Summerstock Internships

[damjamkato]

Hello all, I'm a current college student in the process of applying for summerstock internships. I'm trying to narrow down the list, and was wondering if anybody on CB has had any experience with these companies. Does anybody have an opinion about the internship programs (or the theatre in general) at The Muny, Glimmerglass Opera, or the Hangar Theatre? More specifically, I would be applying for the audio internships at these locations. Thanks!

 

[danTt]

I have a few friends who have gone through the Muny for Audio. They only had great things to say.
I worked at the hanger for a summer 6 or so years ago. Not a bad place, the audio intern got some good experience. I have mixed feelings about how that theater is run, but I think it's certainly worth applying to, there are a lot of connections to be made there that lead to better things down the road. Don't know much about Glimmerglass and audio.

 

[jglodeklights]

I don't have an opinion on any of those companies as I have not worked with any of them. I do, however, have some questions for you about you that may help other members better answer your questions, some things you should look up before applying or at least interviewing and some questions you should ask that will allow you to make a better informed decision should you be offered an internship.

About you:
1. Are you approaching this from the design or engineering perspective? Do you want some blend? My roommate is quite capable at the blend part. She has no desire to be a sound designer, but when it comes to engineering she loves it. She wants to be mixing a show where she needs to control 24 channels of wireless mic input individually (summerstock in a barn lacking climate control is not kind on actors, or technicians, and requires daily attention to everyone's voice), not just hitting the space bar to trigger the next cue in QLab. However, she goes beyond engineering in that she can and wants to know how to better edit cues. Again, she has no desire to design the architecture of the cueing, but she loves anything technical about it, rather than just making sure voices can be heard and that the cues play.

2. Can you live in the middle of nowhere, or do you need to be near a city where you can get away from work things with what little or no time you will have?

3. How much about other departments do you wish to learn? Some internships will allow you a significant amount of time in your emphasis while working a bit in others, others will only have you work your emphasis and some will say F*&^ it and throw you wherever.

Things to look up:
1. Their season you will be applying to work on.

2. The past two or three seasons they have produced.

3. What are the venues they produce in. I.E. Number of seats and history.

4. Who you know that can tell you who to talk to. I got my apprenticeship by knowing who to talk to, knowing who to tell them told me to talk to them and being able to find how to contact them. "Wait, how did you get my e-mail?" is the favorite question I've ever been asked. I missed the apprenticeship application deadline by two months. However, I found the PM's e-mail on the company's website and dropped my teacher's name and got it anyway.

5. Who are you actually talking to. PM, APM, Producer, AD, a current intern. It will surprise you who is allowed to make the decisions about hiring.

To ask:
1. Who wil you be working most closely with? Designer? Engineer? Technical director/ME/whoever?

2. Where will you live? I have loved my past two summers at Theatre by the Sea (which I'm sure you recognize if you are located partialy in RI). However, were I an intern I would not have lasted. I couldn't have lived with 4 other guys in a room. Nope. Wouldn't happen. 1 or 2 would be OK, 4 would not have been.

3. Where will most of your time be spent and with who? Going back to my roommate- at her previous position she was the audio engineer at a regional theater. However, she spent more than 1/2 her hours as a "carpenter". If you have no desire to learn carpentry or schlep crap, then you don't want to work for a company where you need to do carpentry. Also is important to know you will be working with people who are relevant in the industry.

4. What is the pay? Unless the internship allows you to work in exactly what you wish to do and with who you should know, you should not be doing it for completely free. Granted, I may be spoiled. I only did one internship for free, and I thought I was just volunteering to run followspot for a couple of nights (imagine how embarassing it was when my friend announced to theater department I graduated from and was trying to recruit interns from that I offered to do this while drunk at cast party she was hosting :shock: ) My official apprenticeship (I never actually interned) paid $250 a week plus housing, and the company I work for pays $200 for their interns, and $250 for apprentices. Others I would consider respectable such as Center Stage in Baltimore come in at $100 a week plus housing (longer term engagement as they aren't summerstock and more qualified interns find work outside the company).

Hopefully, this will help you in your search.

PS: are you from RI or PA and going to school in RI or PA and where? I'm from PA, but now live and work in RI. If you are in the Philadelphia area, let me know. I know several people who work and help hire for several companies there.

