As the Circle Theatre 2024 season comes to a close, we wanted to acknowledge the amazing 2024 Circle Theatre interns who made this season possible.
Circle Theatre offers internships in the box office, carpentry, and even marketing! This year we had 4 amazing interns. Jake Reinstein and Indigo Umlor were our incredible Carpentry Interns, Sydney Hartmann was the Patron Services Intern and Jordan Ivezaj was the Marketing & Outreach Intern. All interns got to experience incredible opportunities and learn more about Theatre in their respective fields.
As most of our interns have returned to college we wanted to ask them about their experience with Circle Theatre and why others should apply for Circle Theatre next year!
The interns all got asked, what made you apply for the internship at Circle Theater? Sydney stated “I wanted to apply at Circle Theatre because I felt that the position would combine my two worlds of education and give me a positive environment to learn in. I wanted to get involved in the community while learning and working at the same time in Theatre and Hospitality.” One of our interns, Jake got to not only be the Carpentry Intern but also be part of a cast in our season, “I knew I’d be doing Spamalot, and really wanted experience behind the scenes as well.” Indigo had mentioned that behind the scenes was more their jam, “To be honest, I just wanted to learn how to build stuff! And I’ve always loved the theatre so I wanted to learn more about how things happen behind the scenes.” Circle Theatre has a place for everyone, Jordan loves performing theatre but also has a interest in marketing for musicals and plays and this was the perfect choice, “I wanted to apply for the marketing internship because I have a strong passion for both theatre and marketing within the behind the scenes scene and it was definitely the best choice because of the opportunities it had in store.”
Being an Intern you get to make connections with many individuals but most importantly the individuals who you get to learn from, how has the guidance from your supervisors impact your experience? Jake and Indigo both were supervised by Kelsey Edwards and Sam Verburg. Kelsey is our technical director and resident scenic designer, Sam is our assistant technical director. “The guidance from Sam and Kelsey has been amazing. I’m leaving this internship feeling very confident in my abilities to help build sets/do general handiwork.” Jake stated. Indigo said “I wouldn’t know hardly ANYTHING about carpentry without the help of Kelsey and Sam! I can’t thank them enough for their guidance.” Sydney got the opportunity to learn from Mary Jo Denolf, our Patron Services Manager. Sydney stated “The guidance from mentors that has struck me the most is when I get the guidance on how to do something, but then I get to personalize it. My supervisor Mary Jo advised me to make a volunteer newsletter to keep volunteers involved with our events. She gave me some examples of what I could include, but she mainly let me work in my own creative way to create this new running newsletter.” The Marketing & Outreach coordinator is Shannon Heldt who got to supervise Jordan. “I truly cannot express enough gratitude and appreciation for my mentor, shannon. She was so confident in the work that I could do and allowed me that freedom to see what worked and what did not and it was the best way to learn. She was always supportive in my ideas, gave me examples of what to work on for the future and overall just became a great friend. Without her this experience would not be as amazing as it was.” Jordan expressed her thankfulness to her supervisor Shannon as this summer comes to an end.
As you wrap up your time with Circle Theatre, what new skills or knowledge have you gained since starting your internship? Jake, the Carpentry Intern got to express “I’ve learned how to use A LOT of power tools which is fun, and I’ve also learned a lot of ways to problem solve when it comes to set design/general construction. Like Jake, Indigo said “So much! For context, before this internship I had never used a drill before. I have been learning so much about the process that goes into creating the set. I love how we improvise using whatever we can get our hands on to make an incredible set.” Unlike Jake and Indigo, Sydney did not use many power tools but instead Sydney said that “Since working at Circle Theatre I feel that I have a better knowledge and understanding of how widespread and involved the operations of a business and non profit are. I see the importance of each person and their job towards the larger goal of providing theatre to the community. I feel personally I have gained a better range of skills in multitasking and project management. Just as an example, I get to handle ticket calls while working on volunteer applications!” Jordan gained exactly what she was looking for: “I have learned so SO much. Going into the marketing internship I was nervous because I know what theatre people want to see but I got to experience what works and what doesn’t. I learned all about audience analysis and understanding the people who are watching the shows, I got to learn all about marketing strategies which allowed me to reach out to theatre goers, and I really got to learn all about creative thinking and content creation.”
The 2025 season is closer than we think, as new interns are going to be taking your role, what advice would you give to future interns joining Circle Theatre? Sydney, the Patron Services Intern said ‘Some advice that I would give to future Circle Theatre interns is to stay flexible. When working in the box office and working in front of the house you need to be ready for plans to change. You may have a guest request to meet, there may be a lot of people coming in and it’s busy, you may have to adjust for a circumstance pre-show, but the biggest thing to remember is to stay flexible and be willing to adjust as needed.” Jake, the Carpentry Intern expressed the struggle of not wearing the appropriate work clothes, “Wear paint clothes!! Your clothes will get dirty when you paint, so don’t wear anything too nice.” Indigo, the Carpentry Intern expressed “Always ask questions! Especially when it comes to set design, you want to be certain you’re getting things right—not only are we here to make the show extra fabulous, we’re also tasked with keeping people safe.” Jordan, the Marketing & Outreach Intern got to tell the Intern to “Have fun! With marketing, it is all about experiencing the shows as they happen. Social media is one of the only places some patrons experience their promotions so make sure to stay creative and have fun in the posts you create!”
As you say bye to your Circle Theatre 2024 internship, how would you summarize your overall experience at the Circle Theater? “It’s been a blast! Pretty intense but I’ve gotten to work with so many lovely people and learn so much about carpentry.” indigo got to tell us. “This summer was incredible. I’ve loved my scene-shop staff and loved my cast as well with Spamalot. I’ve made so many friends and I am truly so grateful.” Not only did Jake gain so much for their internship but also through spamalot. Sydney got to express “If I could summarize my experience at Circle Theatre I would say it has been educational, experimental, and enriching.” “This experience has been one I will never forget. I had so much fun and it was very educational and continued my strong passion for theatre marketing.” Jordan got to tell Circle Theatre.
We want to thank all the work that our wonderful 2024 Circle Theatre interns brought to this season. Best of luck on all your endeavors. Circle Theatre will miss you!!