Meet Former Acting Intern - Garett Harris

Meet Garett Harris

I was an acting intern during the 2015 season. Other than doing the fabulous show Evil Dead The Musical in Detroit (which closed in 2019) I have actually been on hiatus for the last few years. I used this time to travel and really work on myself. To grow mentally, and emotionally as best I could. I've done a few side gigs in commercials, but other than that I really have just been focusing on working on myself.

I was born and raised in Michigan, and I desperately tried to escape it a few years ago. Sadly due to various circumstances the good old mitten pulled me back in. Currently I am spending most of my time pursuing voice acting. I’m currently taking classes in hopes to one day make it a legitimate career for myself.

My favorite part of my internship was the challenge. Doing this internship was one of the most challenging things I have ever done, especially in terms of showing me what I did and didn't want out of the industry.  The most challenging part of my internship was believing in myself that I could actually do it. Understudying every male role and having to go on at the drop of a hat is a VERY overwhelming job, but the challenge (as intense as it was) was more than worth it.

My advice to future interns tis to keep your stage managers happy. A happy stage manager makes a happy stage….. Also do whatever you possibly can to make Cheryl smile. She’s a treat.

Meet Former Electrics Intern - Scott Ross

Meet Scott Ross

In 2010 my now wife and I decided to move to Michigan for the 2010-2011 season as the Electrics Intern. I learned many skills in those 9 months. 

After the internship I took many of those skills and worked for a variety of Metro Detroit venues. I was a stagehand at The Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, the Staff Lighting Designer/Master Electrician for Henry Ford College, and I was also given a few opportunities to be the Lighting Designer at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre. 

Then around 2013 I was asked to return to Meadow Brook as the assistant master electrician.  I really enjoyed working on so many different productions. It was great to come in update some equipment, help interns, and work around the staff and designers that I really respected.

While I loved my time in the Metro Detroit area (I am a car enthusiast), some things were changing. I just got married the summer of 2014 and an opportunity for my wife & I arose for us in our home state of Pennsylvania. When we left Metro Detroit, we knew we would be back. 

Back home I started to work with event companies and high schools where I could do lighting designs and work concerts. Within a year I found myself working with my family business where I manage a body shop. A bit of change but Meadow Brook did prepare me to do this by learning the various management styles. 

The story does not end there. I got a call from former, Production Manager, Sarah Warren in the fall of 2017 to see if I was available to work on Tenderly for the spring. Of course, I took that opportunity. I always wanted to design at Meadow Brook. Reid Johnson, former Staff Lighting Designer/Master Electrician, taught me everything I needed to know about the space. Tenderly went well enough and I have been lucky to come back once a season. I was able to design Stickfly, Working, and coming up I will be back for Writing Kevin Taylor.

Meet Former Props Intern - Stephanie Baugher

Meet Stephanie Baugher

After my internship in props (2012/13), I did some summer work as Props Master with Tibbits Summer Theatre and then Black Hills Playhouse. I went on to earn a Master of Fine arts in Scenic Design and Technology from Wayne State University. I spent a summer Scenic Designing for Stagedoor Manor. I then returned to the Detroit area to work multiple jobs around Detroit and Flint. I dipped my hands into Lighting and Sound, as well as Scenic and Projection design for Henry Ford College and Concordia University for 3 years. I was the Scenic Charge Artist for Flint Repertory Theatre for 2 years. During this time, I also did some Scenic Painting for Oakland Community College, and was Scenic Designer/Technical Director for the Jewish Ensemble Theatre. (By the way, if you swing by the newer building for the JET, check out the Mural that I painted during the down time of the Pandemic!) And finally, I was Scenic Designer for several productions with Open Book Theatre until everything paused last March. I am currently a few months in as Production Designer (Scenic Design and Painting) for Interlochen Center for the Arts and am excited to see theatre slowly coming back!

Meet Former Intern - Karlie Driscoll

Meet Karlie Driscoll

I worked as a Technical Theatre Intern from 2004-2008 while going to Oakland University. Upon my graduation, I worked at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre for a year before joining Teach for America and moving to Nashville, TN to work in underprivileged schools. While there I earned a Masters of Arts in Special Education, and spent the next ten years teaching middle school English to marginalized students in southeast Nashville. The final four years I served in administration first as a Dean of Students and then as a Middle School Principal.

Last year I made the decision to move out to California to be closer to my brother and nephews. I moved blind— no job, no place to live and in the middle of a pandemic but I knew it was where I wanted to be. It took one nervous summer under an apocalyptic orange sky to pull it all together, but I eventually accepted a position as the Program Director for College Living Experience in Monterey, CA, leading an organization that helps autistic young adults with autism go to college and gain independence. I have a service dog named Jelly Belly who works at my side with my students every day. We live in a studio a few blocks from the beach and are enjoying being Californians!

I often think fondly of my time at Meadow Brook— I spent so much time there that sometimes I feel like I went to college at the theatre instead of at Oakland University. My four years interning laid the foundation for the life I have now in a million different ways, and I’m grateful to have had such an experience as such a young adult. Thank you to all of you who supported the program and helped me to learn, create, and grow.