Blog 8:
KID Show and Calming Down

July 17, 2018

After the huge business of the last week, it was nice to take a bit of a breather. We’ve gotten through the busiest part of the season. We still have 2-4 shows every day, but everything seems to have calmed down a bit. After feeling slightly panicked at the number of people in town for days on end, I and everyone else in the company appreciate the calmness.

The most interesting thing that happened this week was that the KID Show went up! The KID Show is a really cool program that CRT does every year as part of the Education Department. Local kids, or kids just visiting for the summer, get to spend four weeks rehearsing and performing in an original show commissioned by the theatre. They are taught by professionals, including many members of the CRT company, and professionals in the company costume, design, and put on the show. This year, the KID Show was put up in the Ruth Humphreys Brown Theater, our smaller black box space. It had four performances there, all of which were sold out (although the tickets were free, which may have had something to do with it). I wasn’t able to see it, which was a shame, but I’m sure that they all did great. I had great experiences with summer theatre in middle school and high school, but I never got the chance to act and be directed by professionals as a kid. I’m very grateful for the opportunity that I’ve had at Cornell to act and be directed by professionals, and I’m glad that these kids have the opportunity to experience professional theatre first-hand.

This week we also had our last Intern Breakfast Meeting. We’ve been having these meetings every few weeks, usually at about 8 am, with Johamy Morales, the head of the Education Department. In these meetings, we’ve made websites, resumes, and cover letters. It’s been a safe space to ask questions about the business and to vent about our weeks. This last meeting was unique, however- it was a chance for us all to get a little creative. Johamy brought out a bunch of art supplies and told us that we had an hour to make whatever we wanted. This was a great opportunity for us to relax and do something creative without the pressure of making it professional-quality. I’m very glad that we’ve had these meetings- it’s been a chance for us to get direct mentorship from Johamy as well as get to know each other a little better. I appreciate that opportunity a lot- all of the interns are really cool people, and I’m glad to get to know them. Connecting with other young theatre people is a very important part of this internship.

In Development this week, I got to try my hand at some writing. Graham had me writing drafts of thank you letters to send out to our donors. I had templates- he gave me a bunch of copies of past donor thank you letters- but I still got to put my own touch on it. I like being able to write in Development- it feels like I’m using my brain more than when I was stuffing envelopes, and it’s still getting work done that really needs to get done. I’m hoping that next week I might be able to start on some grant writing work- that’s a huge part of Graham’s job and something that I both want to learn and want to be able to help him with. If I’m able to help him with preparing grant applications, that would be hugely helpful, and being helpful is something that is very important to me.