern

In a freak snow event, rare in these parts, I got snowed into Seattle. Bummer for my holiday plans, but good for all of you since in my time off I had plenty of time to think back over the internship so far.

I'm one of two artistic interns this season- Becca is the Artistic/Literary intern and I'm Artistic/Casting. I think of our jobs as having two parts- "upstairs," or in the office, and "downstairs," or in the rehearsal and theatre spaces. When we're upstairs our jobs are different, but downstairs we both get the same sweet deal. Next blog I'll talk more about life upstairs since the majority of my internship to date has been downstairs.

It says on the website that you'll assist directors. Here are the basics of what you'll be doing:

You'll make dramaturgical research packets for the company. You'll synthesize your research and newfound expertise into relevant and digestible articles so that the company can learn more about the world of their play. Microsoft Word will destroy your formatting the day before it's due, and you'll stay really really late at the theatre fixing it because the pictures will line up if it's the last thing you accomplish in this life. You'll get a thrill whenever you see actors reading your perfectly formatted masterpiece throughout the rehearsal process.

You'll go to every rehearsal. Six days a week. Mondays will no longer be your enemy, as they will be your deserved day off. You'll be familiar with the rules of the Actor's Equity Union, and come to revere the brilliance of the equity 10-minute break. You'll run lines with actors. For some, you'll get to be on the ground-floor of exploring their character. For others, you will be a cheerleader for their progress. For all, you will be an integral part of making sure they are ready to go onstage. By the end of the second week, you'll have significant portions of the show memorized. By the end, you can bring it as a solo show to any fringe festival.

During tech, you'll be at the theatre for up to 14 hours a day because life upstairs continues even though you are usually downstairs. Calls to New York still have to be made in the morning regardless of how long the production meeting went last night. During the rehearsals, you will sit quietly and patiently while one cue gets run over and over again. Every few hours, you will be asked by the director to check sightlines, so you will run all over the theatre sitting in the worst seats of the house before reporting back that indeed you can't see the scene from the house left balcony. Then you'll go back to watching and observing how a show really comes together. You'll eat dinner in the greenroom and unwind at the local bar with the company each night.

During the run you'll moderate post-play discussions. While the audience waits for the actors to get out of costume, you'll regale them with stories about your role in the show and at Seattle Rep. Once the actors are onstage, you'll have pre-prepared questions to ask them because the audience might feel shy at first. You'll pretend (or, dare I say, act) that these questions just came to you in the moment, and aren't you smart for having such interesting inquiries. After the post-play discussion, you'll get accosted by eager patrons, who you will dazzle with your charm and insight while simultaneously trying to end the conversation because it's time to close up the theatre.

Above all else, you will get to know the director. For some, this will mean knowing how they take their coffee and picking up their kids from the airport. For others, this means you will be an integral part of their process, helping them think through the show by being a sounding board and playing devil's advocate. But no matter how involved you will be in their directorial process, you will get to know their career path, their passions and their craft. You will be a better director at the end of each show you work on.

I think that's all for my first blog- I have to head downstairs.

Lights!

2009-01-04T13:06:00.001-08:00

From Brian, Lighting Design Intern

I can’t believe that the season is almost halfway done already! I can’t wait to see what the second half of the season holds for me in the world of lighting design!

Since I blogged last, a bunch has happened. I assisted Robert Aguilar on Boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and I learned a ton from watching Robert light the apocalypse! Not to mention that Robert used many feet of white neon to illuminate the set. It looked great and I look forward to seeing him design more shows in the future!

Also, I learned a lot from watching M.L. Geiger design lights for You Can’t Take It With You. It was definitely interesting to see her figure out the angles to light around the ceiling border beam that hovered over the set. Oh yeah, there was a chandelier to light around too!

Next up, M.L. is designing the lights for the upcoming production of The Road to Mecca by Athol Fugard. It should be fun to see her light this show, as it is completely different from You Can’t Take It With You. The set for Mecca is a little more abstract, with a gigantic backdrop and a few other surprises included.

I have some other projects coming up soon. I will be designing lights for the Playwriting Project, where students from the Roosevelt and Woodenville High Schools get to stage the plays they have been writing. It should be an enjoyable project.

I’m also designing lights for a production of The Altruists by Nicky Silver, directed by Morgan Aldrich. The production is going to be staged in Theatre Puget Sound’s black box space and should be fun to watch. I’m excited to be designing for the first time since college in a space this size.

OK, writing all this out reminds me that there is plenty to do… so back to work for me!

‘Til Next Time,
Brian (Design Intern 08-09)

P.S. In my last post, I mentioned how much I loved VectorWorks. Well, that love is still burning strong… I even got a little surprise from VectorWorks headquarters in Maryland. So, thank you very much to the folks over at Nemetschek, especially Jessie. You made my day!

Don't Ever Stick Your Head In A Period Boot. It Might Get Stuck.

2009-01-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

From Corinne, Costume Intern

Right now I'm trying to get all the ladies in the costume shop to drink the standard coffee so that I can grind this new fancy coffee that the Assistant Shop Manager brought back from Hawaii. If they don't, I'm thinking that I'll have to drink it all myself. (Hi, My name is Corinne and I love Coffee)

At the moment I am in the middle of some inventory projects, perhaps not the most exciting thing I've worked on since I've been here, but I am really looking forward to donning my ipod and going into the depths of our costume stock. Yesterday I set up a modeling table and stuffed pair after pair of large, leather, period boots and then photographed them for our photo inventory. As I did this I remembered the first show I worked on when I arrived here at the Rep....The Three Musketeers. Many of those period boots were bought for the 3 Muskies, and they arrived with absolutely no sizes of any kind. I think I sat on the floor for two hours with a measuring tape and foot measurement tool and various other boots - TRYING to figure out what size they could be. But, as I eventually discovered, the only REAL way to size them is to throw them in a room full of actors and have them swap around until they find some that fit!

It's been sad for me to think that this internship will one day (soon) be over. I don't WANNA stop!

One of my greatest days here at the Rep was when I discovered I had been working on a mock-up 3-piece suit for Mr. Michael Winters (Taylor Dosse of the Gilmore Girls). I am a huge fan of the Gilmore Girls so that was pretty damn cool. Most cool thing about this internship though..... is the fact that I have learned more practical career knowledge here in four months than I did in two years of grad school. But shhhh, don't tell them that.

I better wrap this up because I might be on one part of the server that is about to go down in less than two minutes. Just got an email in about that right now.

Moral: Don't ever stick your head into a period boot. It might get stuck.

How I Ended Up In The Same Room As Cameron Diaz

2008-12-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

From Kate, Technical Production Intern

Well, December is here (and by that I mean half over, where do these months go?!?!). I realized today that means my internship is almost half over as well. I can’t believe how quickly it has gone. I feel like just yesterday I was jumping right in with Night Watcher and Three Musketeers and trying to keep working on Shrek at night. Well, life has definitely calmed down, but still is going by much too quickly for the amount of fun I am having, even though I never seem to leave the building (that was a really long awkward sentence, but I am too lazy to change it). What with my internship, working the Front Desk, and being a bartender in the lobby, I spend more time in this building than everywhere else combined. And it is great, don’t get me wrong, but it is especially nice to get away, even if it is just for a few days. So I really enjoyed my trip to New York this last weekend. I literally got off a plane late last night and am back at my desk today, so I could write to you lovely folks (and of course talk about being at a Broadway show opening night! Of a show that I worked on!). That is the amazing thing about this business; you never know what you will be doing next. At the beginning of last summer, I was wondering how I was possibly going to manage to pay my rent, since I did not have a job until my internship started in September. Then one day I got a call asking if I would like to work on Shrek. In my immediate yes, I tried to seem like I got calls to work on Broadway musicals all the time (the squealing and breathing into a paper bag waited until after I hung up the phone). So my vacation to New York was to go to the opening night on Broadway! The show is amazing (unless you like several critics think that movies should not be made into musicals, which then you are not a very objective source to comment on it are you?). Plus, I attended the opening night party at the Plaza. I spent most of the night catching up with the cast and crew, dancing, and eating delicious food. DreamWorks really knows how to throw a party. Although I also spent a good chunk of my night trying to figure out how I possibly ended up in a ballroom with Broadway actors, famous people such as Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz (I even sat next to Rosie Perez at the show), and theatre royalty. I also sat next to a group of people who worked on creating the magic mirror effect for the show. So I got to brag about the fact that I work at the theatre that built the actual mirror itself. It was all amazing. I am going to have to stop talking about it now, because I am much too excited and could go on and on, but I won’t bore you with that. Happy Reading!

Road to Glitter

2008-12-16T11:53:00.000-08:00

From Mollie, Props Intern

Another week at the Rep and yet this time things were a little different. Most of this week was spent working on the set for the upcoming show in the Bagley Wright The Road to Mecca. The show is based on a South African woman that is shunned by the community and therefore spends all of her time in her home. She occupies her time with her art, and by her art I mean her house. The walls of the set needed to look like they were covered in crushed glass because the woman did just that to her actual house. Previous productions have proven that real glass will not read on stage and therefore we had to individually glue pieces of half inch square confetti on the walls. This was of course after they had been painted and glittered. The process produces walls that really do look like crushed glass but has become quite a tedious task. The project calls for lots of hands, patience, and teamwork. We have successfully completed almost all of the walls and have even stood some of them up. (This of course proving that all pieces were not completely secure as a shower of confetti rained down upon us) The other few hours that were not spent on the walls were working on the other props for the show. I helped construct a table that was to have a snake-like base and look like it was made out of concrete. What it actually is made out of is a steel spiral that was bent using one of the cooler tools in the shop. The steel was then covered in blue foam, carved to the shape, covered in wire for support, and then finally coated in a cement like substance. I am currently working on a basin/birdbath that is in the shape of an owl. The woman in the play had a facination with owls and often used them in her sculptures. I think one of the coolest things about this show is that some of the props that we are making are acutally representations of her real work. So when an audience sees this house there will be many aspects of it that are from true life. I always find it more challenging to copy something from real life then to be able to design it as I go along. Well that is all for now. More glitter, more glue, more fun.

Livin' the Dream

2008-12-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

From Michelle, Education Intern

The inimitable Kiki Abba (Audience Development Intern) always uses the phrase “Livin’ the Dream” to describe life here at the Rep. Recently I decided that I couldn’t agree more. My name is Michelle Burce and I am the Seattle Rep Education Intern. I am living the dream.

Every day here is different than the rest, but today has been relatively typical. I got here by 9am so I could do some final prep work for this morning’s student matinee of You Can’t Take It With You. Most of the morning was a whirlwind of getting over 600 high school students ushered into the lobby and to their seats in less than a half an hour. As soon as the show started, I popped up to my office to check out the latest news regarding school closures in Seattle. Our partner high school, The Center School, is at risk of getting closed at the end of the year due to Seattle budget cuts. Teaching Artist Beverly is working hard to keep hopes up and make the case for this arts-centered high school, but we’ll see what happens.

