Update on past props interns

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Our prop interns in recent seasons spend the majority of their work hours here with Kristen Gribbin, our prop director, on a wide variety of craft & building projects for each show.  They get pressed into service with Brian Kessler & the scene shop staff when the workload there exceeds the prop shop needs.  Along with all the interns, they work with Reid G. Johnson as part of his lighting crew on the changeover from one production to the next.  And often when there's a show needing a larger crew backstage in performance, they'll spend a month working alongside Jeremy Burzuk, our head stage technician.  So they get perhaps the widest technical experience while here of any of our interns.  Here's what some of them have done since:

Eric Niece, prop intern '09 - '10, also appeared onstage in that season's "A Christmas Carol" and stayed in greater Detroit acting at several are theatres or working in technical theatre jobs (one of these being ass't to the technical director at adjacent Oakland University).  He came back to MBT full-time for the '14 - '15 season as one of our scene shop carpenters but has left us once again to be an instructor & technical director for Rochester College.  He does continue to act as well at metro Detroit theatres.

Katie Vota, '10 - '11, went to Peru on a Fulbright Grant for a year after her internship here to study Andean back-strap weaving & natural dyeing at the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco.  She then moved to Chicago for graduate school getting her MFA in Fiber & Material Studies at the School of the Arts Institute while also having exhibits of her  work at Threewalls gallery and at Sector 2337 in Chicago as well as at the Indianapolis ArtCenter & at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, MI.  Currently she's manager of a gourmet food company in Chicago while finishing the design & build of Fat Rice (a Bon Appetit rated restaurant) and designing  the textile program for and teaching at Marwen (non-profit K-12 education).

Teresa McKenzie, '11 - '12, spent the season after her internship with us as the Scenic Artist (another area of her theatre expertise) for Cohoes Music Hall in Cohoes, NY.  She then returned to her home state of Virginia and made a career change using her college minor in elementary education instead of her theatre major and has been working as a pre-school instructor.

Stephanie Baugher, '12 - '13, has since then worked as Props Master for Tibbits Summer Theatre in Coldwater, MI and The Black Hills Playhouse near Rapid City, SD.  Currently she is back in Detroit at Wayne State working on a graduate degree in scene design. Several of her designs for scenery or work for props have been onstage at the Hilberry Theatre  in the last couple years.  Her next scene design there will be for "Love's Labours Lost".

Erin Brandt, '13 - '14, after her season here spent a season working on props for Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, PA.  This year she has started in the Props Technology program at Ohio University in Athens, OH working toward her Master of Fine Arts.

Angie Kurtz, '14 - '15, our most recent props intern, is another who's left MI for Chicago.  She's now the Properties Assistant at Drury Lane Theatre in Oak Brook, IL as well as the Assistant Properties Designer for "The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe" at First Folio Theatre.  She's filling any available time with sewing a line of animal-themed purses & doing work on commission - particularly for cosplayers at conventions such as ComiCon.

A Christmas Carol is Here!

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Hello Readers!!

So this year our production of A Christmas Carol is 34 years old! We are pleased to offer this for the holiday season. Families have enjoyed this show for many years! Don't forget to get your tickets soon because they are going fast. Call the box office today at 248.377.3300 or visit ticketmaster.com. Check out this video of the set being put together!

Updates on past interns

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As part of the current, on-going celebration of Meadow Brook Theatre's 50th season, there will be a sporadic series of posts here on our blog about theatre artists & administrators who received experience early on in their careers here at MBT.  For this first installment, we'll review those who started as an intern for a season & stayed or returned to now be a part of our permanent staff.

Sarah Lin Warren was a stage management intern in our 1998-99 season.  She stayed in the metro Detroit  and worked at other area theatres including stage managing shows at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre in West Bloomfield and for Second City at the City Theatre in Detroit.  She also worked for Cirque du Soleil during their engagement at the Palace in the year following her internship.  When a stage management position opened up here in the fall of 2000, Sarah came back to us for several seasons before leaving to work in New York City with a brief break to stage manage at Dallas Theatre Center.  But the pull of Meadow Brook was too strong and she returned to us again to serve as our production manager and to do double-duty as assistant stage when we have two shows in performance and in rehearsal simultaneously.

Travis W. Walter was an acting intern during our 2002-03 season understudying many roles, appearing in small roles onstage and pressed into service for technical & administrative support.  He stayed on the following season to assist Cheryl Marshall with group sales and various other projects including some more time performing onstage and also stage managing "Sisters of Swing" in spring '07.  He began directing with "Murder by Poe" in fall '08 and was named as our current artistic director starting with the 2010-11 season.

Casey Hibbert was part of our first full & now standard complement of 8 season interns in 2009-10 as the scene shop intern.  He stayed for a 2nd season internship the next year as the stage management intern.  Casey then joined our staff working in the box office and accepting other duties including maintaining our website.  When he first came here, he was moving to Michigan with his new bride LeeAnn Kostur who later on also joined our staff working in group sales and other administrative support.  When he gets hours away from MBT, Casey continues to act & direct at other area theatres and appears each summer at the Michigan Renaissance Festival.

Paige Biggs Vanzo was an administrative intern in our 20101-11 season and also has stayed on since providing administrative support and currently serves as primarily as marketing & communications coordinator.  She also continues to act & direct at other area theatres and appears each summer at the Michigan Renaissance Festival.

Daniel Morency was our stage management intern last season and appeared onstage in "A Christmas Carol".  This         year he became one of our newest full-time staff members working as Assistant Master Electrician.  In addition he works part-time assisting the Technical Director of Oakland University's Department of Music, Theatre and Dance.