Lighting internships

[WizardKB]

Does anyone know of any lighting design internships around Calvert County Maryland..?

 

[gafftaper]

You typically can't get an "internship" without a connection to some sort of a university program, for credit. I believe this has to do with union contract rules. If a theater is big enough to do internships it's probably a union house and then the union rules kick in. Fortunatley, theaters that aren't big enough to run internship programs are often looking for volunteers. The most productive thing for a high school student to do would be to call around to your local theaters and just ask. Tell them you are a hard working student and you want to volunteer. My targets would be larger theaters that run summer drama camp programs (ask if they need help lighting the show). Or smaller community theaters. If you find the right community theater you can really learn a lot and build some great connections.

 

[shiben]

You typically can't get an "internship" without a connection to some sort of a university program, for credit. I believe this has to do with union contract rules. If a theater is big enough to do internships it's probably a union house and then the union rules kick in. Fortunatley, theaters that aren't big enough to run internship programs are often looking for volunteers. The most productive thing for a high school student to do would be to call around to your local theaters and just ask. Tell them you are a hard working student and you want to volunteer. My targets would be larger theaters that run summer drama camp programs (ask if they need help lighting the show). Or smaller community theaters. If you find the right community theater you can really learn a lot and build some great connections.

A lot of smaller places will hook you up with an internship program sort of deal, not because they have a program at their theater, but to encourage students to work for them for free. Alternatively, if they pay you, they will write you into an internship in order to encourage students to work for them rather than somewhere else. I got credit as an intern a few summers ago with a much smaller company than one would expect because it allowed me to get credit at school as part of my pay, so they didnt need to shell out double what I made, and I got college credit at a fraction of what it would cost me normally. win win. Now, I also suspect that you would need to be connected to a university or college program to receive an internship, but I suspect thats more because an intern is supposed to be getting educated, not doing work for free. As has been discussed earlier, the idea of being educated and getting worked for no pay is getting to be a very blurry line.