By 11am I was in the car off to Woodinville with teen-heartthrob Chris Dewar (last year’s Edu Intern), and we were headed to the third day of rehearsal for this year’s Playwriting Project. Andrea Allen, Director of Education and seasoned playwright, has been working with four young playwrights from Roosevelt HS and four from Woodinville HS over the past two months to create eight one-act plays. Now, five of us are jumping into this project as directors of these eight plays. We have four weeks of rehearsal (broken up by two weeks of winter break), and then we will be performing in the Leo K theatre at the Rep.

These high school plays are great fun to work on. When writing snippet-length descriptions, they end up sounding something like this: “Two guys are planning an elaborate bank heist – but the entrance to the vault is through a lingerie store! Hilarity ensues!” or “Brooke and Charlie meet at a work party and immediately hit it off. The only problem is she’s 30 and he’s 18, but they’ve both lied about their ages. Hilarity ensues!” or even “There’s a co-ed bathroom at a high school - hilarity ensues!”

Even two-hour periods feel short when I’m in the classroom, so after reading the script, discussing characters, playing a character-building game, and checking back in with our playwright about some re-writes, it was time to go. I caught a ride back to the Rep with the lovely Kelly Kitchens, fabulous teaching artist and director, and we spent the drive talking about different directing styles; Kelly is more strict professional with her students, Chris is more “camp counselor,” and I fall somewhere in the middle.

Once back in the office I met briefly with our production manager, prepared everything for tomorrow’s matinee, and breathed a sigh of relief. Tomorrow I’m at Roosevelt in the morning, so I’ll spend the rest of my day creating a curriculum for that cast. Sometimes I stop and think to myself, “Wow, they actually pay me for this stuff?” and then I remember how small my weekly paycheck is. But I’ve got nothing to complain about - I’m living the dream.

I Need to Do Laundry

2008-12-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

From Kiki, Audience Development

Well, it's true. I really do need to do laundry. But alas, I don't have a lot of time for that. Why? Because of my awesome internship, that's why. And I'm watching too many TV seasons that I've rented from the Queen Anne library. But it's fine.

So when I originally got this internship I kind of didn't know how I was going to handle living off of $200 a week (which is the current rate that our stipend is at). But you know what, the Rep does a fantastic job of helping you out with job opportunities. I am currently pulling a ton of hours as a Lobby Manager for our shows doing the whole smile-at-patrons-and-wear-headset-like-Madonna song and dance. I'm getting between 15-20 hours a week and that really adds up to paying off my flights home and affording Met Mart sandwhiches (which is an expensive grocery store across the street from the Rep). You could also work behind our front desk after work or on the weekends. Basically you answer phones and buzz people into the building, which is so much more glamourous than Working Girl. A lot of interns also work in our Concessions in the Espresso Bar, coat check, or behind our Bar at the Rep. Once you're trained there you can work the bar at events like Crew, Happy Hour or Taste of the Rep and earn some pocket change there. And if you're really cool you'll work random Development Department events like passing out mini-pieces of chicken on a stick to women as they get their hair done at a beauty salon. Awesome.

It is important to note that I'm also doing a lot of work to hire YOU. Yes, you. One of my jobs is to coordinate the internship recruitment by e-mailing schools, posting advertisements on websites, making packets to send to career centers, you know the works. So if you're interested in applying you'll be talking to me, your new bffn (best friend. for now).

Another thing that I'm doing is acting as the Communications lead for our Playwriting Project. We take two local high schools and have 4 students from each write plays that we stage in our Leo K. Theatre. Baller, right? So I'll be doing a lot of work on the playbill, poster, e-mails, press releases and all that jazz. The point is to get us to "implement the skills that we've learned already" but really it's just a lot of fun. We're talking high schoolers writing plays about speed dating. I've said enough.

Speaking of high schoolers, I'm also working a lot on Emerging Critics. For this program we invite high schoolers to come to the theatre, hear a mini-lecture from a leading theatre critic in the area and then they get to watch the show that we're putting on. Then they write their reviews, e-mail them to me, and then I can tell the kids which ones have talent and which ones should try Golf Club. I'm kidding. They're actually all pretty good and really cut to the chase in their reviews. I wish more critics wrote like them. Dirty, to the point, and honest.

So basically things are really busy and I have no idea when my laundry is going to get done. But it's all good. I'm having a great time, meeting cool people, getting comps to plays, and pretending to know how to make videos for our blog. Just think, this could be you in 9 months. *cue dramatic music*

Don't Judge Me By My To-Do List

2008-12-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

From Verhanika, Production Management

As the Production Management Intern, my To Do list is often filled with a wide range of activities. Today it includes many things including long term projects for the season, ongoing career development tasks, projects with outside theatre organizations, and, my two favorites, “Read Scripts” and “Make Snowflakes”. We are about to start the budgeting process for our 2009-2010 Season and I get to read all the scripts we are going to budget for. This is great for me since I have a hard time reading scripts and allows me ample practice to hone my skills on scripts ranging from the contemporary to the absurd. I also get to actually budget these shows alongside the Assistant Production Manager, Diane. And for those of your rolling your eyes and groaning, imagine it this way: we get to determine how much a production gets for all of its expenses ranging from scenic materials to travel per diems. We hold that power in our hands. So that’s why I’m reading scripts.

As far as the snowflakes go, we are creating a Winter Wonderland backstage for the opening night of You Can’t Take It With You. I work closely with production and company management and am often commissioned (and by commissioned, I mean told) to do a lot of things that our Company Manager, Sarah Petty, needs help with. While trying to coordinate the arrival of our director for The Seafarer, who is coming from London, setting up the arrival of our cast of The Road to Mecca, and keeping the casts of boom and You Can’t Take It With You happy, she has also been put in charge of opening night decorations. Needless to say, she is extremely busy and usually sends me and whatever other interns I can trick into coming to go pick up balloons, decorations and set up the backstage area.

It’s a bit of an atypical day with this much buzz. The production office, which had wilted under tech, has been enlivened with the promise of an opening and then a full blissful month before we start the rat race all over again. The next go around with tech will be just The Road to Mecca so the usual back-to-back back-breaking techs won’t be dragging us down.

Now I’m off to work on the snowflakes. I’m sure I’ll be covered in glitter and glue by the end of the day. My keyboard will surely sparkle!

What I'm Taking With Me

2008-12-03T14:41:00.001-08:00

From Becca, Literary Intern

Because tonight is the opening night for the second show I worked on, You Can’t Take It With You, I thought I’d take this opportunity to reflect on my experience being a part of this production.

Going into rehearsals for You Can’t Take It With You, I never anticipated the varied things I would be doing for this show. As with nearly every production, our tech period presented some unforeseen problems. Because of these issues we encountered along the way, I ended up doing a number of things that I did not expect, including filling in for actors. During rehearsals I played many of the characters including Rheba, Grandpa, Kolenkhov, Penny, and Paul Sycamore. (I use the term “played” very loosely. I basically just did their blocking and read their lines.) For those of you who are familiar with the show, you can appreciate my impressive acting range (KIDDING!). Even though I was really only doing the blocking so that the actors could rehearse or the designers could work, it was still pretty neat being on the Bagley Wright stage.

Another one of my responsibilities was taking notes during previews for director Warner Shook. It wasn’t always easy keeping up with him but it was a great way to learn about directing. I also have never looked cooler than I did with my clip-on book light and yellow legal pad.

I also took line notes for the actors during previews. One thing I learned while working on this show is that George S. Kaufman (one of the writers), never watched his shows. He just paced in the back of theater, listening to the dialogue. He could hear the comedy in the words alone and did not need to watch the play. While taking these line notes, I realized that Warner has a similar sensitivity to the language of the play. Even though he wasn’t following along in the script, he could often sense when an actor was paraphrasing. After seeing the show about a million times, I’ve gotten pretty good at it, too.

Even though this show was at times stressful, I am thankful to have been a part of it. I learned a lot from everyone involved and the finished product is really wonderful.

I Enjoy Watching the Apocalypse!

2008-12-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

From Liz, Stage Management Intern

Hello from the intern cave! It’s Liz again, and boom opened last Wednesday. We had a great crowd, and the food theme for the after-party in the lobby was “nonperishable.” I enjoyed the creative idea more than the food, though. We had lots of canned stuff and pickled peppers, mini-toast, twinkies, and Cheez Whiz. Wherever they are, twinkies and Cheez Whiz probably will survive the apocalypse! Ew.

During recent long days of tech, I noticed a difference between working here and in other theatres where I’ve worked: I’m used to having to cut or majorly simplify difficult aspects of a show during tech—crunch time! Get rid of what doesn’t work and just get the show up! But with daytime rehearsals during preview week, boom’s production team had the opportunity (and the capability!) to add complexity and quality to the production.

A major focus of tech was playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s stage direction “A comet hits the planet earth and is somehow simulated.” The designers aptly took on this challenge and created the apocalypse with lots of loud noises, a timpani, flashing lights, sounds of breaking glass, cabinet doors popping open with stuff falling out, and gold mylar confetti falling from above. All in all, it’s pretty awesome, and I get chills whenever I watch it.

Today I met with other interns Holly, Michelle, and Verhanika about the Playwrighting Project. The education department is working with two local high schools to develop and produce plays that will go up in January on the Leo K stage. My job will be stage managing four 15-minute plays for one high school. As of now, that means I’m keeping track of props needed, and (all in one day) helping run tech and calling the show. It sounds pretty exciting (and super-organized already, which is always inspiring).

In other, unrelated news, I’m freezing. It’s really cold in the intern cave. Fortunately, the Rep has an unusually extensive supply of tea, and the stage management interns have a key to the coffee/tea supply closet. Hehehe. Out of the 36+ kinds of tea, my two favorites are the peppermint and the chai white teas. I’m most put off by the licorice spice tea… Unfortunately, out of pure curiosity I tried the licorice Altoids someone left in the green room, and I must say that I’m better off without anything anise-related in my life.

Tech With 18 People and Communication…

2008-12-01T09:51:00.001-08:00

From Holly, Stage Management

So my most recent adventure has been the technical rehearsals for You Can’t Take It With You. I thought that it would be a really difficult tech process because the director and designers of this production are very detail oriented, which makes for a great show, but a very long and tedious tech. I was totally wrong!

Tech flowed very well. The hardest part about it was corralling 18 actors in and out of wigs, costumes, and makeup. I thought that because the production team paid so much attention to detail that we would hit major walls in tech, not allowing us to move forward. The truth is, it that they are very aware of detail because all of them have such a vision. It was really an amazing thing to be a part of. Tonight was our first Preview and the audience loves it! Everything that Warner Shook (the director) said they would laugh at they did! I hope that one day I can have that much experience under my belt.

In that last week or so I have also been super amazed with my Stage Manager, Stina Lotti and my Assistant Stage Manager, Claire Zawa. They both have such different and effective ways of communicating. I am floored when I watch them navigate a conversation with actors, directors, everybody really. They know just how to phrase a question or statement to get the answer they were looking for. As some of us may know sometimes it is hard to get an answer out of theatre people, at least a direct answer. WE are such story tellers, but one in a while we just need the quick and dirty answer. I am so glad to be working on this project. And it both frustrates me that I am not at this level of Stage Management, and excites me to see what is ahead!

