Wrapping everything up

Well after the whirlwind of activity that was the past few weeks things are beginning to wind down. Camp finished up really well. My group of kids performed really well and I think they all enjoyed themselves. Midsummer did amazing and broke an attendance record for the season. We had an amazing crowd every night of performance. Unfortunately as soon as Midsummer and camp finished I was unable to ignore the annoying cough that had been steadily growing worse and worse. So due to an upper respiratory virus, I've missed a few days of work and been pretty sluggish all around (hence no blog update for last week as I was home in bed for the majority of the week). Good news though, it's only supposed to last 3-6 weeks. I'm most likely wrapping up week 2, so hopefully it's almost gone.

Yesterday and today were the camp showcases for the summer session. Because all of our classes were on two days we split up the performances so that we had two each night. It made it a little longer of a day for the staff, but got the parents and students in and out quicker which is always a good thing. I also got to help Ms. Megan with the Creative Theatre Fun classes some more. Because it's the 3 and 4 year olds she wanted an extra set of eyes and hands to help out. It also worked out well because these are the two classes that I've sat in on the most, so the kids know me pretty well. Last night I even got to fill in for one of the kids as Jill from Jack and Jill during their Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes performance. There were some hiccups tonight of students not wanting to play their part and a sick kid, so we just ended up with two little Miss Muffets and a couple kids got to play extra parts. Overall a very successful two nights of performances.

Up next is the General Grant project. We have an actor coming in to do a one man show about General/President Grant during the civil war. This is especially cool for Junior Theatre as our home used to be a civil war camp. His load in is tomorrow, but unfortunately I won't be there as tomorrow is the day that Monmouth gave me to move my stuff into school. But I will get to help out with tech rehearsals over the weekend and the performance on Sunday. Then on Monday Daniel is taking Morgan and I out for breakfast to discuss how the summer went and the internship and all that stuff. Then I'll pack up the last of my stuff, move completely back to Monmouth to start classes on Tuesday. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it. It's hard to believe the summer is over already. I'm a little sad to be leaving because I've grown to love this theatre and all the opportunities it's given me so much. But I do feel better knowing I'm coming back for Spring Break. I also already have all their upcoming performances on my calendar so I'll be sure to come up for all of those.

half way mark

Well I'm now at the half way mark for my recent projects. We've performed 3 of our 6 shows of Midsummer and 3 of 5 days of camp.

After the first performance was moved indoors because of the storm we were able to have our second two outside in our original locations. We had a surprisingly good turn out and the audience was very receptive. Keeping the actor's energy up our in the heat is proving pretty hard. Especially since our director has gone back to New York. I feel like more of a water boy, forcing cups of water into every actor's hand the minute they step back stage.

Camp is also going pretty well. Morgan and I ended up having to team teach again. The last week went pretty well, but it was frustrating at times. This time we sat down with Daniel and talked about how to make team teaching a success. We planned out more specifically who is in charge of what and who will lead what class times. So far it's been seeming to work pretty well, but I think team teaching is hard no matter what the sitation. Definitely for me as I like to be in control so much.

We have a group of 9 kids, all 9 and 10 years old. They're all pretty excited about the Ireland theme for the week and learning to Irish step dance. Today we had our first rehearsal on stage and got the blocking all sorted out. Some of the kids are starting to memorize but some of them still need work. I'm a little worried about some of our kids, especially our "lead" actor being loud enough, but hopefully as they get more comfortable with the lines and blocking they can think about that less and focus on their projection. I know they can be loud when they want to be.

I can't believe it's already August. My last day of work as an intern is August 22nd, but I know I'm coming back for Spring Break to teach my own class then. These last few weeks are going to keep me just as busy as the rest of the summer. I've been taking lots of pictures and videos and can't wait to share with everyone back on campus.

Opening Night

Opening night was on Thursday and it went really well. We were scheduled to perform at the LeClaire park band shell, but because of storms that were moving in and out of the area pretty quickly all day long we moved the performance indoors at Junior Theatre. Making the last minute adjustments to blocking and preshow procedures was a little hectic, but luckily Jason, the director was still there to help figure it all out. While the actors didn't remember all of the changes, such as exiting into the wings instead of behind the set, they did a really good job. We also had a decent size audience considering we moved locations.