 

[Footer]

Had a few friends do Glimmerglass. They are not all that far from here... and in a great place to summer. Their "AV" crew as the audio guys are called have one of the easier summers. Lately they have been doing a musical along with their operas, so there is some variety. If you have never done opera, this is a good place to learn it.

 

[notoriousRBG]

To piggy-back off of this old thread, I'm a college student looking for lighting design internships this summer. While I'm not opposed to hanging a few lights, I'm not really interested in doing too much of that because I know how to find well-paying electrics work already. Rather, looking for suggestions for larger companies that would allow me to focus mostly on the design and work more as an ALD. Any ideas?

Edit: Williamstown, MUNY, Glimmerglass, Hangar are definitely on my list.

 

[Footer]

Music theatre of Wichita

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[damjamkato]

Take a look at the Pittsburgh CLO's internship program.

 

[rochem]

I've worked at both Williamstown and the Hangar, and while Williamstown in particular does give you EXCELLENT ALDing experience, you will also spend a majority of your time working as an electrician, so if that's a dealbreaker, than this won't be the job for you.

As a Design intern at Williamstown, you'd be the Second ALD on one mainstage shows, working directly for a designer who more than likely has a few Tony awards - Don Holder, Ken Posner, Japhy Weideman, and Philip Rosenberg are all frequent designers up there. You'll be working under a staff ALD helping to convert the rough outlines or hand-drawn diagrams from the designer into fully fleshed-out plots and paperwork that conform to the exacting standards that WTF uses. During focus, you'll be responsible for minimizing the number of set changes required to efficiently run the focus, you'll assist the designer in making sure he knows what he's focusing, and if the show is expected to transfer to Broadway, you may be doing focus charts as well. During tech, you'll be at the tech table and on comm, perhaps maintaining the cue list, or passing changes to the SM, or calling and tracking spot cues, or whatever else the designer needs done. And finally, you'll be responsible for the final paperwork package that gets sent to the designer, and which is critical if the show heads to Broadway. It's a fantastic learning experience, and the designers usually stay in touch with their intern assistants, often offering them work in New York on some of their smaller shows. It's also somewhat common for designers to hire on their intern assistants if the show heads to Broadway or elsewhere, as a number of our recent shows have done.

It's a fantastic experience, and the majority of the interns who have gone through the program are doing extremely well in New York, mainly due to the contacts they got from WTF. However, aside from the 3-4 weeks that you'll spend prepping and teching your show, plus the 1-3 weeks you'll spend assisting on another show and/or designing your own Workshop show, you'll be working as a grunt electrician for the vast majority of the summer. If you won't be able to handle primarily being an electrician for the whole summer, then this is not the place for you.

I haven't worked at the Hangar for many years, but their internship is almost exclusively an electrics position, and I believe their Design Assistant position is generally a MFA candidate, so that might not work out. But it's always worth applying, and you might be able to convince the PM there to give you a shot if you have a solid assisting background.

 

[ruinexplorer]

I'd check out the Hemsley program.

Applications for the 33rd annual Hemsley Internship Porgram will be accepted from January 1, 2016 through January 15, 2016. Interviews for finalists will be held in New York mid March, 2016.
Candidates should submit a resume, a one-page statement of personal goals and anticipated benefits from the internship, and three letters of recommendation. The selected intern will begin in June 2016 and continue until the end of February 2017. The Internship provides the opportunity to work in a professional repertory situation with resident and guest designers. This year’s companies include the Lincoln Center Festival, San Francisco Opera, New York City Ballet, and Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre. Additional opportunities may include touring and media events. A monthly stipend of $2,000 is provided in addition to travel expenses. Digital or paper applications are accepted at the addresses below. Letters of reference may be emailed or supplied with the application by mail.

The Internship is offered to US Citizens only.

Gilbert Hemsley dedicated his life to the training of young theater professionals. Beginning with the first intern in 1984, the Internship has continued his legacy by providing a unique experience to young designers as they begin their professional careers.

To submit an application of for further information, please contact:
Mr. Mark Stanley
Resident Lighting Designer New York City Ballet
20 Lincoln Center
New York, NY 10023 (212) 870-4205
[email protected]

 

[ruinexplorer]

Reminder, the Hemsley Internship applications are due January 15th!

http://www.hemsleylightingprograms.com/index.php/programs/internship/