Her Breath Stinks and Her Hair is Falling Out, But She's A Good Ol' Girl

2008-11-16T15:24:00.000-08:00

From Courtney, Stage Management Intern

Hi all you readers out there in the blogosphere! I’m Courtney, ANOTHER stage management intern. I just wrapped up the production of The Three Musketeers. From first rehearsal to closing night, I did many things … such as but not limited to: moved all the rehearsal scenery around during runs, was a rehearsal dancer, copyed lots and lots and lots of new scripts (let’s not get into why…), babysat some cute kiddies, bought 4 birthday cakes, put some armor on a certain Cardinal Richelieu, updated the master scripts, gathered valuables, did lots of first aid, filed lots of accident reports (what do you expect with all that sword fighting?), called the show and played Buttercup the Horse. (neigh.)

Calling the show was one of the most exciting days I’ve had so far. Okay… maybe not as exciting as the day Jeff Bender (the actor playing Porthos) faked getting his tooth knocked out, but it runs a close second! Amy, the SM, let me booth train during the week and call a student matinee. I did better than I thought I would and nailed a lot of the tricky stuff I was worried about. Most of the transitions have lights, sounds, fly, motors, and other things (such as the 3 actors playing the musketeers dropping in on ropes, an actor "bleeding," and an alter coming out of the floor.) Also, not all of it was called. There are cue lights set up on both sides of the stage for those times when the cue happens so fast, the words can’t even come out of your mouth. They were mostly used for rail/fly cues and actor entrances.

Working on The Three Musketeers was definitely a great experience and I really enjoyed being able to wear so many different hats. Rehearsals were a constant run-around for the stage management team but it was worth it. I’m looking forward to doing Road to Mecca and the change of pace that it will hopefully bring.

Getting Mad Props

2008-11-14T16:49:00.000-08:00

From Mollie, Props Intern

This week was quite exciting in the shop. Monday started with an exciting football game and lots of energy. The rest of the week I was busy in the morning doing notes for boom and then the afternoon was spent working on You Can't Take It With You. I worked last week and this week on finalizing the dressing of the shelf unit for boom. After creating lots of different creature specimens I arranged the bottles on the shelf in order to recreate a musuem display like atmosphere. With boom finishing up I was able to build firecrakers, bottle rockets, meatloaf and some blintzes. Just another day in props.

Actor Packets and Welcome Signs

2008-11-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

From Becca, Literary Intern

I’d always thought it’d be cool to arrive in a new city, get off of the plane, and have someone waiting for me, holding a sign with my name on it: “Welcome to Seattle, Miss Leshin!” This of course was not the case when I arrived here and, let’s be honest, I never expected that it would be. I did however, have the chance to be the person holding that sign, greeting the weary traveler after a cross-country flight. The traveler was not just anyone, though. It was Warner Shook, director of You Can’t Take It With You, the second show that I have been assigned to work on. When Warner saw my sign with his name on it, he simply pointed right to me and walked to the baggage claim. And thus began my experience working on You Can’t Take It With You.

I never thought that going to the airport would be part of my duties as the Literary Intern, but I’m glad that it was. On the ride back to the Rep, I showed Warner the actor packet that I had prepared for the cast. As an Artistic Intern, one of my responsibilities is to prepare these packets for each show that I work on. They contain any sort of background information that might be helpful to the actors during rehearsal. Because You Can’t Take It With You takes place in 1937, I am now an expert on the Great Depression, the New Deal, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Those high school history classes ended up paying off after all.

Warner was pleased with the packet that I had compiled and even asked me to say a few words about it during the first rehearsal. It took a lot of effort to put together but all of the time that I put into it is really paying off, especially when I see an actor reading it during rehearsals.

Now that the preliminary research is over, my main job is observing rehearsals. Sometimes I’m on book, sometimes I make photocopies or do other odd jobs, but most of the time I get to watch the play come together, from the first rehearsal to opening night. Even if I am not directly participating all of the time, there is still so much to learn just from being in the rehearsal room.

Lunch Break Update

2008-11-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

From Haley, Paints Intern

Paints is in full swing right now! I have been painting so much trim it is unreal! You Can't Take It With You's large living room set is completely lined with trim, although when it is all up I'm sure it won't look like as much as I feel like I've painted! This week I also did woodgraining for YCTIWY. It was so much fun! I had never wood grained in that way before, the tool I used works like magic! I did a staircase as well as trim and feel like I definitely have the hang of it. Wood graining is a great skill to have in scenic painting because it comes up alot in designs for shows, and once you learn it you can make minor adjustments and changes to fit to different designs and shows. I also finished my second intern project on Friday! I'm extremely happy with how it turned out and between the techniques of marbling and Trompe L’oeil, it will be a great addition to my portfolio! Okay, lunch breaks over, back to work!
-Haley

I Might Be A Stage Management Intern But...

2008-11-10T11:19:00.000-08:00

From Holly, Stage Management

Recently I have been working with Warner Shook and 16 Seattle locals on You Can’t Take It With You. From the beginning it has been kind of like a tornado. Coming off of Charlayne Woodard’s The Night Watcher, a one woman show directed by the very talented Daniel Sullivan, I don’t think I knew quite what I was in for. Besides the very obvious shift in size of cast, from 1 to 17, the difference in direction is really fascinating.

Daniel Sullivan is a man of few words, but when he speaks it is very articulate and his ideas are put forth in such a way that it makes you think he has tailored each word to that person or audience of people. He knows how to get what he wants from everyone involved, actor, designers, and management. I really enjoyed watching him work with Charlayne. He brought the calmness she needed to tell her very energetic story. I think I saw him get up from his chair once during the rehearsal process. His thoughtfulness and clarity of thought was all he needed to get the end result. I hope that one day I can be as focused and at the same time imaginative as he is.

My new project is quite the opposite. Warner Shook is on his feet the entire rehearsal. He is constantly running the dialogue in his head, working and reworking the picture both verbally and physically. He is very interactive with the actors using all his senses to create the story. Many times he will close his eyes and say the lines. Other times he will touch an actor to push the energy that he receives from the script to the actor. It is amazing to see this process and obvious that Warner was meant to direct these types of comedies. He understands the time period (1930’s) as if he lived it. The comedy of it is light hearted and innocent. It doesn’t have the jadedness of our time. Warner is very protective of this innocence.

I might be the Stage Mangement Intern, but I am learning so much more than stage management from observing and assisting in the process. I hope to be able to direct a piece after this internship, now that I have been exposed to a lot of new ‘tricks’. I may be getting ahead of myself. We’ll see if I think the same way in March.

That's What She Said

2008-11-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hello all you readers out there! I am Kate, the Technical Production intern here at the Seattle Rep. Now, what does that mean exactly? That means I get to work with the Technical Director (Dana) and the Assistant Technical Director (Brian) on all of the scenic aspects of our shows. Side note: One of the best things about the internships here are the people, who are amazing at their jobs and make coming to work every day entertaining, whether it is being attacked with a large inflatable Spider-man hammer, practicing at lunch for the annual production vs. admin football game (GO PRODUCTION!), or going on “field trips” whenever someone in the shop has a question.

So basically, I get to work on all the shows throughout the season doing anything from automation to drafting in AutoCAD, to watching tech. Take Three Musketeers for example. That show has six motors for tracking scenery, a trap door, and an elevator. I worked on setting up and running the motors, hooking them up to the Conners Boxes, creating a box to run the elevator and trap door, working with the Spike Mark software, setting up pneumatic locks on the trap door, and working with all of the hydraulics for the trap door and elevator. Let me tell you, that is a lot within my first month of working here, especially since we had two shows in tech at once. But if you are interested in tech work in Seattle, this is the place to be.

Now we are well into our next two shows, boom and You Can’t Take it With You. I have spent a significant amount of time figuring out how much moulding the set will need, making a spread sheet of what walls need what moulding and how much of each moulding, searching for places to buy moulding, and drafting the moulding. I pretty much know everything you could possibly ever want to know about the moulding in this show and local places to buy moulding. But that is what happens when you have a show with 700’ of moulding and an eager intern who just got AutoCAD 2007 so she can finally draft in 3D. (I said moulding 8 times in 3 sentences, I think that is a record, someone call Guinness!)

Well, there you have it. A quick update on all the things I have done so far (at least the things that I can remember right now). If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at: Kate.Jordan@SeattleRep.org

-Kate

I See the Light

2008-11-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

From Haley, Props Intern

I have been working on the same project for a few weeks now. I have found it to be tedious at times, or I find myself getting a little burnt out. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now though and it is really exciting. Knowing I am this close and being able to see the succes it will be once I am done is really great. It makes all the hard work worth it. I feel like Nancy has taught me so much, especially in ways of how to look at something and experiment or try new things to enhance my work. She shows me how you can have fun working on things that seem to be tedious or more of the same. I feel I am benefitting so much from this experience.
I am also really excited about the Production vs. Admin football game on Monday!! After practicing all week and making my arms sore (haven't thrown a football in a while!) I am ready to go! I love the sense of community and fun that we have and I have experienced working in this theatre. -Haley

Reporting from the Intern Cave

2008-10-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

From Liz, Stage Management Intern

Hello! Greetings from another one of the stage management interns! I’m Liz, one of the older interns—most of us are here right out of college, but this is my third year in grad school. My internship started about a month later than everyone else’s, so I’ve only been here about four weeks so far. Right now in stage management land (or the intern cave, as I lovingly call our stage management intern area), Courtney is finishing up the run of The Three Musketeers; Holly just started rehearsals for You Can’t Take It With You, and I’ve been in rehearsal for two weeks for boom.

My typical day is as such: I run into work and shower here (there are two showers conveniently located in the stage management corner). I’m training for a half marathon next June, and if I couldn’t shower at work, then I either wouldn’t run much at all, or I’d be known as that sweaty, smelly intern.

Anyway, my more official morning duties include prepping the rehearsal room: getting it set up and making sure it’s stocked with mugs for everyone, coffee, tea, and sometimes snacks. I do have the privilege of doing those “interns only” activities, like unloading the dishwasher and making coffee, but hey, I am an intern, yeah? During rehearsal I’ve been on book (since the actors have their lines down already! Wow). After rehearsal, I record the next day’s schedule on the rehearsal hotline, and email it to everyone in the boom company. I also take notes and make documents… like the props list, scene breakdown, and anything else that’s needed.

Since boom is a fairly new play, we’ve been working closely with playwright Peter Nachtrieb. We spoke with him last week. He’ll be in town for previews and opening night (in two weeks!), and we’re all excited to meet him!

Also last week, we took a field trip to Seattle Aquarium. We learned about Beaugregory Damselfish (and Emerick the Octopus), touched sea anemones, and we got to stand in the “Jelly Donut,” a giant lighted ring containing circling jellyfish. We even took a tour of their basement/lab area, where they store things in big freezers marked “NOT FOR HUMAN FOOD.” This was absolutely fascinating, and provided lots of insight into Jules, boom’s resident marine biologist.

Well, that’s it for now, folks. You’ll hear from me again the week after boom opens!