After opening night was done we packed up the truck and a few of the cast, Jason and I went out to eat to say goodbye. Jason flew back to New York yesterday so from now on I'll be completely in charge of warm ups and making sure the cast is ready and giving any notes back stage that they need. I've definitely confirmed in my mind how much I love stage managing though. I've also received lots of compliments from Jason, Jessica, the other stage manager and Daniel on how well I've been doing and what a good stage manager I am as it plays to a lot of my strengths.

We have performances tonight and tomorrow night and then a break until Thursday. I've also found out that on Thursday I'm going to be playing Show Time Pal before the performance. I'm pretty excited. It seems like a sort of rite of passage when working at Junior Theatre to get to play Show Time Pal. A lot of the staff went to Junior Theatre when they were kids and had the experience then, but Morgan and I are new here so we were both given a chance if we wanted to get the experience now.

I'll be plenty busy during our break before Thursday though. Our second week of camp starts on Monday. I should be teaching my own class for the week. It's going to be a busy week though. Tuesday and Wednesday we have classes going and they'll be on the stage for rehearsal before their final performance in two weeks. Then on Thursday we have the performance back in Illinois right when camp is over. I'll try to write more during camp week to share what my group of kids is like and how our next two performances go.

tech time!

Yesterday's rehearsal began our week of tech before Midsummer opens on Thursday night. Today the crew met at 11 and worked out the load in and out of the set. And boy was it a long process. For each show we have to set up the multi-leveled platform set, unload a variety of set dressing, all the props, 3 tents that have to be set up and placed properly for the boys and girls dressing room as well as front of house. Then the various other odds and ends have to be unloaded and sorted to the right spot. All of this also has to happen in 100 degree weather, while wearing long pants for protection. Whew! We managed to get everything set up in about an hour and a half, which is pretty good. Then after tonight's rehearsal we have to take it all back down and load it into the UHaul, only to come back in less than 15 hours to do it all again. Definitly a lot of learning going on. There's so many things that I wouldn't have thought about being important or causing a problem when trying to move a show outdoors to various locations.

Another project I'm working on is creating the program for the show. There is someone on the board that usually does the program who suddenly stopped responding to all forms of communication. So less than a week before the show opens I got a new project dumped in my lap. Luckily I could use the format from the last show and just do some editing, drop in new cast bios, new cast and crew lists. Then there was creating all of the break a leg notes and sponsership ads and getting everything to look pretty. As of now it's almost complete. I'm waiting on my boss to proof it, add some things he wanted to get in and then it will go to the printer soon.

The last big and exciting thing involved with this show is the music. Because it's set in the 1980's the music is a huge part. We have 2 boomboxes that some of the actors bring on and off stage playing the music off of cassette tapes. The stage manager did all the sound design, but I'm going to be the one back stage helping run the boomboxes from back there and making sure the right ones go on and off at the right times. We spend a good amount of time with Jason today tracking which boomboxes (one decorated in bright pink spike tape, the other in neon green spike tape) are used when and who takes them on and off.

This experience has been a whirlwind and all happened extremely fast, but I've already felt like I've learned a lot. Getting to meet Jason and work with a different director has been quite the experience, and I hope he's someone I can keep in contact with after he returns to New York on Friday after opening night. Well, back to work editing the program before dress rehearsal tonight.

12 days!

12 days till our production of Midsummer opens! It's also the third day of rehearsal with our New York director, Jason Bohon. As scary as 12 days sounds the kids are very prepared and doing really well on our time line. Jason's been going through and working on getting the kids to be bigger and less neutral, as he calls it. He's done a lot of organic blocking, of sorts, simply by having the kids get up and move around while reading and then giving them some direction and ideas. We haven't had any real blocking yet though as we haven't been able to get onto the stage and with our set yet. Hopefully we will today during our second round of rehearsal (4-8pm with the Mechanicals). If not then definitely on Monday we'll dive straight into blocking. It's a really interesting experience watching the kids wrestle with Shakespeare and a new director and style they're not used to. They are loving Jason's big personality and all his ideas however. He's also been very open to the kids' ideas. Just today we worked on stage combat with the lovers, and rapping with Puck for when he takes the enchantment off Lysander (the actor's idea). It's a little nerve wracking doing stage combat with the kids, but Jason was very precise with his instructions and explained how dangerous it can be if they don't listen and do only what he says. The kids were very receptive and excited to get to try some new things.

