Intern Intros and Bios

Welcome to our blog! This blog will detail our experiences and explorations as interns at the Laguna Playhouse. Here's a little bit about us:

About Juliet:

Hello there bloggers, I’m Juliet, a summer intern here at the Laguna Playhouse in coastal Laguna Beach, which is rather convenient for me because the Playhouse’s close proximity to the beach means I can work on my much-needed tan. I grew up here in Orange County’s finest piece of suburbia, Laguna Niguel, and am currently attending University of California, Berkeley, studying theater and English. I have just completed my first year at college, and have fallen completely in love with Berkeley. I have a passion for all elements of theater, but specifically my interests lie in performing and writing. But enough of the formalities, I’m here to give you the inside scoop on what it’s like to be an intern, on everything from what’s going on in the office to what’s happening onstage to how I take my coffee (black).

A few months ago, to tell you the truth, I wasn’t thinking about internships. Perhaps the idea of a part time job crossed my mind a few times at school, but to me, an internship was something for a college graduate or something. However, all my friends at school began applying for internships and talking about what they were doing over the summer. My plans of sleeping until three and overusing my netflix account were tossed aside, as I began to wonder if I should join my friends in the land of overachievement. Thus, my epic quest for a summer internship began. Luckily for me, the Laguna Playhouse was my first choice for an internship, as it is a highly respectable theater close to home. After many back and forth emails between myself and Chris Trela (Director of Communications), I was offered an internship!

I just began my position as an intern about a week ago, and it has been quite an excellent experience thus far (and no, I wasn’t paid to say that). I already got a chance to work with development and finance, and shared in an eye-opening discussion with Laguna Playhouse’s Artistic Director, Andrew Barnicle. Everyone here is super friendly and enthusiastic about us interns coming to work for the summer. It’s pretty awesome to work in an environment where everyone is passionate about what they do, and makes me wonder what my niche will be in theater…

This week, I am planning to go see Laguna Playhouse’s show, An Empty Plate in the Café Du Grand Boeuf, which is about some guy who owns a restaurant in France and then decides he is going to attempt to starve himself to death. Irony at its finest. I’m really looking forward to seeing the show (which, by the way, is comped for us lucky interns) to get a feel for what the performances are like here at the Playhouse. I might even be lucky enough to sit in the stage manager’s booth and get all the juicy details…of which I’m sure I’ll be passing them right on to the blog.

Stay tuned for more awesome entries!

JK

About Jennifer:

Hi, my name is Jennifer and I just finished my junior year at UC Irvine. I’m working towards my BA in Drama (focusing on stage management) and minor in Management. I’m here at the Laguna Playhouse because nobody will hire me to work anywhere for only three months and I didn’t want to spend that amount of time at home either. Summer school was unnecessary and too expensive. So, I figured that interning would be a good compromise.

Just kidding.

I’m actually so thrilled and grateful for the opportunity to intern at the Laguna Playhouse. I began searching for internships because I took a stage management class this past spring quarter where we learned a number of self marketing tools. Unlike performers, we don’t have snazzy people like agents promoting us, but I’ve come to peace with that fact.

Soon, I was feverishly revising my resume and writing cover letters. I was excited to apply to the Laguna Playhouse because I wanted to explore all aspects of theater at the professional level--outside of the safe and cozy educational bubble. Three weeks ago, I was at Kinko’s/FedEx and upset at the laggy fax machine as I tried to send in all my application materials. Three weeks later, here I am!

This is my fourth day at TLP and the staff has been incredibly welcoming and friendly. We have been working closely with Chris Trela (Director of Communications) and I’ve learned so much from him just by observing and asking questions. Earlier this week, he took me through some tasks of handling press such as sending out press invites, creating invite lists, and assembling press kits. Tonight, I’ll have the wonderful opportunity to go backstage for our show that’s in its final week of performances, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf (http://tinyurl.com/mr4uqd). I can’t wait to meet the cast and production team as well as see all the pre-show activities!

A little about me: I’m originally from Alhambra, a city in LA. Nobody seems to know where that is until I tell them it’s south of Pasadena. I wasn’t actively involved in theater until I came to college. It was one of the most terrifying decisions of my life because I would have to learn everything from scratch…and FAST. I got involved in stage management before I was even aware of the full extent of the job. I’m happy to report that everything worked out and majoring in Drama has been a fantastic journey thus far. I’m addicted to Starbucks Doubleshot Espressos (more specifically, the store-bought ones). I think my mom is the funniest and most generous person in the world. I’m left-handed, so I drag ink across the page and that’s okay. I’ll just stop here because I would rather not make you read a book on all my quirks and habits.

The interns and I will post our experiences on here as often as we can, so please keep checking back!

**And check back next week as we introduce our third intern, Kelsey!