BY BECKY BRETT
BERKSHIRE THEATRE FESTIVAL
Founded in 1929 as the Drama School, the Berkshire Theatre Festival Summer Performance Training Program accepts 15 students each year. Located in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, BTF is surrounded by Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and dozens of other artistic institutions–a veritable cornucopia of culture. Not that you’ll have time to visit any of them.
According to Kate Maguire, producing director of BTF, the goal of their training program is to "give you a glimpse of what your life as a theatre artist may be like for the next five to 10 years–a reality check."
We all know what that means–long hours, no sleep and frequent delirium.
Many BTF alumni have gone on to steady careers in acting, design and education, but according to Maguire, their greatest success stories may lie in the people who choose a different path. "I had a young man come up to me at the end of a recent season. He thanked me for the opportunity and informed me that theatre is not what he wants to devote his life to."
Summer stock is the experience that usually determines whether or not you really want a career in theatre. Apprentices leave BTF much stronger creatures than when they began.
"The physical life and the life of the spirit is difficult for artists to maintain. We help actors figure out amidst the chaos of the theatre who they really are." At BTF who you "really are" is several things.
A typical day begins with breakfast at 7:30. You are a student taking classes in movement, voice, scene study and others. Your instructors might be mainstage artists such as Maureen O’Flynn and Richard Chamberlain. In the afternoons you are a technician, a seamstress, a children’s theatre star as you rehearse or work crew for the summer shows. In the evening you are a traffic cop parking cars, an electrician refocusing lights that slipped from last night’s performance, with just enough time to slip into your rusty armor for your performance as Pellinore in Camelot.
BTF apprentices are chosen through an application and audition process ($20 application fee). They draw apprentices from all over the country through auditions at the Southeast Theatre Conference and the New England Theatre Conference. Although they prefer live auditions, they will also accept video tapes for an initial screening.
The tab for a summer in the Berkshires is $2,300 for 12 weeks of training. This includes your room, all meals, classes, seminars, lectures, tickets to performances and special events. Need-based financial aid is available. As an actor you also get EMC credit for your work on the mainstage. For more information visit their Web site (www.berkshiretheatre.org) where you can download their apprentice application, or call 413/298-5536.
UTAH SHAKESPEAREAN FESTIVAL
On the other side of the U.S. you’ll find the Utah Shakespearean Festival, which won the 2000 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. The Festival began almost 40 years ago as a summer theatre for tourists who wanted something to do in the evenings after visiting the surrounding national parks.
Now the Festival grounds consist of an authentic Elizabethan outdoor theatre–so authentic that the BBC has used it to film some of their Shakespeare series in the 1980s–and an indoor theatre where they present the classics of world drama, such as Moliere, Ibsen, etc. A third venue is under construction which will present new work in a small, state-of-the-art flexible space–the Shakespeares of tomorrow. The Festival is a year-round operation which presents more than 185 performances.
The Festival offers more opportunities than just acting in mainstage shows. Before the summer evening performances, the Greenshow (and in the fall, the Feste of Fools) is a festival all its own with Elizabethan jugglers, musicians, storytellers, and magicians. In between shows, the Festival serves the Royal Feaste, a five-course meal eaten in the medieval style with costumed actors singing and dancing. Even if you aren’t carrying swords on the mainstage, you can still soak up what is widely acknowledged as one of the best Shakespearean experiences around.
The majority of their season personnel arrive in early-May and stay through mid-August. Those staying for the fall season continue on until mid-October. An acting company of about 50 actors from interns to Equity fill the roles in their complete repertory of plays, which can range from The Merry Wives of Windsor to Damn Yankees.
The acting interns find that the opportunity to work alongside some of the best Shakespearean actors in the country at a Tony Award-winning theatre is worth the crappy pay and long hours. Frequently the Equity actors will take the interns under their wing and provide practical advice or coaching. Each intern can expect to perform eight shows a week, sometimes two per day.
Mitzi McKay, director of personnel and company management, says that amidst the on-the-job training, "the best experience an intern will get is the actual rehearsal process. Working with the more seasoned actors and even just watching them work is an education in itself." Not only are they involved in the mainstage season, but interns participate in educational outreach performances and in readings and workshops of new scripts."
Acting interns are chosen by audition, which is by invitation only and based on your photo and resume. Unfortunately, photo/resume submissions were due January 1, so put this on your calendar for next year.
THE BARN THEATRE
A little closer to home is The Barn Theatre in southern Michigan. Michigan’s oldest Equity summer stock theatre company started out in the community hall in the Village of Richland, Mich. A few years later they moved into an abandoned dairy barn and a cliché was born.
The Barn has launched some major theatrical talent and a pop culture icon or two. Some famous "Barnies" (as participants proudly call themselves) include: Marin Mazzie (three-time Tony nominee currently appearing on Broadway as Kate in Kiss Me Kate), Dana Delaney (TV’s "China Beach"), Tom Wopat ("The Dukes of Hazzard") and Peter Schneider (president of Walt Disney Studios).
