Here's to 51!!

Hello Readers!

Can you believe that we are about to start another season? We can't either. Things are ticking right along here at MBT. Tickets go on sale for our 2016-2017 season on Monday at 10am. Don't forget to call and book your seats!

Did you know on this day in history...

• In 1765 In protest over the stamp tax, American colonist sack and burn the home of Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson
• In 1875 "Captain" Matthew Webb becomes the first man to swim across the English Channel.
• In 1916 The National Park Service is established as part of the Department of the Interior.
• In 1950 President Harry Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a strike.
• In 1981 Voyage 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
• In 1989 NASA scientists receive stunning photographs of Neptune and its moons from Voyager 2.
• In 1918 Leonard Bernstein, conductor, composer, and pianist, was born.

Just a few fun facts for your day! Please check back to our website, Facebook, and Twitter for updates during the season.

Casey S. Hibbert©

2015-16 Interns now moving on

Our 50th season has now closed and this year's interns have helped strike the final set and put away and cleaned the theatre and the set, prop & costume shops until the fall when next year's interns arrive and work begins again.  In past blogs you learned what previous interns have gone on to do.  Here's what the recent interns have planned -

Jasmine Radetski, our scene shop intern, will be returning to Meadow Brook Theatre for another year but this time as a scenic carpenter on our full-time staff.

Garett Michael Harris, one of the acting/administrative interns, is staying on for awhile this summer assisting the box office staff with subscription sales for the coming season.  He'll be performing for a 2nd year in "Evil Dead:  The Musical" this fall at the City Theatre in Detroit.

Kimberly Alley, the other acting/administrative intern, also knows her next acting job - in the fall she'll be performing in "Recent Tragic Events" at the Open Book Theatre in Trenton, MI.

Amy Skrodzki, our stage management intern, has already begun her 1st post-internship stage management job.  She's in rehearsals at Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre in North Carolina getting ready for performances in July & August.

Mary Liz Winther, one our costume shop/wardrobe interns, will begin working toward her MFA at Wayne State University as part of the Hilberry Theatre company this fall.  

Lauren Aquilina the second costume shop/wardrobe intern, will be taking some theatre courses at Wayne State to supplement her undergraduate degree in fashion technology as she transitions to also beginning work on a graduate degree in theatre with plans to be a member of the Hilberry company next fall.

Christa Tausney, our prop shop intern, expects to use her theatrical skills while working for the Detroit Parade Company and do other free-lance work for the coming year with intentions to begin work on a graduate degree in theatre the next fall as well.

Costume & Wardrobe Interns

Our costume and wardrobe interns, while often having a primary interest in either working with the costume shop staff constructing the costumes or assisting the wardrobe mistress or master with laundry and preparing the costumes & wigs for each performance & then helping actors with quick changes backstage, end up depending on each productions needs working both facets over the course of a season here.  Typically we have two interns in this area & they may be working together in the shop or in performance or on opposite schedules for a show.

Erin Benjamin ('09 - '10)  stayed in MI, has her own fashion business, "Scene Ripper" and returned to MBT to design costumes for "Spreading It Around" in spring 2012.  Becky Doster ('09 - '10) moved to NYC where she stage managed productions for several companies and a summer season in ME.  She 's still in NYC but working now for a financial company.  Abby Barker ('10 - '11) also went to NYC when she finished here & worked freelance in costume shop & ran wardrobe off-Broadway.  She's now returned to her home state of TX to work in the banking industry.  Mary Gietzen ('11 - '12) went  to Wayne State to earn her MFA and now is at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant where she's the costume shop coordinator.  Emily Kimball ('11- '12) returned to her alma mater Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, MN where she designs, teaches costume design & manages their costume shop. In the summers, she travels to the New London Barn Playhouse in NH to work for the season in their costume shop.  April Townsend ('12 - '13) since leaving MBT has been working as a product specialist for auto shows and recently relocated to GA.  Izzy Bristow ('13 - '14) worked for the Santa Fe Opera for 2 seasons & spent a year studying costume design & model making for film at the Arts University of Bournemouth.  This year she's been pursuing a Masters degree in puppet design at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (check out some of her work at spinyleaf.wix.com/izzybportfolio).  Thea Peterson (13 - '14) is in NYC studying at the Fashion Institute ofTechnology.   Kiran-Durae  Lambert ('14 - '15) recently has gotten married (now Kiran-Durae Barkey) and almost as recently returned to MI from NC where she worked on the wardrobe crew at Arts Center of Coastal Carolina with Michaela O'Neill ('14 - '15) who is still there as wardrobe supervisor.

Scenery & Lighting Interns

After a long break, here's a continuation of updates on our past seasons' interns before our 50th season ends.  See previous blog entries for earlier updates on acting, prop and stage management interns.

Lighting interns who also spend a good part of their internship assisting in the scene shop as well  - Sara Aurin Finney stayed for a 2nd internship after her 1st year as the stage management intern (see her update in earlier post).  Scott Ross ('10 - '11) stayed in MI working at other theatres including Macomb Center for the Arts and the Henry Ford Community College as well as continuing for us when extra labor was needed.  He then returned to us as the full-time Ass't Master Electrician before returning this past summer to his home state of PA continuing to work in the theatre industry.   Joel Behrman ('13 - '14) and Dani Hamm ('14 - '15) are both off travelling the world working as theatre technicians aboard cruise liners.

Scene Shop interns - Casey Hibbert also returned for a 2nd year as the stage management intern (see his update in previous post).  Eugenia Yee ('10 - '11) was a MI resident who after her internship spent a summer as ass't scenic charge artist with Des Moines Metro Opera & then spent a season at Henry Ford Community College with fellow intern Scott Ross (see above).  Since then she been studying architecture at University of Detroit Mercy graduating with a Bachelor of Science, Architecture just this spring with plans to receive her Masters degree once her thesis project is complete.  Chris Nelson ('11 - '13) stayed for a 2nd year as an intern & then joined the scene shop full-time staff.  He has recently relocated back to his home state of IN to switch from theatrical to commercial enterprises.  Corey Boughton ('14 - '15), another MI native, after his internship has continued to work here when we have the need for extra labor as well as working for other theatres in MI.  He's spent several summers at the Barn Theatre in Augusta as lighting or sound designer & this summer will be stage managing for their season.