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