Lighting Up Seattle

2008-10-31T14:48:00.000-07:00

From Brian, Lighting Design Intern

Hi! My name is Brian and I’m the Lighting Design Intern here at the Rep. I have been soooo busy so far, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. For example, I spent one day playing around with fog machines and plastic tubing, doing research for water effects for Three Musketeers. How cool is that? Even though we didn’t use a fog machine effect for the fountain I still learned a lot about fog machines!

I’m starting to settle into my day-to-day routine… but as you may probably know, there is no real “routine” in theatre. One characteristic of theatre is that it does not become a routine. And this is a good thing because I never get bored!

In between tech periods of shows, I come in from 9 to 5 / Monday through Friday (pretty corporate, huh?). I even have my own desk, computer, and phone! But that schedule doesn’t last for long... next week I will be entering into light focus and tech rehearsals for Boom. Following that I’ll be going right into focus and tech for You Can’t Take It With You. Needless to say, I’m going to sleep this week while I have time!

I LOVE VectorWorks, the drafting software that us lighting guys/gals use to draw everything. This past week I have been teaching myself all the neat things VectorWorks can do… one of the coolest being 3-dimensional drafting. It’s pretty neat to rotate the theatre how I want and to turn on and off lighting fixtures in the virtual space.

I will be assisting the fabulous Robert Aguilar for lighting on Boom in the Leo K Theatre. I look forward to working with Bobby on this project… it’s planning to be an enjoyable story and fun design! Keep your eyes and ears out for this one!

‘Til Next Time,

Fresh Out the Kitchen: Audience Development Internship

2008-10-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

From Kiki, Audience Development

Hello, and welcome to the blog of the 2008-09 interns. Part of my job is to spearhead this blog so that it can assist anyone that is invesitgating or applying for one of our internships. Every current intern will blog 4-5 times throughout the year and will let you know about the progress that they are making, what projects they are working on, and what a typical day-in-the-life is for them. I hope that you find it useful and will consider applying to the Professional Arts Training Program at the Rep.

So, I am the Audience Development Intern. It is a hybrid internship that was just created this year combining elements of the Communications Internship with other responsibilities in the newly created Audience Development department. Whether it'll be offered again next year is beyond me, but I personally hope that it is. I work everyday in the AD pod with my lovely, outgoing, and all-around awesome boss Fran Kao. In the pod is also Jessica Kurtz, who was the Arts Management Intern last year. The three of us make up the department and we are quite the force to be reckoned with. My internship consists of a lot of, well, party planning. I help Fran and Jessica to plan, set up, execute, and analyze programs that we put on for our patrons. Example: We are currently in the third week of our show The Three Musketeers. Since this is a show that can be viewed by a much younger audience than we are accustomed to we planned a Family Day. Families came in an hour before the show and we put them through "Musketeer Boot Camp." They made hats, decorated tunics with family crests on them, made swords, learned how to "lunge and poke" (they had to learn it at some point) and then were knighted by a staff member dressed as a Musketeer. Now come on, that's just plain cool. That was one of the most hectic events I've ever been apart of, but it was such a huge success. Getting to witness their energy and excitement for theatre was one of the best things I've ever seen. To quote my favorite 5 year old, "This is the best day of my life!" Glad we could help.

Don't worry, I also deal with a lot of alcohol consuming adults. I help with the Crew, our dynamic social and subscriber group for under-40 professionals, which basically means that they come to the theatre and we provide a party-like atmosphere for the pre-show. Food and drinks are plentiful and it's a great way to meet people in the Seattle area. I also help out with SRO, our volunteer organization. I get to sit in on their board and general meetings and see how they contribute to keeping this place running. They've also been huge contributors to stocking my kitchen with supplies, so it's nice to get in good with them. They're all so adorable.

On the Communications side, I'm just juggling a lot of stuff at once. I am building a lot of mass e-mails that go out to patrons on a server called PatronMail. One of them is called "Virtual Concierge" and it is an e-mail that we send out the week before a patron attends a show. It reminds them about their tickets, offers a link in case an exchange needs to be made, gives information about other events that might cause traffic in the area, what plays are coming up at the Rep, etc. I build the e-mail every week and have gotten quite good at it, if I do say so myself. I also am helping to manage our Facebook, Myspace and SRT Blog accounts. You should check them all out. I'm working hard for that stipend. I'm really excited about working on ednotes with Drew so you should check out that video on the Blog. Shameless plug? Yes. Sue Me.

What else do I do? Hmmm, well I hang up production photos in the lobby when our plays open, I write a weekly newsletter that goes out to the entire Rep called The Cue Sheet and have been ruffling feathers left and right, and I also help with marketing by distributing bookmarks and postcards for our shows all over town. Seriously, I'm doing everything, and it's wonderful. I always look forward to coming to work and find that there are a ton of opportunities to help out with different projects. The Rep is pretty much amazing, and if you haven't applied then you should get on it. Call me and we'll talk.

Observing the Phantom of the Opera

2008-10-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

Holly Coombs, Stage Management Intern

The wonderful and multitalented Production Stage Manager, Elizabeth Farwell was able to get me into the touring production of the Phantom of the Opera to observe one of the Stage Managers calling the show. In one word it was FAB-U-LOUS! When I arrived at the stage door of the Paramount I was greeted by Ann one of the SM’s on the show. She took me to the SM office. I learned quickly that everything in the show is stored in road boxes that then become office shelves. I also learned that the Production Stage Manager and the two Stage Managers act like one enormous theatre-making-machine. They are not only there to call the show and watch for safety issues, but they are in charge of focus, giving actors notes, restaging certain scenes when new actors come in, and running daily rehearsals (I’m sure I am leaving many more duties out). Needless to say it blew my mind.

During the show Jason, the other Stage Manger calling the show that night, allowed me to ask as many questions as I could come up with. He also explained in detail much of the shows technical aspects and the life of a touring Stage Manager. I am so lucky to have been given this opportunity by Elisabeth. I was able to see another section of Stage Management that is very unfamiliar to me, as well as continue to shape my future in Stage Management.

Curtain Call

2008-04-16T11:48:00.001-07:00

It has been a good run and we have gained a wealth of information. Most of our internships have finished, with a few remaining until the close of the season. We would like to take this time to say thank you to the staff and volunteers at Seattle Rep, you truly made this experience invaluable.

Good luck to the Interns of next season, we wish you well!
Sincerely,
-FY08 Seattle Rep Interns

Questions of the Artistic Intern

2008-03-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

The following are answers to questions of the Artistic Intern Emily. Once again, I thought these answers might help others who want to know more about this specific internship. Thanks Emily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't have time to tell you EVERYTHING that I have learned, because I have learned so much in such a variety of ways - but I'll do my best.

My favorite part of the internship, besides working with such a good-natured, hard-working, wonderful staff, was being in rehearsal for several of the shows- getting the opportunity to assist respected regional directors and developing relationships with the amazing artists (local and regional) who work on the shows. I am most interested in directing and new play development, so it was great to not only get to work with directors, but to communicate and collaborate with playwrights on their work. Of course not all the shows are new plays, but I had the chance to work on three new plays while I was here and I developed strong relationships with all of those playwrights.

Having previously worked at a smaller theater, it was great to be exposed to the timetable of a literary office at a major regional theatre, how season planning differs when working with a large budget, and to learn the ropes in terms of dealing with constant incoming scripts, playwright communications, etc etc.

As a playwright, I have also developed a sense of how to communicate with directors, literary managers, and agents- in addition to learning a lot about structure, character, ETC - mostly be reading TONS of plays and writing about them (this is a large part of my job outside of the shows I have worked on). Literary criticism is a huge part of the internship and I have learned a lot about what the playwrighting community is thinking about, who are the major players in this community, and what makes a successful and appealing play.

In terms of the amount of time I spend at the theatre... I think that the artistic and stage management interns end up spending the most time in the building, as we are required to work on the shows and be in rehearsals, tech, preview rehearsals and preview performances. When not in rehearsal, the typical week is 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, and this consists of varied duties in the lit office - depending on where we are with season planning, we read, write script reports, write letters to playwrights, log incoming scripts, update libraries, etc.

I would say you have to be pretty self-motivated, as there are not many hard deadlines for the kind of work that gets done (though sometimes a project will come up that needs to be done within a couple of days- which can call for longer hours, but this is not super typical). Actor packets are very time consuming and require library time, outside research, watching movies, etc- I love making actor packets but these always prove to take more time than I anticipate and have a very solid deadline.

Because there is an endless amount of work to do, the more you can do, the better - and this requires some serious time-management skills. While in rehearsal, the lit mgmt stuff often is forced to slow down- there simply isn’t time to be in rehearsal 8 hours a day and do all the rest of it! Rehearsal weeks vary, but are usually 8 hour days 6 days a week, plus production meetings, related research, etc- tech and previews are intense - five days of tech, and five days of 5 hour rehearsals plus night time previews, both of which are followed by production meetings. Some of these days I will get in at 10 am and be here until midnight. All in all, the schedule is pretty varied and I personally like that- going in and out of rehearsal processes keeps things from getting overwhelming in terms of the massive amount of plays to read, etc.

So yeah! I hope that answers some of your questions...
Emily,
emilyr@seattlerep.org

Please note...

2008-03-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

Intern Applications are due on Saturday, March 15, 2008.

We will continue to update the blog throughout the season, just for kicks. Thank you.

~Intern Recruiter~

Questions and Answers about the PAPT Program (In particular the Education Internship)

2008-03-05T21:15:00.000-08:00

Hello All,
The following questions were asked of the Education Intern. He answered them so thoroughly, and I thought people might have the same questions. Therefore, I posted them on the blog. Happy reading.

~Jacque~

Q: What are the approximate hours of the educational internship? Is it mostly daytime hours? Are there weekend hours as well?
A: I am physically at work for roughly 40 hours out of the week (Monday through Friday 8:30- 5 ish), give or take an hour or two here and there. For the majority of the internship your weekends will be your weekends, but from time to time there will be Saturday obligations which you will be given fair warning. However, because a significant part of the internship is teaching, you may find yourself planning and thinking about work outside of the confines of the working hours.

Q: Do you think I might have time to work on a side project during the evenings and/or weekends?
A: Yes. If you have the desire then absolutely. You will find that many folks here have several extra curricular projects in the works and there is an equally strong community of support for these outside projects. Personally, I have been involved in four shows outside of the Rep during my internship in addition to working with the Seattle Children's Theatre and teaching for Wing-It productions.

Q: Do these two projects [TeenSpeak and Drama Intensive] take up all of your time? What is your role in these - administrative, artistic, or a bunch of both? What else are you up to on a day to day basis?
A: Without a doubt TeenSpeak and Drama Intensive play a major role in this internship.Teenspeak speaks takes the shape of what we call the Playwriting Project (PP). The PP is a multi-month residency with two local high schools where we cultivate young writers in the ways play writing, specifically one- acts. Once the plays have taken shape we assemble a group of crack teaching artists, including the Education intern, to direct the plays which we eventually stage here at the Rep in the Leo K. theatre. This all takes place during the first half of the internship from Nov- January.

