Stage Management Interns

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In an earlier post, we mentioned that several of our past stage management interns have stayed or returned to become part of our full-time staff - Sarah Lin Warren '98 - '99 as Production Manager/Ass't Stage Manager, Casey Hibbert '10 - '11 as part of our box office staff (& also serving as webmaster) and Daniel Morency '14 - '15 as Assistant Master Electrician.

Stage management interns were the first interns that Meadow Brook Theatre officially had starting in 1996 and in those earlier seasons we had two as we had 2 stage managers each with their own intern.  Now we function with one stage manager with his intern and an assistant stage manager when we have a production in performance simultaneously with one in rehearsal.  Those interns that first year were MI native Stacy Grutza who is still active in local theatre and Rochan Olson who joined Actors' Equity Association as a union stage manager & returned the following 3 seasons as SM at MBT before going off to work for cruise lines and then relocating to the West Coast.

In more recent seasons our SM interns have been:

Josh Lau '13 - '14 left here for Bristol Valley Theatre in Naples in upstate NY where he'd also previously interned stage managing 2 shows in summer '14 and in summer '15.  He's also become the Production Stage Manager (now in his 2nd year) for the Opera Dep't at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY which produces 4 operas each school year.

Erin Edelstein '12 - '13 who returned to her native PA and joined Actors' Equity to SM at Fulton Theatre, 

Sara Aurin Finney '11 - '12 stayed for a 2nd season at MBT as the lighting intern and joined Actors' Equity to serve as ASM for our production of "The Constant Wife" in 2014.  She then relocated to Las Vegas before returning to her home state of KS.

Casey Rebecca Nunes '09 - '10 moved back to home state of CA to SM at Western Stage in Salinas for 2 seasons, worked as a technical theatre mentor for Foxcroft Academy in ME and then back to the San Francisco area to work with Ray of Light Theatre and Cutting Ball Theatre before joining the company of "Beach Blanket Babylon" (the longest running musical revue - began in 1974) as technician.  In non-theater news, she was a Top 100 Finalist for season 6 of television's "Master Chef" and has recently begun a dual career as a chef during the day while still working theatre at night.

 

 

Male Acting interns

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All our acting interns have appeared in "A Christmas Carol"; Dan Amboyer & Adam Carpenter (see previous post) acted in "...Carol" as children and then later as adults during their internships.  Below is what other male acting interns have been doing since leaving MBT.  Look for the female acting interns' updates in an upcoming blog post.

Matthew Pecek from last season returned as Fred in this year's "...Carol".  Since his internship he's also starred in "As You Like It" for Water Works Theatre Company in Royal Oak, MI and filmed a webseries for elitedaily.com.  In 2016 he'll directing "The Light in the Piazza" for his alma mater Adrian College and planning a move to NYC.

Dave Roy ('13 - '14) performed at Greenfield Village the summer after his internship and is now a product specialist for Chevrolet and can be seen at auto shows around the country.

James Busam ('12 - '13) returned for a 2nd year of "...Carol" with us and has also acted since his time at MBT with Water Works Theatre Company, with Uncovered Theatre and at the Detroit Music Hall for Kelly Neiti Productions.  He is now a full-time educator.

Andrew Danner ('11 - '12) received a scholarship to American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco at the end of his internship here.  He then appeared in "Animal Crackers" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in MA before moving back to CA.  Now in LA he has focused on comedy & among other projects has worked with College Humor, Buzzfeed, Fullscreen & Nerdist, performed on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) and writes & produces digital shorts & commercials.

Christopher Tefft ('10 - '11)  sang in 3 of our productions that season & has focused primarily on musical performances since.  He most recently appeared with the Metropolitan Opera in NYC where he lives. Other recent performances have been at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre in PA w/ the New York Orchestra, the Israeli Philharmonic & the NJ Festival Orchestra and at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Theatre, Carnegie Hall & other venues.

Alex Pedica ('09 - '10) is currently the artistic director of the Roeper Theatre Company in Birmingham, MI.  Between his time here & now, he worked there, taught at Matrix Theatre in Detroit, performed with Greenfield Village in Dearborn and relocated briefly to Chicago before returning to MI.

Other interns from longer ago - Rob Arbaugh is now teaching at Rochester College and is artistic director for Uncovered Theatre, Kris Yoder returned to his home state of PA where he has taught college & just recently performed in "The Nutcracker Ballet" and Joey Bybee is based in CA where he continues to perform, though he did return to MBT to be in "By Jeeves" & "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown".

 

More past "Carol" kids

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Since we're halfway thru the performances of the 2015 run of "A Christmas Carol", we'll take a break from news on past interns to give updates on some other child actors from past "Carol"s.  (Two - Dan Amboyer & Adam Carpenter - were already mentioned in a previous post about acting interns.)

With 34 years & in most of them 2 alternating casts of 10 each and even with some doing the show for multiple years, there's been hundreds of "Carol" kids.  Some now too old to be in the show again are still students; some are still in school but as teachers.  There's also at least one of each of doctor, farmer, military pilot, policeman, lawyer and many in other businesses.  Here's some that stayed in performance-related jobs -

Katie Hardy now as an adult has appeared in several plays and musicals at MBT.

Katie Mahard is an actress, who after working in other MI theatres as an adult, recently has relocated to Los Angeles.

Steph Hamood is a singer and musician who has put out an album & is often on tour.

Alice Sherman is an actress, often appearing at Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Matt Britten has acted in films and is now the Creative Director at NYMF (New York Musical Theatre Festival).

Amanda Cowper is currently a production coordinator for "Late Night with Seth Meyers".

Jenie Dahlmann Altruda (Jenie Dahlmann when at MBT) is the Vice President for Communications and Engagement at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, MI.

Joe Hawley was one of the founding members of the band "Tally Hall" often writing their songs as well as performing live and in their music videos.

Casey Purcell is Vice President for the Rolfe Company in NYC, a talent agency specializing in theatrical design.

Mike Kopera is a film actor & producer based in CA.

If you know about other past "Carol" kids, you can let us know in the comments.