We had our last workshop this morning and now all of our focus is officially on Midsummer. There are still the summer classes going on, but Morgan and I are taking a step back from those now to work on Midsummer. I'm definitely getting a full experience here this summer with 7 hours of rehearsal a day. I've also learned a lot of new games, including the 12 step program and thee thou and nay. But I'm sure there's still plenty more I'll learn as I continue getting to know Jason and then get my own group to teach at our second week of camp during opening week of Midsummer. Now that will be a busy week!

"we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously"

Well, as the title of this post might have given away, we have begun Midsummer rehearsals. It's been a lot of long, 10-14 hour days between a variety of workshops around the community, rehearsal for Midsummer, and performance of our traveling summer rep shows. Starting this weekend however, our main concern is going to become Midsummer. Summer rep ends on Friday, we've accepted less requests for workshops, and don't have another week of camp till August. Also, our director is coming today! He was supposed to land at 12:30 and Daniel picked him up and took him to the hotel. Not sure when he'll be getting here before our 3pm rehearsal, but I'm extremely excited to meet him.

So far in rehearsal Daniel's led the kids in a line by line analysis of our cutting of the show making sure that every actor knows what all of his/her lines mean. It was really impressive how prepared a lot of the kids came in and were able to easily figure out their lines. We already have a few actors memorized, which is good and bad. Early memorizing is always good, unforunately they memorized breaking at the end of each line and now have to rememorize some parts in a different way. I'm extremely excited to start rehearsal today with Jason and blocking starts tomorrow. We already have our set ready so things are really about to pick up. For the next few weeks I'll be in rehearsal from 11am to 8 or 9pm Monday through Saturday, so it's going to be a challange. Hopefully a fun one however.

I can tell already some of the effects this internship has had on me. I've noticed my confidence growing as I lead more and more workshops. I've also taken on a lot of techniques that I've picked up from the teachers here and warm ups that are typical of Junior Theatre. It'll be interesting to go back to Monmouth and see how well I can blend these two styles. Plus I'm hoping to learn from Jason's style which could be another completely different thing. I'll try to write soon about our first rehearsal with Jason and how it goes.

PS The quote in my title is said by Bottom at the mechanicals rehearsal in act 1 scene 2.

End of June/Beginning of July

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. Things have continued to be really busy here.

Camp wrapped up really well. It was definitely an adventure. Trying to figure out how to effectively team teach and share the class with Morgan was not easy for me. It was hard to let go of the control at some points, but we worked well together and I think our kids had a great time and learned a lot. Despite all of the times I thought our group was a little too insane for me to handle they really pulled together and put on a great show at the showcase. I felt so immensely proud of them hearing them onstage, remembering all their lines and blocking, and hearing the audience laugh at all the right times. It made it all worth it. My aunt recorded my group's performance of the play that we wrote, so hopefully I can figure out a way to share that with you later as well. I also found out that instead of team teaching the next camp Morgan and I will definitely be getting our own group of kids to teach.

Since camp ended we've been busy with the summer classes. Summer classes are about to start their fourth week. Last week all of the classes got their scripts and they're beginning to start work on them. So far I've been able to sit in and visit all of the teachers in a variety of classes. Seeing all of the different teaching styles has really helped me learn a lot about what my own style is and what I can work on to make better. I've also managed to go to the same class all 3 weeks, and hope to be able to be at every class to see the entire process with one group of kids from beginning to end.

Another big project going on lately is working on programming for the Fall and Winter of next year. My boss let me help him work on putting the classes into the Parks and Rec programing software, RecPro, and book the different spaces for all of the classes in Fall and Winter. It was really interesting seeing all of the work that goes into making sure the classes can be a success. Daniel and I were behind our computers pretty much all day working on it together. It was also cool to work on because Daniel said he usually doesn't let anyone help him because it can get messed up very easily and if it gets messed up it can completely ruin the class session and cause a lot of problems with enrollment and financial issues for the session. He said he likes to just do it himself and has a hard time letting go of control on it, but that he knew I could do it and he could trust me. So that was definitely nice to hear.

We also had an event at Arsenal Island. We went to where they have a day camp and led a series of workshops for the students. There were 4 30 minute workshops from 9 to 11. The different groups were based on age ranges, so we had the youngest kids first and the oldest kids last. The workshop was in theory the same for every group, but we ended up having to change it a lot on the spot. We had one group that had close to 50 kids in it, and the next only had around 10-15. So obviously those classes were quite a bit different. We also had to make changes once we realized that some groups were more self conscious than others. For the groups a little more weary of our games, we instead of switching into solo work continued to do things as one large group to make them feel more comfortable. Daniel was there with Morgan and I. He took charge of a lot of the leading in the first group and slowly gave Morgan and I more and more to take control of. It was definitely a tiring experience. We had to be at full energy and on our feet moving for 2 hours straight. And with the last group, the older kids definitely had a "too cool" attitude so trying to get them engaged was a little like pulling teeth. But throughout the 30 minutes we did get to see some breakthroughs where a couple kids realized this was actually kind of cool.