Drama Intensive (DI) begins and ends with the Seattle public school's spring semester (late January through early June).We do DI with the Center School a small public high school located here on the Seattle Center campus. It is comprised of two classes: a design class and a performance/rehearsal class. The classes culminate in the performance of a full length original piece of theater, again staged here at the Rep.

During both of these projects you will wear many hats ranging from artistic to administrative. You will find it a benefit to have multi-tasking and strategic time management skills, and if you don't, you should quickly develop some. At any given point in the internship, you will find yourself in the classroom, or a meeting, or at your desk, or on the road. If you are interested in teaching theater in a high school setting, in real deal high schools, than this definitely the internship for you.

Q: Do you have to have a car in order to perform the duties of this internship?
A: No. I don't have a car and it has not impeded any of my duties as intern. I live on the North side of town and it takes me about a half an hour so to get to work. If you don't live in Seattle and you are unfamiliar with the area I recommend checking out Capitol Hill and Queen Anne as viable options for bussing it to work.

Q: How small is the stipend?
A: Currently we receive a two hundred dollar a week stipend. Here are two ways of looking at it:
A) Make no mistake we are not rolling in the cash money. You seriously need to ask yourself if you can budget your life on 800 bucks a month. You should also ask yourself, "Will I have the time or energy to to hold down another part time job, the internship, and still be involved with other theater projects?"
B) The money is straight up and untaxed (meaning nothing is taken out and it will not show up in taxes because the amount is so little the IRS doesn't come knocking on your door come April). Plus there are often opportunities to earn extra money here at the Rep, including working the front desk in the evening, and working concessions during shows. The nice thing about these jobs is that they are flexible with your schedule and they are here at the Rep.

Q: Is there anything else you think would be good to know about this position?
A: Yes. It is a tremendously rewarding experience, one in which you have the great opportunity to work among talented theater artists in renowned regional theater. The interns are treated with the utmost respect by the entire staff.

Medicine and Mud....WHAT?! - Costume Internship

2008-02-29T16:30:00.000-08:00

Life in the costume shop has been crazy because of all the shows back to back!!!! And what's even crazier is that the internship is almost over...although there is still a lot to be done!

The costume shop is just wrapping up creating the costumes for Imaginary Invalid. This costume heavy show was mostly made up of built pieces, which meant a lot of time management and a bit of hustle. I got to work mostly in crafts for this particular show and I had a ball! Every day was a new project, a new piece, a new sparkle here and a new color there. I learned so many new techniques and skills.
(Amanda learning about Costume Design for Invalid.)

For instance, I learned how to do a hat lining and also how to make doctors face masks/jabots (I worked on a lot of medical equipment/costume accessories sort of things for this show!). Of course I learned much more but those were what I am most proud of.

The Cure At Troy is next, which involves a lot of mud and leather.....okay and men! I'm looking forward to working with all of the above but maybe a one in particular a just little bit more...JUST KIDDING!!! It should be interesting how the shop deals with mud on everything and trying to keep up with the maintenance and durability. Cross your fingers!

-Amanda
amandar@seattlerep.org

Friendly Neighborhood Education Intern - Update 2

2008-02-22T18:51:00.000-08:00

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.-

Time has FLOWN - Arts Management

2008-02-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe that my last blog was in October. That seems like just yesterday because my time at The Rep has FLOWN by. In that time I have helped Christy Bain (Company Manager) while her assistant was out of town. I took over as Production Manager for the Playwriting Project which happened back in January. I've also had a major role in putting travel plans and interview schedules together for our Communications & Marketing Director search. I really got to put my Company Management skills to the test. It was very high stress because I was having to put the travel plans together in a week and on top of that it was right before Christmas.

Currently I'm Project Manager for Corporate Night. It happens this Wednesday, Feb. 20th and we have invited over 1200 people to attend. I have been in charge of putting together catering, wine, beer, getting the invitations made (Thanks to Amber and Francesca from the Communications Department!), sending out the invitations and tickets, gathering volunteers and much more. It's a pretty easy event because I have Karen C. from the grants department helping me when I have questions. Currently we have close to 720 people coming to the event which will be a very good turn out. We want to try and fill the house with as many people as possible so we can get the word out that The Imaginary Invalid is a hysterical show!

Up next I'm going to be helping Fran co-produce TeenSpeak at the end of March. I can't even explain my excitement for this project. Then projects for Ben and training on Tessitura and then..... job searching. Job searching is never fun and it's hard, but we all have to do it. Wish me luck!

Jessica Kurtz
jessicak@seattlerep.org

It is what YOU make it! - Stage Management

2008-02-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

Hello dear readers! First things first, a little about ME: I am the second of three Stage Management interns (Whitney/ or Whitnizzle to my friends). As you may or may not know, I am contracted to work on three shows this season (two main stage, and one in the smaller/cozy theatre). I am currently working on my second show, The Breach, which is in performance in the Bagley Wright Theatre. So please understand that portions of this have been written in semi-blackness backstage with people talking in my ear and other portions have been added within the confines of the swanky SM intern area during breaks.

So here goes: The Breach has been a whirlwind of activity and such a change from my first show at the Rep (Murderers). I quickly transitioned from a three person play (all monologues) to a “beast” with automation, a huge lap-sized pool, dead prop babies, and a number of staged synchronized swimming events (more like synchronized “play-drowning” but it is exciting none the less). I can truthfully say that this show has been the largest production in which I have been involved. After finishing tech, doing put-in rehearsals, and finally being able to breathe, I am amazed at the quality of work and possibilities that Seattle Rep provides.

In addition to doing my three shows I have had the opportunity to booth train on several shows. Booth training consists of anything from sitting next to the SM in the booth and observing how they call the show to training in and being allowed to call an entire live show (it was way exciting and my best Halloween memory to date).

But I must get down to the meat of the issue, why do this internship? What can it offer? Well, everyone has a different experience just based on the people you work with and the nature of each show; but overall I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that the people here want you to succeed. Our Education guru (Fran) really wants you to get the most out of your internship and if you come into the program with that mindset, then possibilities are endless.

Now, let us go back to the beginning. Going into this program I didn’t know exactly what to expect and I started by just keeping my eyes and ears open to see what information I could soak up. As a result, I have been lovingly called a “stalker” by the Stage Management staff. I find that each Stage Manager who works at the Rep has a different story of how they got to where they are and each has qualities from which I can learn. I ask to see their paperwork, observe them in rehearsal and tech, look at their calling scripts, and generally pay attention to the ways in which each stage manager works differently. I am basically milking this establishment for anything they will give me and I feel that I have learned from my experience here.

I find that Stage Management encompasses many things and one of the most important, in my mind, is the people. From intern to ASM to Stage Manager it is a team effort and I love finding out how I fit into that team. I can tell you that what I did for my first show was drastically different than what was required of me for my second show because each team needed different things from me. This internship really let me see how to work with all kinds of people: how to communicate and work efficiently with actors, technicians, directors, designers, crew, etc. I have seen first hand that there are many different types of Stage Management styles and that the same style doesn’t work for everyone…or for every situation. You need to pick and adapt to different styles for each project and group of people.

What else can I tell you, dear readers, that is of interest? Hmmm…. I like the color orange, a good book, long walks in the park…oh….wait….this isn’t that kind of blog. Okay…back on topic.

For me, one of the hardest things is that I miss being hands-on in the construction and building/running process of a show. It is a difficult transition from college where I was often SM, carpenter, electrician, and all around go-to girl, to a large union house where many of those jobs are spoken for. Consequently, I have been using my spare time (I know what you are thinking….spare time?? What is that?) to talk with the props department as well as the in-house union stage hands about what other things I might be able to get involved with.

Interesting side note: a former Seattle Rep SM Intern is currently the Master Electrician in one of our theatres, and the SM of Imaginary Invalid is a member of Equity as well as IATSE. So, I figure, why not see what that is all about? So far, the people I have talked to about it have been nothing but helpful in providing me with information as well as giving me advice. With all this in mind I am coming up on my two weeks between shows where I get to work on various projects and aid during tech of other shows, if needed. This is my time to play and see what else I can take from my time here at Seattle Rep before they send me out into the big bad world….hopefully a little more prepared.

So that is all from me, dear readers….stay tuned….oh….and APPLY for the program!

I almost forgot….you can live on the little weekly stipend…but I recommend that you get yourself into the Food Stamp program. Free money from the state…yes please!

Whitnizzle (because, now you are my friend)
whitneyb@seattlerep.org

What? Interns have Fun?

2008-02-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

We have now heard from nearly every intern currently at the Rep. I hope you have found their entries helpful in determining whether or not this internship is for you. We are going to continue updating this blog throughout the season, letting everyone know what we are up to and how the remaining season is going.

Now that you all know what we do here, I thought you might enjoy seeing and reading about what the Rep does for us.

Back in November, the Rep put on the Thanksgiving Boxes event for the Interns. You might remember a previous post about this event. The staff at the Rep gathers up some nonperishable goods from home and donates them to the interns. Johnny Mac (featured in the picture as Miles Standish) wanders around the Rep requesting money for other gifts for the interns.

The event was crazy and fun, and although I think it would be more fun for you to experience it first hand when you are an intern, you can watch the craziness on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Ec2-sKQEE.

It was a jolly good time! In addition to the boxes of food, the SRO (a volunteer group for the Rep) donated gift cards for each of us. Now, of course we had to thank everyone for their generosity. So, we put on a little skit at the SRO Banquet in December. I would explain what we did…however; I thought it might be more fun for you to see yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuF-0M_e_W8

Since the "thank you skit/fashion show," each intern has been busy working on various tasks, but we still have time for fun projects. We gather together each week and learn about the other various facets of a theatre. Last Friday, we experienced wig making and wearing. Some of the interns were quite proficient at making mustaches, and others had great talent for wearing the mustache and wig. (If such a talent exists - you can see that Jessica, Jacque, and Amanda practice this talent in the picture below).

We had an opportunity to paint marble during the seminar before the wig experience. I don’t mean paint on marble, but we used paint to create marble like boards. Some of us possessed great talent for marble painting…and others…well…we all had a fantastic time! :D

Other intern events include the Playwriting Project for Woodinville and Roosevelt High School. A few of the interns helped the high school students stage their plays on the Leo K Theatre. Kelly did the lighting design, Jessica was the production manager, Shellie and Whitney were the stage managers, Emily S. gathered the neccesarry props, Chris directed a couple of the performances, and I did all the press and publications for the event. (Below is a graphic I used in the Woodinville program that a local student created.)

Alas, these are only some of the fun things that we are doing. That is all I have for now. Please keep checking the blog and I will keep it updated for you. Who will we hear from next? We shall see. :)

Jacque Gallagher
Communication Intern & Intern Recruiter
jacqueg@seattlerep.org

CASTING INTERNSHIP- THE PROS AND… THE PROS.

2008-01-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

Why you want it: Jerry Manning–the Rep’s casting director. He will treat you with respect and care. He has a wealth of experience in the business. You can ask him anything and get a good answer. He is hilarious. He is tactful in his relations. He will want to know your opinion for the right reasons. He does bird calls in his office. He will teach you everything you want to know if you remember to ask. He tells the GREATEST stories. He will treat you like a peer. He is kind. Anyone who gets to spend an hour with him is blessed, let alone eight months.

