Written by Emma Harmon. 2019 Drama School Intern.
My summer as a Drama School Intern taught me so much about myself. At the end of our orientation week, we received a piece of paper that had anonymous bits of wisdom from past interns. One of those tips was to use the journal SCT had given us at the start of the summer.
My journal is now full of notes- awesome theatre exercises, countless quotes from inspiring teaching artists, memories from classes/ rehearsals/ meetings, and professional AND personal revelations! Such as: “You are here for a reason. You are smart and strong and creative enough.” That journal is my most treasured artifact from what has been the best summer of my life so far. Johamy Morales, the Director of Education, is an alum of the internship. The advice she gave to us was to take no moment of this experience for granted. The good and the bad- because it is all a lesson. Here are five things that surprised me about my summer as a Drama School Intern:
- The Drama School students changed my life. Truly the best part of my summer was getting to work with as many amazing students as I did. I had those positive experiences because DS interns were given the tools to grow as teachers and the opportunity to teach in so many different environments. Musical theatre, physical comedy, new works, and creative drama are a small number of the huge catalogue for DS interns to work on.
- The Drama School staff invested so much time in every intern’s development. Starting with an intensive week long training program, we got to experience job shadowing, individual resume development, professional development opportunities, individual check-ins, and several intern celebrations. SCT provided me thorough job training to work in the professional field.
- I am capable of so much more than I gave myself credit for! Interns are BUSY, which taught us how to balance work, ultimately showing us how much we were capable of. Do not back away from challenges- they will become your biggest lessons.
- You will get as much out of this internship as you open yourself up to receiving. I found the aspect of the work that inspired me and dove into that area head on. Tiffany Maltos, the Associate Director of Education, gave me professional opportunities over the summer because I reached out to her and she was generous enough to give them to me.
- Drama School interns are immediately part of the SCT family. This internship creates a network of valuable professional connections- more than 30% of SCT’s current staff is an alumnus of the Internship Program. I can understand why interns come back. Ask anybody I ran into my last day at the theatre- it was hard to say goodbye. I have never been so sad to leave a place before in my life.
I knew that my experience as a Drama School intern would be educational. What I did not predict was how inspired I would become by the leaders of the theatre, the teaching artists I worked with, my fellow interns, and the Drama School students themselves.
