{"id":57674,"date":"2019-04-25T15:18:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T19:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=57674"},"modified":"2019-04-26T10:25:12","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T14:25:12","slug":"all-the-worlds-a-stage-for-brock-student-turned-shaw-festival-intern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2019\/04\/all-the-worlds-a-stage-for-brock-student-turned-shaw-festival-intern\/","title":{"rendered":"All the world\u2019s a stage for Brock student turned Shaw Festival intern"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brock Dramatic Arts student Mae Smith is ready to put her in-class learning to the test as she embarks on an eight-week internship with the venerable<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shawfest.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shaw Festival<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smith, who began in the new role this week, will use her production and design skills as she works alongside Kevin Lamotte, Shaw\u2019s Head of Lighting, Wayne Reierson, Head of Props, and other Shaw staff on the productions of <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brigadoon<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lady Killers<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sex<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The shows will run at the festival this summer and fall in Niagara-on-the-Lake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kate Hennig, Associate Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, said the internship allows students to gain experience in a range of festival activities under the direction of industry professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_57675\" style=\"width: 329px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-57675\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-57675\" src=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Mae-Smith-Shaw-intern-RS-788x1050.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"319\" height=\"425\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-57675\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kate Hennig (left), Associate Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, meets with Mae Smith, Brock\u2019s Department of Dramatic Arts 2019 Shaw Festival intern.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIn addition to her daily work calls, Mae will have access to the onstage and backstage life of one of North America\u2019s busiest repertory theatres,\u201d she said. \u201cShe will meet theatre artists from across Canada and around the world, and will have unique opportunities to attend many lectures, discussions and ancillary events during her residency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smith, a fourth-year student, said she\u2019s looking forward to the experiential learning opportunities the internship provides and to developing techniques and strategies for staging a production.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of practical experiences at Brock, but this internship will be quite specific and I\u2019m excited to learn more about lighting design and props construction,\u201d she said. \u201cI also hope I can gain connections with other professionals that will open more career opportunities for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brock\u2019s Department of Dramatic Arts (DART) has partnered with the Shaw Festival to provide student internships since 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dramatic Arts alumna Michelle Mohammed (BA \u201918)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was 2018\u2019s intern and worked alongside Peter Hinton on <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh! What a Lovely War<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. She vlogged about her experiences at the festival on the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Art\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLX28N1zZylttNNoCyEe8vrnLtpubKzH-n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">YouTube channel<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> throughout the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smith will provide weekly updates as well, which will also be shared through the Marilyn I. Walker school&#8217;s social media accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DART students are eligible to apply for this intensive residency following the successful completion of DART 4Y92: Text and Performance at the Shaw Festival Theatre, taught by instructor Barbara Worthy. Students attended festival performances and interacted with festival staff and actors during the course.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Co-ops and summer contract work at the Shaw has also been available to DART students over the years, and some alumni of the program have even gone on to work for the festival full time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Department Chair Joe Norris said all of the internship candidates this year were exceptional students, but Smith was ultimately chosen because her skills and interests were the \u201cbest fit\u201d for the particular productions the Shaw Festival is staging this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Shaw internship creates a stepping stone between the university world and the student\u2019s future career path,\u201d he said. \u201cMae will be able to bridge what she\u2019s learned in the classroom with the processes that the Shaw utilizes, and gain experience in a professional environment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smith is excited to learn more about the inner-workings of the festival and utilize the experience to bolster her resume going forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m really grateful for the opportunity,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel the internship will help me figure out where I want to situate myself in theatre and help me plan my professional path.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brock Dramatic Arts student Mae Smith is ready to put her in-class learning to the test as she embarks on an eight-week internship with the venerable Shaw Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":57676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,1,4],"tags":[6442,656,804,7619,46,2518,1030],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57698,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57674\/revisions\/57698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}