The Experience: Happily there seems to be no quotidian life as a casting intern. I am constantly moving through a variety of tasks, experiences, projects and observations.

Perhaps the most rewarding work for me happens in the rehearsal room, helping with script changes and assisting the director. The amount of responsibility I take on and the kind of work I’m doing has depended on the director and the project. During rehearsals for the first show I worked on, Murderers, I was tracking script changes, and other then that, I was mostly an observer. The second one, Birdie Blue, I played a much larger role in assisting the director, collaborating on problem solving, helping the stage managers with line notes, and being on book. During The Breach, I did some standing in for actors not yet in attendance, was on book all through tech, and towards the end of tech was assisting the playwrights and dramaturge tracking script changes. In my next project The Imaginary Invalid I will be working very close with the director and assisting him through the whole process. The little tasks aside, just getting to watch the actors and directors at work is priceless.

In preparation for rehearsal, the intern gets to make the Actor Packet. I found this is certainly as fun as being in rehearsal and a great way to prepare for the experience. In communication with the playwright and the director I essentially compile all or most of the necessary dramaturgical information for the play and create a sort of book for the actors, designers, and director to have as reference. This comes in handy during rehearsal and is often essential.

The other joy of the internship is casting. From the initial brainstorming phase, to setting up auditions in LA, NY, Seattle or wherever else we need to look, and then either hearing from Jerry how the auditions went, or if they are in Seattle, getting to attend them. I particularly enjoy being in the room observing the auditions and hearing Jerry and the director’s thoughts. I also like being at my desk on the phone developing relationships with various agents, organizing and scheduling auditions, and learning the sort of conversational tack necessary in the casting business. The politics of casting are endlessly fascinating.

The only hard part if this experience is that it ends. But then again, what doesn’t?

Any questions? Feel free to contact me at annt@seattlerep.org.

Ann Thayer

My SM Intern Experience - Not Quite what I Anticipated

2008-01-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

It took me a good long while to learn that the stage management internship really ISN’T about preparing you to stage manage in the real world. It’s about training you to be a good ASM.
Somehow I missed that prior to my arrival.

I’m not used to ASMing, but if I want to be an equity stage manager, chances are that I will FIRST be an equity ASM. I more or less got to be the ASM on the John Denver project and currently on Babylon. I suppose it’s good experience, especially since I’m not used to it and it’s kind of a necessity if I’m going to break into the world of equity. At the very least, it’s an internship at a LORT-B theatre on the resume. To be perfectly honest though, I miss stage managing. I’ve spent the past 8 years of my life stage managing in schools, community theatres, and other non-equity theatres. This hasn’t really been an inspirational life altering experience for me, it’s been… educational. It wasn’t easy for me to step back and work as an ASM. I’m used to delegating, not being the one delegated to.

To those considering this internship, it WILL DO the following.....
This internship will train you to be an effective ASM. You will inherit new documents. You will work with a number of personality types. You will learn what you’re "allowed" to touch and what you’re "not allowed" to touch when working with an IATSE crew. You will learn that you have fairly limited responsibility because everyone is ALWAYS on top of their game and the odds of you needing to do emergency problem solving work is slim to none. It’s slower than SMing in college. It’s slower than SMing in the non-professional/semi-professional world. It’s interesting. I think it’s an opportunity that may prove beneficial, especially if you’re staying local, but if you want to be in another city, you should probably work there and build your contacts in the city you would like to be in.

I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to ASMing, I enjoy calling cues faaaar too much, but at least now I’ve had more practice at it.
If you want any more info, feel free to email me.

Kate Johnson
Kate_C_Johnson@hotmail.com

Props Intern - Creating Art for the Stage...

2008-01-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

Hello! My name's Emily Sershon and I am currently the properties intern here at the Rep. What that means mostly is that I work in the prop shop helping create, build, paint, and recreate, rebuild, and repaint props for the plays. I also work on my own projects when it gets slow. Most of my life at the Seattle Rep is spent with 3 people, whenever they need help. They are Jim, the props carpenter and builder of pretty much anything, Nicolette, who from my understanding does things concerning fabric, fake plants, and fake food, and Mickey who mostly paints, but does lots of other things too. Sometimes I also see Tori, but she is often shopping for props or moving props to and from props storage in the big yellow truck (I help with this sometimes too). This is a bit of what I've been doing since August, during my time here at the Rep:

My first project was a steamer trunk that I built out of oak and walnut. I had instructions for it, but I had to tell Jolene (the props master, my supervisor) how much wood to order and then cut, machine, assemble, sand, and finish everything myself. Of course, I had help from Jim. He's really good at what he does, and he get all the fun projects – like adapting a motorboat for The Breach so that it rolls across stage, but looks like it's gliding, and rocks and acts like it's on the water. Pretty cool stuff. Anyway, my trunk took me forever, but I finished it last month and it was beautiful.

Another project I sort of half-finished was a painting project. There are these 3 doors that the prop shop uses to lock up tools sometimes over the weekends. The doors were just plain white, so I got to paint them, just to make them more interesting, and as a project for myself. I chose 3 different scenes to paint: one was a rusted corrugated metal fence, one was a drapery, and the other was going to be a wooden fence with something on it, but I didn't get to that one yet. The rusty metal fence turned out really well, I thought, and the drapery was so-so. Mickey made suggestions about mixing paint and techniques. I really like her teaching style. Mickey paints basically everything we put on stage, sometimes again and again depending on notes. Most of the time I base-coat things for her, although when she was painting wood-grain for Twelfe Night I learned a lot by observing.

Another project I worked on was for The Cook. First, I got to make plantains out of foam and paint. That project was nice because I wasn't just helping someone else make something. Jolene asked me to make the plantains from start to finish, and even though they were just sitting in a bowl on top of the fridge in the play, I was still proud. Also during The Cook, I helped Nicolette in making fake hors d'oeuvres. I made mini-quiches and pies mainly out of plastic, spackle, sawdust, and paint. I also got to “bake” some foam cakes for The Cook and Birdie Blue. Making food was definitely a highlight.

Right now when I can't really be helpful to anyone I'm working on the Playwrighting Project through the education department. A bunch of other interns are working on it as well. So far I've pulled a bunch of props from hand-prop storage downstairs, and then on Thursday I guess Jolene and I are going to furniture storage in the big yellow truck to pick up the furniture. That opens on Friday, so if you're in the area you should check it out!

Well, that's all for now! Feel free to e-mail me if you have any props internship questions!

Emily
emilys@seattlerep.org

The Musings of Fran... [Intern Coordinator]

2008-01-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

Hey I'm Fran, I'm the Education program manager and before you question weather you clicked the wrong button I am NOT an intern but I DO get to coordinate the internship program at Seattle Rep and relish this moment that I get to communicate with y'all about the fantastic team of people we have in our internship program this season.

What is a typical day like at SRT?

Well right now Dewar (Education Intern) is mixing killer sound cues for one of the student written plays he is directing that will perform on the Seattle Rep's Leo K stage on Jan 18 and 22nd.

We just booked Jacque's (Communications Intern) help with a slew of outreach and community events that surround our latest show THE BREACH.

Susie (Tech Production intern) and Whitney (SM intern) are on the production team for the same show and I ask you to just imagine what the rehearsal process and tech is like for a show that includes 8 cast, mechanized scenery and a 25 long, 5 foot deep, 4 foot wide pool on stage, oh yeah it rains on stage too.

Emily S. (props intern) is blow-drying leaves for the set for BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON and Emily R. (Literary Intern) is creating the juice dramaturgical packet for the artistic team.

Tomorrow is first rehearsal for that show- we gather to welcome the cast. We call this a "meet and greet," which means there are bagels and coffee, all the Seattle Rep staff and the creative team for the up coming show get to connect (you know the old fashioned way -face to face), and we learn about the vision for the play from the director and the designers.

I just read the above paragraph and it sounds like we work at a summer camp.

Granted every learning opportunity (internship or job) comes with it's delights and responsibilities.

So let me level with you.
This is a non-profit arts organization; everyone who is a part of this organization is doing much more then full time work.
This is the dark and cold time of year when often the energy level drops.
It is also the middle of our theatre season, we've come far and we have far yet to go.
What does that mean to an intern?
We must to dig deep and find that one of a kind resource of energy inside each of us that keeps us alive, alert and growing.

Truly this is where I marvel at our interns.
They are living on only $200 a week while working full time internships.
They each have "to-do" lists longer then you might imagine because this is a hands-on internship and yet they meet their deadlines with professionalism and enthusiasm.

Are they tired?
Yes and they keep going.

Do they care about what they do?
Absolutely it shows in the quality of their work and their contribution to this community.

Are they really human beings?
No doubt, these young power houses are creatures full of curiosity about the arts, their own development and the community that surrounds them.

The personal and professional evolutions I witness in the interns at this time in the internship is what inspires me, supports, and develops this program for years to come.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Fran

Literary, Baby. It’s where it’s at.

2007-12-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

I find it thrilling. It fuels me artistically. But fair warning: this may bore you.

As a literary intern I work directly with the Artistic Staff, especially the Literary Manager. In the literary department, we are responsible for programming, maintaining relationships with playwrights and agents, maintaining the script library, and providing literary support and production dramaturgy for playwrights, directors, designers, actors and the production staff.

There is basically an endless amount of work to do. There are a countless number of plays to read. There is an infinite amount of relevant research to do. There are an unlimited number of people to form relationships with. There is an ever-changing aesthetic of the theatre itself to continually redefine. Dramaturgs do lots of work that often goes unused, forgotten, or ignored. But so far, I have felt that I am participating seriously in the artistic endeavors of this incredible company filled with incredible people, and it is awesome!

I first read the season plays. After being told I was going to be assisting the director for Eduardo Machado’s The Cook, I began compiling research. This research was eventually distilled into a packet that was distributed to the designers, director, actors, education department and interested props and production staff. Research for The Cook was fascinating; the play takes place in Cuba, from the eve of the Revolution in 1958 through 1997. The packet contained materials pertaining to all major themes of the play- from homosexual persecution to tamale recipes, in addition to timelines, photos, lyrics to a song, maps, quotes, etc., etc.

All of this is to make the world of the play real for those involved.

I contacted the director and the playwright prior to the rehearsal process to introduce myself, to let them know who I was, let them in on my research, and to ask them if they had anything specific they wanted in terms of materials or production support. So I found myself watching Fidel Castro documentaries. And cooking. This was purely by choice, but it was truly a fantastic way to research. I made morros y cristianos, arroz con pollo, tamales, yucca y mojo... What did I learn? So much… And that Cuban food is REALLY GOOD. The first week of rehearsal, we all got together for cuba libres and an incredible Cuban meal prepared by the lovely Michael Domitrovich. Culinary advice? He’s your man.

The director for The Cook was incredibly interested in the history and context for the play. So we watched the documentary that I had found to be the least biased, and then I presented my research to the cast. They borrowed books from me, asked me questions, and became my friends. In rehearsal, we made some pretty significant script changes, which really improved the play- even if it had me scurrying a little bit for pages in the first week…! The playwright was a character and a delight- it was wonderful to hear about the play from him. Throughout the process, I continued to contact him weekly on behalf of the director regarding anything from line changes to historical context to subtext.