Each year they take about 20 apprentices to act, sing, and dance in the mainstage productions. Apprenticeships are also offered to those who specialize in management, music direction, scenic design, lighting, sound, costumes, properties and stage management. Candidates are found through newspaper articles, ads and college bulletins. Acting apprentices are hired through regional auditions: the Ohio Theatre Alliance and the Indiana Theatre Alliance. You should note that Barnies are too busy during the summer to make it to the Chicago unified generals for non-Equity actors. Equity auditions for the acting company are held in Chicago in the fall or winter.
Apprentice Barnies come from New York, San Jose and even exotic Kalamazoo. They receive a modest stipend which covers basic living costs. The Barn will arrange your housing, but you have to pay for it (usually about $50/week). You will gain experience in all departments of theatre operation and producing shows of high artistic quality within a framework of "commercial realism." The Barn is a for-profit theatre with an Equity resident company. Acting apprentices become EMCs and mostly play supporting roles, although the occasional leading role is not out of the realm of possibility.
A typical day at the Barn is similar to that at BTF: morning class, rehearsal or crew work, lunch, more rehearsal or crew, performance. In addition to this rigorous schedule, apprentices perform in a cabaret that takes place after the evening’s performance, ending your day around midnight. Each mainstage show has a two-week run with a two-day turnaround time. Everyone participates in the Sunday night strike.
According to Penelope Ragotzy, apprentice coordinator, Equity actress and co-director of the cabaret, "If you can do the Barn, you are ready to do anything in the business. People have to be serious if they want to do this.
The following extra summer stock listings were compiled by Oona Kersey
Location, Location, Location
Peninsula Players, Fish Creek, Wisc.
Everyone always says the Penisula Players have a gorgeous setting. Right on the shores of Green Bay, this "theatre in a garden" is nestled in a 22-acre wooded glen. With the Players you’ll get the real summer stock experience; the company lives on site and because it is a fairly secluded place–and you’ll be very busy–you won’t do much else. But according to those who have worked there, you won’t want to. A lot of Chicago actors are employed by this 67-year-old theatre company. The Players haven’t picked their season yet; they typically do both old and new plays, "everything from Greek tragedy to British farce."
Contact:: Todd Schmidt 920/868-3287, www.peninsulaplayers.com.
Singin’ and Dancin’
St. Louis Municipal Theatre Association
The name may sound like a utilities company, but the Muny is another patriarch in the family of summer stock theatre. It is also the largest outdoor musical theatre in the country. If you perform with these folks, you’ll be joining the ranks of Carol Burnett, Gene Kelly and Joel Gray, to name a few. Muny does seven musicals in their two month season; each one runs for a week. So you’ll be pretty busy. This year’s season, their 83rd, will include Miss Saigon, My Fair Lady, An Evening of Gershwin and Brigadoon.
Contact:: Dennis M. Reagan 314/361-1900, www.muny.com.
Get Tan, Do Shakespeare
CA Shakespeare Festival, Orinda, Cal.
Perhaps due in part to the temperate climate of the West Coast, this outdoor festival lasts six months, and each of its four shows has a five-week rehearsal period. Longer than most, but PI was advised that it was 221 hours to be exact, which averages 44.5 hrs a week. Not exactly a "spare time" kind of thing. This year they’re doing Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet and The Skin of Our Teeth.
Contact:: 510/548-3422, e-mail info@calshakes.org
Summer Stock of the Stars
Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, Mass.
To list past participants of the Williamstown Theatre Festival would take too long, but if you go to their Web site, you’ll find that you recognize most of them. Of course, you don’t have to be famous to do summer stock here, but WTF is the poster child for the notion of the rich and famous returning year after year to their humble origins. WTF, however, is far from humble; the 46-year-old company has a reputation for consistent dramatic excellence. The season includes 11 productions, a family show and a slew of cabarets, readings, and workshops. WTF produces a combination of classics and new plays, some of which find larger audiences in New York after their run. Last year’s season included David Cromer’s production of Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow, which premiered last year at the Steppenwolf Garage. The festival has three, count ’em three, different tiers of internships as well as their main Equity company.
Contact: Anne Lowrie, Company Manager 212/395-9090, www.wtfestival.org
Free Rides!
Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Ill.
PI told you, not all summer theatre is classical. Performances run weekends until May, then they’re daily. Five times daily. Shows include a musical revue, a character revue (a la "Police Academy," "Wild West," etc.), and a nightly parade. And you’re right by the outlet stores!
Contact:: Todd Stickney 841-249-1776, www.sixflags.com.
For more information on summer stock, the hands down best resource is the Summer Theatre Directory, available on their Web site at www.theatredirectories.com, or at Act One. You can also look online for the theatres in which you are interested; although many of them have not yet been updated for this season, they do list contact numbers, and you can get a sense of the company from their production history, mission statements, etc.