Finally, something else very exciting for the future. While working on programing I saw the date for the spring break performing arts camp. I checked and it happened to be the same week as Monmouth's spring break. I mentioned to Daniel in passing that it was the same week and if he was short on teachers I could work the camp. He got very excited and told me it was a done deal and put me on his list right away. So I'll definitely be coming back after my internship to do more work with Junior Theatre. This is such an amazing experience and I can't wait to see where it'll take me.

12 hour days!

This is going to be a pretty quick post today. I was working at Junior Theatre from 8am to 7pm today, and will be doing the exact same thing tomorrow. This is following another long day this past Saturday.

There was an event in Davenport called Juneteenth that Junior Theatre went to all day Saturday. We set up a table to do facepainting which is what Junior Theatre does usually at these kinds of outreach events. Morgan and I also tried to play games for 15 minutes every hour, however that didn't work too well. Everyone was moving around a lot and didn't stay in the same place long enough for us to start a game. We did get to lead some games to a group of 5 or 6 kids that happened to come to get their faces painted at the same time as we were getting ready to start games. It was a very long, interesting day, filled with literally thousands of mayflies. I've gotten very good at face painting and still have nightmares of mayflies crawling all over my body and swarming around my face.

In other news, camp started on Monday and it has been quite the adventure. I started all by myself on Monday because Morgan was at a dentist appointment. Our group of kids are a little bit of a handful. We have 9 9 year olds and 1 10 year old. None of them really ever sit still or stop talking. But they have calmed down some since the first day. Some of this I think is because they're getting used to each other and over the novelty. Part of it is also how I've learned to handle it. If the kids are talking Morgan and I just sit and stare at them. They realize pretty quick what's going on and we remind them that they're wasting their own time and they get quiet pretty quick.

The first day was a lot of playing theatre games and introducing them to theatre terms and basics. Yesterday we started talking about what they wanted to write their play about. Every group is focusing on or incorporating the weeks theme of Greece somehow, and our group has decided to have the gods and goddesses of Greece competing in their own version of the olympics. But when they don't invite Persephone, Hades' wife, she tries to ruin all their fun because she's tired of being left out. Morgan and I finished writing it based off their ideas today and we got to read through it a couple times and begin blocking. We have a couple kids that have complained that they don't have enough lines, but it hasn't become a major issue yet. Tomorrow we get to tour the props and costumes cottage and begin to pick out things to use for our show on Friday. Well I'm off to bed. Those kids wore me out and it's going to be another early and long day tomorrow. More to come.

Lots of Excitement

Well, a lot has happened here since my last post. First of all I attended the first production meeting for Midsummer. It was a very exciting experience. The beginning of the meeting was a lot of signing contracts and filling out paperwork for the designers. Then we called the director in New York and put him on speakerphone to begin discussing the show. He has decided to place our production in the 1980's and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. There's going to be fun costume and make up and the set will also be very cool, especially considering we have to be able to take it apart and move it around to our different touring locations.

Next, that is both exciting and a little nerve-wracking is that Morgan and I have been bumped up from assistants at the first week of camp and are now going to be team-teaching right away. I'm extremely excited, and it is definitely a great opportunity, but I am a little nervous, never having experienced how this camp works before. Luckily we're going to have an assistant that's been there before to help us through it, possibly even my little cousin who's been tagging along all summer. He's become a sort of honorary intern with all of the work he's been helping us do.

The spring classes are all wrapping up now as well. We have one more day of showcases on Saturday and then the summer classes start on Monday. I'm really excited to get to see how some of the classes are handled and how the teachers begin, as I've already seen some of the ending class periods. I also think this might help me prepare for camp. I can see generally how Junior Theatre runs and interacts with the kids in the classroom setting and apply that to what I'll be doing during the camps.

Well, I think that's all the exciting news I have for now. Today Daniel, Morgan and I (and my cousin Matthew) went over the schedule for the rest of the summer and started talking about some of the outreach events that Morgan and I will be running, so that's something to look forward to. Our first one is on June 18th where we'll be doing facepainting and running a bunch of theatre games at the top of each hour. More news to come.