In the rehearsal room, I continued to do my best to provide answers for any questions that arose, and formed a close relationship with the director. Tech and previews were really fun- though exhausting… watching the design team work and getting to know them was also delightful. I took notes like crazy during tech for Juliette, the director, and then would scurry around to get the notes organized for the production meeting that immediately followed, and for the following day’s rehearsal. It was exhausting. Watching the play come to life was not. The actors were a joy and I learned so much by watching them everyday.

A fancy dinner party with the trustees and board members, director and playwright on opening night, and then caught my breath. During the run, I saw the show at least once a week, checked in with the stage manager, monitored cast morale, and updated the director via phone and e-mail while working in the office on other projects.

I tried to read a LOT while I wasn’t in rehearsal, because now, barely a month later, I am back in the rehearsal hall for The Breach. For this show, I made a timeline for the research packet detailing the destruction and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I created a wall of research in the rehearsal room that displays Katrina’s effects on New Orleans. I also created a large map that shows the progression of the flood and the depths of the floodwaters. I’m the assistant to the dramaturg for this show, so have been in on some interesting discussion about the script and so far have participated in a script meeting with one of the playwrights. There are three playwrights and the piece is very unique so the process is rich with ideas. New plays are great. You get to help decide what they will become.

So, yeah. We just started rehearsals. The playwrights are here through the weekend and we have already made some pretty significant changes to the script, sending me a-scurrying again. The cast is wonderful and it’s going to be quite a ride. The fact that there is a swimming pool with an elevator in it is kind of blowing my mind.

In all my spare time… ahem… I have started more research for the next show I will be assisting- learning all I can about Santeria, Salsa dancing, and Austin, Texas, while gearing up for some hard-core season planning, which means more reading and making scripts available for the production and artistic staff to look at and consider for ‘08-‘09. I am still wading through the endless scripts to read and evaluate, contacting playwrights I know to send me their work, and looking forward to more time at the library.

It’s endless, which makes it even more important to continue to redefine my work and my role. The people I get to work with every day are priceless, and I feel like I am lending worthwhile efforts in a way that I find fulfilling. Not much more I could ask for.

So, I warned you. But that’s what I have been doing here.

I recommend it.

Emily Rea
emilyr@seattlerep.org

Costume Shop Intern: A Furry Task

2007-12-07T16:39:00.000-08:00

Hi! My name is Amanda Rubeck and I'm the Costume Shop Intern. I grew up in Kent, which is like 20 minutes from Seattle. My degree is a Bachelor of Theatre Arts from Central Washington University.

My internship gives me the opportunity to work in many of the areas of the costume shop like wigs, design assistant, crafts, rentals, stitching etc. Here's one of many other stories (although I'm pretty darn proud of this one!) A few weeks ago I was assisting the Design Assistant with the production of Birdie Blue. We went shopping around Seattle looking for specific pieces, ordered pieces online, did research, attended every costume fitting, production meetings, and much more. Sounds fun right? Well it is but there's also a budget that has to be strictly followed. We had to find a women's mink fur coat that would fit a man. Tricky huh? Plus we had to find a coat that was in good condition and a price that was as close to free as possible. Luckily after calling various furriers I located a vendor that rents furs out to Hollywood for various projects and doesn't charge a DIME!!!! What a rewarding day it was to complete an almost impossible task and help the theatre out! The fur fit wonderful on the actor and the show was beautiful.

I took this internship because of all the different things I get to do. I am still trying to figure out what I want to do as a career and already I'm finding out what I'm good at ....(what I am not so good at) what I like and what I don't like. College was such a blast, but of course, it's not the real world and this internship is such a great opportunity to test out the real world of theatre without signing a long contract or having too much pressure on yourself. Please if your reading this and you are interested in costumes or the internship or whatever feel free to pass me an e-mail! amandar@seattlerep.org

Later Gators!

Amanda

Stage Management Intern - Time is of the Essence

2007-12-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I'm Shellie Stone, one of the stage management interns for the Rep. I'm going to try my best to tell you about my experience here so far, but I only have a small amount of time, so here it goes.

So far I have found the rep to be a great learning experience, as well as a place that encourages me to come forth with my own skills and ideas. I was a little nervous before coming here that the only task I would be allowed to do was to make coffee. Not to mislead you, I am responsible for making coffee (along with the other sm interns - there are three of us total). However, I have found that the staff here, along with visiting designers/actors/guests respects each intern as part of the team.

I just recently (it honestly seems more like forever ago) closed the main stage production of Twelfe Night. The main stage productions involve three members of the stage management team: the stage manager, the assistant stage manager, and the stage management intern. I was brought in during pre-production week to help get things organized and ready for rehearsals. During this time I was in charge of creating the SM prompt book (which we all know entails a lot of reducing, cutting, pasting, and copying), making wallet cards (important info and numbers), organizing the SM road box, cleaning and setting up the rehearsal hall, copying copying copying, and of course organizing the coffee/tea closet. Once rehearsals started, I was designated as the "on book" chic, but was also put in charge of tracking costumes and communicating with the costume designer/shop staff about rehearsal needs. I also sat in on scheduling (as well as making and distributing the daily schedule) costume fittings, publicity photos, etc. which gives you a chance to listen to all the equity rules involved. Once we moved into tech, I helped update all running sheets paperwork, helped "choreograph" backstage with the ASM and union stage hands (as in shifting unit pieces around). I was also in charge of pcp (haha, not what you're thinking...rather the manipulation of the paging system here), locking dressing rooms, and of course making coffee. During the run, I also helped organize and archive all the paperwork involved with the show.

During the last week of the Twelfe Night run I began pre-production week for Birdie Blue, the show that I am currently working on (my next production is another main stage, The Imaginary Invalid, each intern works on three shows - random FYI). This production is held in the smaller, Leo K. Theatre of the Rep. There is no ASM on the smaller shows, so the sm intern fills in as the ASM. This was a really cool experience because I was responsible for all tracking and running sheet paperwork. And I was in charge of props check in, and running/managing the union stage hands...or stage hand rather, it was only one guy on deck...and a super amazing guy at that...THANKS OWEN!! So all these responsibilities went along with the ones I was in charge of earlier.

As an sm intern at the Rep, you also have numerous opportunities to booth train with stage managers, as well as call parts of a show, or even a whole show. And on your down time you can go around and get the experience of what other departments do.

But throughout all of it, I have had the opportunity to work with many professionals in the field (from SMs to people in the Finance Department) who are more than happy to share their stories and thoughts from the theatre industry. It is truly a welcoming as well as encouraging place that allows you to work with many artists who all have a different approach.

Now that I've made it sound like heaven, here's what one could think as a disadvantage. TIME TIME TIME. Or...lack there of. As a stage management intern, you're time is pretty much eaten up. You get only one day off a week, usually Monday (the AEA day off). You don't see much of the other interns because you're in rehearsal/tech all day. You don't get to go out a lot because you're in rehearsal/tech all day/night (but hey, you're not making that much money anyways - so I look at it more as budget control...). And, it's just part of the biz.

I'm sure there's a lot that I'm missing, but I feel like I've already written a novel. And call is in 5 minutes. If anyone wants to know more about the program I'd be happy to answer any of your questions, and can put you in touch with the other sm interns as well so you can get more than one viewpoint.

Have Fun!

shellie stone

shellies@seattlerep.org

I'm the Technical Production Intern...Jealous Much?

2007-11-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hey Y’all! My name is Susie Vollandt Halsey, and I’m the Technical Production Intern for this season at Seattle Rep. A couple quick facts about me: I’m originally from about 10 miles north of Seattle, I have a B.A. in Theatre from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, and I recently got married. Ok, now on to what you are probably most interested in…the internship!

I started out my internship with a bang, coming in one day after returning from my honeymoon and jumping right into the last day of tech for Twelfe Night. That’s right…16 fabulous hours at the Rep on my first day. After getting over those first 16 hours of “how did I get here?” I have settled in quite nicely.

So, let me tell you a little bit about what I’ve been up to for my first two months here. I have learned a lot about automation and how the Rep uses pneumatics and hydraulics to make the “magic” happen on stage. I have worked on a couple of projects to help further my learning, including building a Van de Graaff generator (which, by the way, are really fun to test out on fellow interns…hey Nate, will you come see if this thing shocks you?). The projects have not only taught me a lot about how to do things, but also a lot about myself. Double learning bonus! Right now I am in the middle of a project where I get to design my own set, and then draft a ground plan, section drawing, and front elevation of it. I will then figure out how much it will cost to build the set, including materials and labor. I have never done anything like this before and it is very interesting!

Directly related to the shows at the Rep, I have helped calculate the amount of tile needed for the set of The Cook and helped set up one of the automated palm trees in Murderers. Another show-related project I’ve been working on is figuring out some of the details for the swimming pool that will be on stage for The Breach. That’s right kids…we are putting an 8,000 gallon swimming pool on stage. And Dana, the Technical Director, gave me the task of figuring out how much that thing will weigh. The answer is 33 tons if you were wondering. Talk about a learning project! The Rep is really great for things like that. I mean, where else would you get hands-on experience putting a 33 ton swimming pool on stage?

Besides all the learning that is going on, I’m also having a lot of fun getting to know all the interns and everyone who works here. My fellow interns are some of the coolest people I have ever met, and we all love to have a good time. It seems every weekend there is something going on with a group of us, from going out dancing to hitting up the local sports bar to watch a Virginia Tech football game. Go Hokies!

Well, I suppose I have written enough for now…

…If you ever have any questions feel free to ask! My e-mail address is susanv@seattlerep.org.

*Susie*

Design interns have all the fun!

2007-11-09T14:26:00.000-08:00

Some of my intern counterparts call Friday the “end of the week”, a time when they can look forward to what some people like to call the “weekend.” Here in lighting land, we work to the beat of a different drum: the tech schedule.

Tomorrow we have focus for our next show in the Leo K: Birdie Blue. Focus and Tech days are great opportunities for me, Kelly the Design Intern, to observe how different lighting designers work and see their ideas on paper turn into reality. These days do tend to be quite long, which means there will be a lot of coffee drinking involved. (Good thing this is Seattle, and we are not left wanting for local coffee shops to give us that caffeine fix.)

For those of you who may not know, focus is when the lighting designer comes into the space and works with the crew to get all of his lights focused and ready for the first day of technical rehearsals. It is my job, along with my supervisor, to make sure that focus runs smoothly and that all paper work accurately reflects what is hanging above the stage. (This means I get to use a red pencil a lot and I make a good number of trips up to the printer.) Our job transforms slightly when we move into tech. Once all the lights are in place and ready, we take the few days before previews begin to bring all the elements of the show together, cue by cue. This also can get long, since the job of the lighting assistant is to keep track of cuing, along with any notes the designer may have for changes to the plot. Time rarely passes slowly though - it is very cool to see the designer work his “magic” to produce really cool moments on the stage. (It’s also fun to see the actors in the space for the first time.)

