Thank you for your interest in interning with Essential Theatre! We love the work we do and are excited to share our experience with you. Most of our employment and internship opportunities occur during the spring and summer while our festival is taking place, but there are some internship opportunities available year-round. If you are interested in one of the opportunities listed below, please send letter of interest and resume to [email protected]. Please include the title of the internship in the subject of your email. All internships are currently unpaid, but class credit is available upon request.
Festival Internships
Festival internships can be customized to meet the interests and needs of students and are eligible for academic credit if desired. We currently offer internships in the following areas:
Design (lights, sound, costumes, props)
Production Management
Stage Management
Technical Internships (technical direction, set construction, set painting, stagehand/run crew)
Marketing
Public Relations
Social Media
Customized Internships
YEAR-ROUND INTERNSHIPS
Development Internships
Donor Stewardship – The scope of this internship will include assessment of current donor base and development for their stewardship both during the Festival and throughout the year, as well as identification of potential new donors and a plan for their cultivation.
Marketing Internships (Spring Semester)
Marketing Plan Development – We have one internship available for each of the plays that make up our summer festival. Each position will be responsible for reading the play assigned to them, meeting with the director of the play and the artistic director for the company, and submitting a marketing plan for the play to the Marketing Director by the end of January.
Once the marketing plan is approved, interns will be responsible for implementing their plans up through the end of the spring semester and preparing marketing elements such as press releases, artist interviews and lists of key interest groups and advertising opportunities for their play.
Each intern will submit biweekly progress reports as well as a final comprehensive report. Because you will be marketing plays that will actually be produced this summer, following through on this final report and the work leading up to it are of the utmost importance! The marketing director and summer marketing intern(s) will be picking up where you left off, so communication with your coworkers is key.
Participation in the follow-up summer marketing internship is encouraged but not required.
Literary Management Internship
Applications for literary management internships are accepted year-round. Literary management interns work with our artistic director to evaluate and review submissions to the annual Essential Theatre Playwriting Competition. We receive around 80 submissions each year, but only one will be awarded the cash prize and be produced in next summer’s festival. Learn about all the elements that go into the play selection process while significantly contributing to the shape of the next Essential Theatre Festival!
Interns and Mr. Hardy will meet periodically throughout the semester, via phone or in person, to discuss the plays that have been reviewed. The number of plays each intern reviews will depend on the number of credit hours sought for this internship.