Week Two

Well I've now finished my second week of interning at Davenport Junior Theatre, and I'm already exhausted. This last week was the beginning of the rush of the summer. We started having tech rehearsals for the class showcases which will be next week. This means that each class of students has a given amount of time on the stage to practice their scene with sound, lights, the whole shebang.

While observing this I saw many different strategies of trying to control the students and get them to stay on task. Some worked really well, while others did not. I was able to see why certain techniques didn't while others did. One teacher referred to her students as "friends" and treated them as equals giving them a desire to act well and live up to that treatment. Another teacher let her frustration at the students apparent "failure" get to her and took it out on the students, raising her voice and saying repeatedly that the students should know this because they've already been over everything. The students did not respond to this at all and simply got more out of control. They felt the teacher's frustration and loss of control and took advantage of it.

Also during this time I was able to meet the junior staff. The junior staff is made up of high school students that work for the theatre. Each junior staff member is responsible for one aspect of the theatre: props, costume, lights, sound, and set. The high schoolers have really mastered their respective areas and work well together in a very interesting way. The light expert showed me the light "board" and helped me figure out how to work it. They run all of their lights off of a computer program called PCStage. It's actually very easy to use and made more sense than Monmouth's giant light board. I'm really excited to learn from these junior staffers as well as teach them whatever I can throughout the summer.

Next, I am pleased to announce that Midsummer Night's Dream has been cast! I was able to sit in on two of the three nights of auditions. Because the director is in New York he was unable to be at auditions so Daniel, the producer of the show, was in charge of casting. Once he ran his ideas for casting past the director via phone the cast list was solidified. I was able to help create the contact list, address envelops which will be used to mail out scripts and more information, as well as make some phone calls informing actors of the casting. I'm very excited for this show to get started, it should be interesting. We have a girl cast as Bottom, and a rising sixth grader as our Puck. It should definitely be an adventure. Our first production meeting, including a phone call with director from New York, will be on Sunday night. I'll make sure to let you know how that goes.

Finally, some interesting information on the business end of the theatre. Because Junior Theatre is part of Parks and Rec Morgan and I have had to go through mandatory training the past few days. A lot of the training was directed at the high school lifeguards for the summer, but it was still interesting to see the types of things that they have to worry about including OSHA requirements and the such. There's a lot of safety issues to worry about when running a theatre, or any sort of organization. Next Morgan and I are going to take a defensive driving course so that we can be certified to drive city vehicles when we go out to do workshops.

For now I'm taking the weekend off, but I'll be back on Sunday for the production meeting, then class showcases all next week. After that will be the start of summer classes and then summer camps, which I will officially be assisting at the first week of (150 extra dollars!) and then hopefully teaching/team teaching with Morgan for the second week (an extra 400 dollars!). So I'm taking this weekend to prepare for the rush of activity that's about to begin and keep running all the way through the end of the summer.

Deaf Theatre?

Something else that has happened since starting my internship has started me thinking about other possibilities with theatre. I am staying with my aunt, uncle and 3 cousins during the summer, and this past week had the chance to see the school where my aunt teaches and meet some of her deaf students, including one deaf/blind student she's been working with for the past few years. Seeing these students sitting in an assembly, the way they interact with the teachers and each other, and through many conversations with my aunt I've been thinking a lot about deaf theatre. I've always had some of an interest in learning sign language, as many of my little cousins learned it from my aunt before they could talk. I know some basic signs, but have never took a class or managed to learn more. Meeting so many of these students, especially after seeing the sign language interpreter at Number the Stars, I just can't get the thought of deaf theatre out of my mind. I've begun doing some research into how it works. I found the website for the National Theatre of the Deaf, and am pretty amazed. This is definitely something I'm going to keep researching and maybe even start learning more sign language this summer so I can decide if it's really something I want to look more in to.

First Week

I'm finishing up my first week at my internship. It's been a kind of slow week so far. Morgan and I have been going through the collection of plays, marking which ones we're missing, organizing them and creating a catalog so that teachers can search for a play based on number of pages, number of characters, or gender of characters. It's a little tedious, but we're already making a lot of progress. Things are about to pick up though, so we won't have as much time to work on that project.

Tonight and tomorrow I'm going to go to auditions for Midsummer; Daniel told me today that I'm going to be the official assistant stage manager, but I think I'll probably have a student ASM working with me as well.

