Lessons Learned and Careers Shaped by Internships
A combination of academic coursework and production experience is a hallmark of Duke University's Department of Theater Studies, which encourages its students to take advantage of opportunities to work with theater professionals. Theater Previews at Duke, the professional arm of the Department of Theater Studies, gives students opportunities to work with playwrights, composers, actors, directors, designers, managers, and technicians. Students also gain experience by being involved in professional work of faculty members. As professionals share their knowledge with students, the students discover the world of professional theater. Many pursue careers in theater, helped by the contacts they made working on a professional production.
We interviewed students to hear in their own words what their internship experience was like. Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to view Quicktime presentations to see what interns Julia Robertson (stage management), John Vickery (producing), and Maura Farver and Jesse Patrone-Werdiger (directing) had to say.
We also asked four student interns to write about their experiences working on a professional production. Melanie Moyer, Amy Gilkes, and Melanie Rubinsohn were among the nine student interns for the 1999 Theater Previews production of Eleanor: An American Love Story. Carmen Abrazado worked in London with Richard Riddell on lighting design for the English National Opera and was part of the company on several Theater Previews productions. Their reminiscences demonstrate that hands-on work in a professional theater setting can provide a uniquely valuable educational experience.
During my time at Duke, I had many wonderful opportunities to practice the Crafts of Stage Management, Lighting Design, and Scenic Design. Not only was I fortunate enough to work on eight mainstage student productions during my academic career, but I also made contacts at Duke which led to a great deal of professional work, both before and after graduation. Because of this Duke network, I was able to sample the very different fields of theater, dance, opera, and film before graduating and deciding to focus on theater in my career track.
But, perhaps the greatest contribution that Duke has made to my career stems from the Theater Previews at Duke series, which co-produces professional shows at Duke. I worked on the first three mainstage productions in this series as either Assistant Stage Manager or Assistant Production Manager. Then, in 2001, I worked on A Thousand Clowns as Local Assistant Stage Manager. One week before the show left Duke to go on tour, they hired me to travel with the show as Children's Supervisor and Substitute Stage Manager. Now, fourteen months after graduating from Duke, I am working on Broadway, have my Equity card, and have made many new contacts who will gladly help me to find work after this limited run engagement. All because of the start that I got at Duke.
--Carmen Abrazado T'00
During my career at Duke, I was given the opportunity to be a part of two Theater Previews at Duke productions. Both internships challenged me to go beyond the boundaries of a student and treated me as an equal in the professional theatre world. As an acting intern in 1999 for Eleanor: An American Love Story, I understudied each female actor. I was expected to actively participate in each rehearsal as well as attend every performance call. The director, choreographer, and musical director had special rehearsals with me to ensure that I fully knew each role in case I had to perform. This internship granted me the opportunity to be involved in the move from Duke to Ford's Theatre in Washington where I stepped in during a dress rehearsal for an actress with strep throat. At an audition in New York, a director and writer involved with the first production of Eleanor recognized my involvement at Duke. He cast me in the U.S. premier tour of Are You My Mother? which granted me my Equity card. Because the 2000 Theater Previews production, Birdy, was an all male cast, I interned in theatre management. As Company Manager, I worked closely with producer Zannie Voss to arrange contracts and provide all the necessary living accommodations and travel plans for the entire company. The summer after graduating from Duke, this experience gave me the tools to start a successful theatre company in Maine with a group of fellow graduates and serve as its Managing Director. I would not be where I am today in my professional theatre career had it not been for the invaluable opportunities afforded me by Theater Previews at Duke.
-- Melanie Angelique Moyer, T'00
This may come as a shock to a lot of people, but some of my Drama classes have proven to be the most practical of all those I have taken in my four years at Duke. I'm not even a Drama major, but a Public Policy major. I have always enjoyed a serious passion for theater, but not until late in my junior year did it ever occur to me that I could actually choose something theatrical for a career. So I figured that I should jump in with both feet and give working in the theater a real shot before committing myself to anything. Even though I knew nothing about them, when I heard about the internships offered for Theater Previews' production of Eleanor: An American Love Story, I decided to apply. I had no idea what I was getting into when I accepted the directing internship. I joked with my friends that I might have just signed away three months of my life and, essentially, I was right. That was what I had done and I loved every minute of it.
The director, Lisa Portes, really took me under her wing from day one of rehearsals at Duke. She let me on the inside of everything that she did related to the production and while I kept her organized, she taught me, both through conversation and example, more about theater and directing than I ever could have learned through anything other than direct involvement in the development of a show. I was there for rehearsals, production meetings, scheduling, brainstorming, researching, discussing, and just hanging out. I had my finger on the pulse of everything on the artistic side of the production. When Lisa asked me to go with her to help move the show into Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., I didn't have to think twice. It was a wonderful experience not only to transfer a show to a different space, but also to have that space be the historic Ford's Theatre.
There is no better way to find out if something is really right for you than trial by fire. My classes gave me a lot of the basic vocabulary that allowed me to jump right in and keep up with the action without having to go back and ask a bunch of questions about the basics. The most important thing that I took away from this experience was not my much enhanced understanding of how theater works, but really the discovery of my passion. I worked hard and a lot, but I loved it all, and it was fun for me because I truly cared about what I was working on.
--Amy Gilkes '99
As I walked into Reynolds Theater, surrounded by professional actors, I wondered what it was going to be like to be the marketing and management intern for Eleanor: An American Love Story. I was soon to find out!
My first project was working on the program for the show, which also doubled as a special section in The Herald-Sun, Durham's daily newspaper. I had the task of organizing the list of everyone involved in the production, along with all other credits we needed to give, and then obtaining biographies and photographs from the cast and crew. In high school my principal always reprimanded us for turning in forms late saying that once we got into the "real world, your peers will not be so lenient and lateness won't be tolerated." Collecting bios proved this theory incorrect! It showed me that even in the "real world" people are forgetful and not always organized and that sometimes you have to e-mail, call, and yell to get what you want because you need to have it.
One of my other projects as an intern was working with the projection designer and obtaining the copyright permissions for the photographs used as backdrops for the show. This entailed chasing down the owner of the photo and then agreeing upon a rate for the permission. Out of all of my jobs, this one was the most beneficial for me because it was mine alone. No one was watching over me and therefore I could make my own mistakes and learn from them.
-- Melanie Rubinsohn '01