When not in tech, the life of this design intern is pretty sweet. I’ve had a lot of opportunity to learn and do things that I had not experienced in college (i.e.- hand drafting) along with other theoretical projects and practical work (like packing and inventorying neon tubes). There’s also been able opportunity for good times with the other interns; for example: we did a little trick-or-treating (which was more like trick-or-something) on Halloween. See some of the sweet pictures:

(The group of interns who tricked or something...as well as a picture of Kelly. I couldn't rotate the picture...my apologies.)

If you are interested in learning more about the dynamics of design interning, drop me a note at kellyt@seattlerep.org.

~Kelly~

I paint therefore I am...

2007-11-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Dude, here it is. Friday. The best thing about Friday? The beer. And if that wasn’t enough,…it's free beer! It’s one of the perks. Anyhow, before I go much further, let me give you the perfunctory info: My name is Nate; I am the scenic paints intern for the 2007-08 season. I’m a cancer, I like long walks on the beach, scrap booking…..oh who am I kidding? This isn’t matchmaker.com! If you want gory details my bio is posted.

So the best part about being a scenic artist (I mean other than the beer)? It’s the fashion. I’m serious people. I am working for a nationally recognized theatre company and I can come to work looking completely destitute. I mean, who doesn’t love boots and a pair of paint covered pants as their workday attire? Plus when I’m out on the street, the panhandlers don’t hit me up for cash, (not that I have any) ‘cause I look like one of them. Of course, dressing this way does complicate the dating game……

Anyhow,

The internship:

I’ve taken to calling it my “art class”. It’s more fun than calling it “work”. My week is usually split in half, between skill building personal projects, and work on the productions. It’s a juggling act, but it seems to be working out well. As far as my personal projects are concerned, I always have a couple that are in process. At the moment I’m wrapping up work on a foam and modeling clay sculpture and moving on to my second, and somewhat ambitious, trompe l’oeil painting of the season.

Well, since I smell smoke I think I’ve burned enough company time. I’ll continue the saga soon if this entry doesn’t get me banned from using the computer.

---N8---

nathanb@seattlerep.org

Teacher + Red Sox Fan = Education Intern

2007-10-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Let’s be honest. I know this has been keeping you awake at night. Seriously, you want to know what a young, attractive, and single male, such as Seattle Rep Education Intern Chris Dewar, is doing on a Tuesday night. The answer, my friends, is simple. After napping for two hours, Dewar awakes to do his laundry, cook dinner (making tuna melts on a George Foreman), shop for groceries, and intermittently tackles the ever-growing piles of dishes in his sink. Ho-hum you declare? Before we make any hast judgments about Dewar’s character, let us take a quick look at his day at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

6:45: Sweet dreams of Red Sox World Series victories.

6:50 (ish) AM: Dewar wakes up, showers, and makes breakfast for himself.

7:50 AM: Dewar waits for the 5 bus en route to downtown Seattle at his Greenwood bus stop. It is an unusually warm and clear October morning in Seattle. Both the Cascades and the Olympics cut through their respective horizons.

8:20 AM: After a ten minute walk from the Aurora highway, Dewar arrives on the Seattle Center campus. He is just in time for his 8:30 Drama II class at the Center School. The CenterSchool is a public high school located in the heart of Seattle center. The Seattle Rep is closely affiliated with the Center School. It is a partnership that connects local artists and students together in a unique learning environment. Beverly Thompson (actor, teacher, playwright, and all around rock star) and Dewar co-teach Drama I and Drama II at the Center School.

8:30- 10:10 AM: Dewar muddles his way through a few chords on the piano sitting in the corner of the classroom as students make their entrance. The classroom is Studio B, a TPS (Theater Puget Sound) rehearsal space. A mangled old couch, black blocks, fold-out chairs, and old desk chairs clutter the room. Again this is not your typical high school.

For the past three weeks the students have been studying Shakespeare’s sonnets. They have each selected a sonnet to memorize and are now in the midst of rehearsing the sonnets for an upcoming showcase at the Seattle Rep in the Poncho Forum. With only a handful of classes left until the performance, Thompson and Dewar treat each class as a rehearsal. The class is on the verge of crunch time: the majority of the sonnets need to be blocked, students need to not to be absent, and most importantly lines have to be memorized. It is certainly shaping up to be an intense few weeks for the fine folks in Drama II. One might go so far as to predict, “It is going to be dramatic.”

10:15- 11:45 AM: Twenty-five or so Drama I students invade Studio B. Drama I is in a state of transition. The class has just finished an improv unit and is moving on to a public speaking unit. In the improv unit, we divided the students into four improv troupes. For the final project in the unit, each group performed a twenty minute show in front of the class and a camcorder. Today, Dewar meets with two of the four groups individually to look over their performances on tape and offers some constructive criticism to the young improvisers, while the rest of the class meets with Thompson to work on their public speaking project.

11:50 AM- 1:50 PM: Hiking across Seattle Center Dewar heads over to the rep. It is lunch time. Dewar, eating his bagged lunch, sits at his desk in the education office obsessively reading columns on espn.com and checking his email. With out a doubt, there are always a bunch of work related emails waiting for Dewar at the start of every day in education office, today is no exception. Once through with lunch, Dewar works on several projects related to the Twelfe Night student matinees. Scott, Dewar’s supervisor, aids our young intern with the creation of pie charts and excel spread sheet.

2:00 PM: The education staff meets for their weekly meeting. This is generally the lone hour of the week where all six education staff members are sitting in the same room. It is generally here in this meeting where Dewar’s to-do list grows exponentially, today once more is no exception. To do: Buy thank you card, buy food for tomorrows reflection meeting, take pictures of TCS students, make student matinee spread sheets, etc.

3:00- 5:00 PM: Dewar continues to do battle with data on excel until the end of the day. At the end of the day Dewar hitches a ride home with Scott. On the way home they chat about Columbian pop stars and the Sox’s chances in the World Series.

Yikes! What a crazy day. Right!? Give the guy a break. Luckily for Dewar, he doesn’t have any rehearsals, band practices, classes, or Red Sox games to watch tonight. He just has a pile of dishes and laundry waiting for him. Go Sox!

Arts Management: a Whirlwind of Activities!

2007-10-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hello All! My name is Jessica Kurtz and I am the Arts Management Intern. I just wanted to drop a note and let you all know what I have been doing since I started less than a month ago. I have attended several board meetings, first rehearsal of The Cook, helped the Development Department with the gala, attended a props meetings for Birdie Blue and helped stage management tape for Birdie Blue. I have also attended an ArtsEd Washington event, helped with writing equity contracts and attended intern classes. That is all in less than one month. Plus, Michael Barker (Managing Director Fellow) and I have been putting together packets for the current Communications & Marketing Director search. This has been really helpful in getting to know other people around the office.

I've also found out some of my assignments for the rest of the season. I'm going to be helping the Development Department plan an event for our major donors in February. I will also be helping with TeenSpeak (check out our website for more info: Education YouthVoices). I'm pretty excited for everything that is planned for my few months here. It will definitely look good on my resume, but it will also give me the knowledge and confidence to move ahead in my career. If you have questions about the arts management internship, please email me: jessicak@seattlerep.org. I would love to answer any of the questions you might have.

I'm really excited to get to see The Cook here in a couple weeks. They are going to be cooking Cuban food on stage. Emily Rea (artistic intern) has been sitting in on all the rehearsals so I bet she has gotten to try some really great food. We will have to get her to blog about her experience.

I've only been in Seattle for a month, but I love the city. It is seems so funny to me to see people walking in the rain without umbrellas. I guess that's how they do it here. Sarah (Ben and David's Assistant) was giving me good insight into life in Seattle. She was telling me about the winter and that if it snows the whole city shuts down. That people don't like to drive in the snow. She has also filled me in on the bus system and how to drive when it is sunny. I've also found this great little cupcake place called Cupcake Royale (http://www.cupcakeroyale.com/). It's delicious. Plus, I have a fantastic yoga studio in my neighborhood that I love. Cupcakes, Yoga and great theatre... who needs more?

Jessica Kurtz

Put on display....and LOVING it! - Production Intern

2007-10-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

My name is Kirsten McGann, the Production Management Intern. Last Saturday the other interns and I had the privilege to attend Seattle Repertory Theatre’s 45th Annual Gala Dinner Dance and Auction in downtown Seattle. I think events this fancy have to have a really long title in order to live up to the event itself. And wow, this was no exception. It was a black tie event, which in intern-land means, “Yay, the one time I can actually dress up and not look like a grubby intern!” Well that was my thought anyway.

See, all the proceeds raised from the Gala benefit SRT’s artistic and educational programming, which is part of the reason why we interns were asked to attend. We were there to be seen and remind everyone of what kinds of marvelous programs they could be supporting with their donations. We got to work small jobs like ushering, coat check, and basically just mingling with the crowd and promoting our wonderful program. The auctioneer,David, said it couldn’t hurt to look as gaunt and needy as possible, especially during the auctions. I’m proud to say we didn’t let him down.

But besides the gaunt and needy part, we all had a total blast. The Rep takes very good care of its interns and made sure we were fed, having fun, and let’s not forget the free cocktails. In moderation, of course! J But the real fun started during the auctions. All the interns spread out across the room to help the auctioneer spot bidders, encourage bidders to bid, and of course look gaunt and needy to get the bidders to bid. Paddles were flying left and right, up and down-and by the end of the night the Rep had well reached their goal of over $200,000 for the Rep, and over $100,000 for the Intern program!

And the best part was that a lot of the money raised will go directly to the Professional Arts Training Program to fund and support next year's interns-potentially someone reading this blog right now! So all you future interns who are reading this can say you know how a Seattle Rep Intern is funded. Good to know your roots, right?

Kirsten

The First Month at the Rep - Communication

2007-10-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hello! My name is Jacquelyn Gallagher and I am the new Communication Intern for the 2007-2008 season. Tomorrow, I'll have worked at the Rep for one month. Let me tell ya, my experience so far has been absolutely amazing. The people at the Rep are like one big welcoming family.

The first person I met at the Rep was Johnny McNamara and he took me on the Johnny Mac Tour. This tour is a detailed and inclusive tour of the building. Throughout the tour, Johnny would impart historical, departmental, and humorous information about the Rep. He ends the tour with a bang, but you have to take the tour to find out what the bang entails.

The Rep takes care of it's interns, from feeding to teaching. During this first month in the Communication department, I have learned plenty. My responsibilities for the season are piling up and I feel prepared for the tasks. So far my tasks include select pieces for the prologue Birdie Blue, writing the PR for Imaginary Invalid, planning a special event for one of the shows, working on advertising for some education events, and intern recruitment for the 2008/2009 season. Right now, seeing these written out, my tasks seem daunting! I have a great group that is more than willing to help me with these numerous projects, which is a tremendous relief.

For upcoming Intern events, we are going to a Seattle Rep Gala event this Saturday. It is an opportunity for the interns to meet the Seattle Rep Board members and other patrons. We all get to dress up and mingle. It should prove to be a fun and interesting time. Look for pictures at some point in the future.

There is not much more to say at the moment, soon another intern will post an entry on the blog. Thanks for reading and look for more to come, soon!

~Jacque~
jacqueg@seattlerep.org