Today I was also able to go out with Daniel and Morgan to hear the Mayor of Davenport, and some other people speak about the different federal accreditations that are going on, one of which is the Parks and Recreation Department, which include Junior Theatre. Davenport is going to be one of the first cities in the US to have police, fire, parks, and public works department all nationally accredited as well as having the library accredited on the state level. It was very exciting to see this happen, get to meet some of the supervisors of the parks and recreation department, as well as have a conversation with Daniel and Morgan about the positives and negatives of running a theatre associated with parks and rec. We talked about the freedom of starting your own theatre company, but the hassle it can be, and how nice it is that the parks and rec help make sure that everything is running, looking nice and taken care of.

I'm still waiting to get more information on the summer camps. I'm still hoping I can help out, and possibly teach the second week, to get more experience and a little more money. Summer classes don't start for a few weeks, but I've managed to sit in on one of the Spring classes still going on. It was a 5-6 year old acting class. They're currently preparing for their final showcase in which they'll all put on a show together. All of the different classes participate, so I'll be able to sit in on the dress rehearsals and see how all the different age groups differ in their shows. I was amazed at how well the 5 and 6 year olds were able to memorize their lines and perform really well. It will interesting to see if anything changes when they leave their classroom and get onto the big stage for dress rehearsal next week.

I keep forgetting to take pictures, but I'll be sure to take some soon of the little corner of filling cabinets Morgan and I have been confined too, as well as the theatre and the acting studios in the cottages. It's really a beautiful theatre, so I can't wait to share it with you. More information to follow on auditions and the summer camps. I also found out that Junior Theatre is going to be putting on a Folk Festival, which is very exciting for me. I've attended two folk festivals in Chicago and can't wait to see what Junior Theatre has planned and get involved. Thanks for reading!

First Day

I just had my first meeting with Daniel and Morgan, my fellow intern. I got to sign my contract, pick up my key and shirts, and go over what I'll be working on this summer.

Junior Theatre is doing a traveling Main Stage show of Midsummer Night Dream which I'll get to help on. They are bringing a director in from New York who will arrive in a few weeks to begin rehearsals. I'm looking forward to sitting in on production meetings and see how they work with the addition of webcam to connect to the director in New York. I'm also going to have the opportunity to act as temporary stage manager for the first week or so as the stage manager is unable to start right away.

I will also be working on a lot of outreach and trying to increase publicity for all of the programs. Morgan and I are going to be able to go out into the community at parks and rec events and set up a junior theatre booth. We're going to work to come up with a quick and easy park workshop so that we can lead some games on the spot to show everyone what happens at junior theatre.

The slightly less exciting desk type jobs are still pretty exciting. I'm going to be working on a library of plays and game cards. We'll have to organize and collect all of the different short plays that can be used for class performances. We will also have to come up with a way to effectively organize and catalog game cards so that teachers can quickly and easily find a game that will fit their needs.

My schedule this summer is very flexible and I'll be able to come and go as much as I want. There are classes pretty much constantly going on and I'm excited to sit in and watch so that I can learn effective techniques. I'm also excited for the chance to work at the summer camps and potentially be able to teach at the later weeks in the summer. Daniel is very excited to help Morgan and me create relationships with other professionals that will last past this summer. He has also mentioned hoping that Morgan and I will be able to come back and work for Junior Theatre in the future.

I'm going to start working on the libraries tomorrow and auditions for Midsummer are Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Most of the schools in the are have their last day on Thursday, so I'm sure next week things will pick up speed and I'll suddenly be very busy. Can't wait!

First Post

My name is Ivy Bekker. I'm currently between my junior and senior years at Monmouth College. I am a Theatre/English double major and am about to start an internship at Davenport Junior Theatre. I will be using this blog to keep track of my experience at this internship over the summer. My first day will be on Monday when I will meet with my boss, Daniel Sheridan, and fellow intern to discuss what jobs we will be responsible for this summer. I've met the other intern once during interviews, but I don't remember her name, or know much about her except that she is a college student in the Quad Cities area. Tomorrow I will be leaving Monmouth after the BCA children's show, Number the Stars, and moving in with my Aunt, Uncle, and three cousins in the quad cities. I'm very excited to start this internship and know that I'm going to learn so much throughout this summer. I hope that this blog will be a place for me to share my experience and reflect on what I'm learning. I'll write again after my first day on Monday. Thanks for reading.
-Ivy Bekker