October 11, 2008
My Goals for the Future
So here I am in Chicago, starting to get finished getting settled in and starting to look around for theatres to be involved with. I’ve met a few people here and there and I’m starting to get a feel for what the theatre scene is like here, but I’ve yet to really connect with anyone but Nick. As I was talking to Nick today, I realized that I’ve got to figure out what it is that I want out of the theatre scene before I go up to a group and say “Hi. Let me in.”
So, in the interests of soul-searching or whatever, here goes.
I want, above all, to meet people and to have fun. I want a group of people that I can connect with, who share the same interests as I do, who love theatre and creativity as much as I do. I want to be involved, active, and productive. I want to be part of a good group whose goal is to advance themselves as thespians and improve themselves as people.
In terms of theatre, I want to have the opportunity to learn from more experienced members in my chosen fields: acting and directing. But I don’t want to exclude other areas. I’m certainly interested in learning about lighting design, sound design, set design, carpentry, box office management, marketing. In short, I want to learn as much as I can.
I know a lot of theatres offer internships. What I don’t want to be is the company’s bitch. I don’t want to be stuck ushering every night, taking tickets every night, making everyone’s coffee. I don’t mind participating in those activities in support of the company, but taking tickets and ushering are not why I want to work with a company.
I’m not great at improv and I can’t sing worth shit, so if the company focuses on those, then, while I’m open to learning more about those, I should probably look elsewhere.
I’m interested in just about everything else, including (but not limited to) children’s theatre, straight dramas, comedy, Shakespeare, and avant garde.
In addition to theatre skills, I can also offer my web design services in support of the company.
So if you’re a theatre person in Chicago, and your company is looking for extra help, don’t hesitate to let me know.
That will be all.
3 Comments »
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We should talk sometime …
And, in other news … TAG! You’re it! See my bloggy blog for details.
Comment by RebeccaZ — October 16, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
Well, it looks like you’re asking the right questions! And yes, I would be very hesitant to take ANY internship at a non-LORT theater - especially unpaid internships. I am usually that unpopular company member who says “under no circumstances can our theater company offer an internship. We should learn to do the work ourselves or through our board / volunteers,” because I believe that I’m just not that much of a connection, frankly, and interns are rarely offered the educational benefits that they get for their investment of time and committments.
That theater I mentioned earlier was, in fact, New Millenium.
http://chicagotheaterdb.com/companies/60
Definitely fun is the name of the game with them. And of course, the Neo-Futurists.
Also, I reorganized the Companies on the CTDB (http://chicagotheaterdb.com/companies) to be sorted by ascending founded date. The first page and a half are those companies with no data, but from the Goodman on they’re in order of how long they’ve been around. Some community theaters in the burbs have been around for a long, long time, so they might be a bit more cliquey, but folks at the end of the list will likely be very receptive to help if you like their work!
New companies like Route 66, SandHill, Sinnerman, The Plagiarists, and 16th Street are all doing buzz-worthy work, and they have a range of resources between them that you might be able to help out with.
Comment by Nick Keenan — October 20, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
Good luck Brian! I know what you mean about it being hard to get out there into your chosen field…or what you want to be your chosen field. Stick it out!
Comment by Summer — October 28, 2008 @ 10:48 am