Describe your Internship Engagement:
(4.23.12)
About two weeks ago my program coordinator back in Irvine flew out to Washington, DC in order to attend administrative meetings and talk about the future of the program. She had arranged with me beforehand to come and visit my internship site and talk to my supervisor, Sarah, about my role within daily Studio Theatre operations. The main reason for her visit was to see how I was doing and get a feel for how likely or unlikely it would be for future UC students to get their internship at the Studio. Since the arts program is such a young addition to the coursework and opportunities available through UCDC the administrators are making every effort possible to make connections with theaters, museums, and other art venues for future UC arts students. So far I've been very happy to hear so much talk and effort from the Higher Ups about the arts program and developing these connections.
It turns out that Sharon was planning on bringing a couple other program coordinators from California with her. There were four of us all together and when we arrived the Director of Administration, Sarah, took us through the building and gave them the same general orientation that I got over a month ago.This ended up being really cool because I got to re-experience some of the awe I felt when I first started. The tour is a chance for Sarah to brag about how nifty the Studio is and highlight its key successes in terms of the Studio mission statement.
The part I find most interesting about the Studio mission statement is the claim that "No theatre of comparable budget size operates such exclusively intimate spaces." So far I find that to be pretty true. Their largest theatre only seats about 200 people. The fact that a key component of their mission is apparent in the design and function of the Studio Theatre building itself seems significant. From the three shows I've seen I can easily say that the work they produce embodies a sense of intimacy in their choice of plays, their excellent theatrical craft, and in the environment they create. It makes me feel like the answer to my professor's question "Is the agency for which you intern actually doing what it claims to be doing?" is "Yes, absolutely."
Sarah's tour also reminded me of another interesting aspect of The Studio Theatre; everything is all under one roof. They own the entire 4 story building and remodeled it about 10 years ago to fit the needs of a growing theatre company. This means that they aren't spending money to rent space off-site. They also own small apartments to house the year-long apprentices and visiting guest artists. The decision to buy and own instead of renting is a great move for a long-term plan. When it comes to business and money I've been impressed so far. Most of The Studio's revenue comes from annual subscriptions purchased by loyal patrons and other single ticket orders. Before coming here I thought that this was completely unheard of. I mean who buys theatre tickets anymore? I thought that theatres had to rely on large donations and grant funding in order to exist. The fact that the Studio is able to donate their tickets to other organizations says a lot.
In the end I was very satisfied with how this visit concluded with my coordinators and I'm eager to continue sharing the value of what I do with them and the administrators here in DC. I'm hoping to get our final production of The Congresswomen project filmed so that everyone can see it and pass it along to perspective students. I also anticipate that my final paper will be published somewhere on the UCDC website like last year's group. that will result from the Arts Core Class discussions and the journaling collected through this blog.
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