Chautauqua Theatre Company Fellowship
I spent the summer after I graduated college in New York doing theatre. After 4 years of studying sound design, I went into a theatre summerstock. The 3 months I spent in Chautauqua were some of my favorite months doing theatre. I laughed, I cried, I created, I tried, but most importantly, I made some lifelong friends. The summer started waiting in the airport for 3 hours before finally driving in, I got in at midnight and took a covid test, was shown where I would be staying, unpacked a little, and sent an email to John Kolbinski, the sound supervisor, that I would be in the next day a little late as I needed my badge. In the morning, I went to go pick up my badge, and from then on it became official! I was officially the CTC Sound Fellow 23’ and my new home for a few of months began.
The summer was spent working from 9am to 5pm usually. I spent my time with John the supervisor, Molly the audio engineer, and Mimi the sound technician. I helped run cable, I helped patch, I helped with paperwork, I helped with speaker setups, etc. I even had my own desk! When we were not in rehearsals, I was a technician. When we were, I was an assistant sound designer. When we weren’t in either, I was a graduate who did not have to worry about exams.
The way the company worked was we had conservatory actors that would put on one mainstage show and be spread through 3 new play workshops alongside equity actors to learn from. The design fellows would assist with the mainstage and the other co-production (we did a co-pro with Bratton) on their show, at the end of the season, the last NPW (new play workshop) would be designed by them. As the sound fellow my time spent shadowing and designing was some of the most formative experiences for my career. For Pride and Prejudice, it was my first time assisting someone so I was terrified which meant i was also absorbing absolutely E V E R Y T H I N G. During tech I was also sometimes acting as an associate making level changes and updating the designer in real time since he couldn’t be in the room. My confidence was probably a 4/10 at the start and a 6/10 after the experience. Then during tiny father, I knew what to expect so I was a bit more comfortable. I also had heard of Daniela Hart as her associate on the show Noel Nichols was the person who told me to apply to CTC. So I was ecstatic!!! Lastly, when I designed my show The Bleeding Class, I knew most of the people and the theatre so I felt confident in my work.
During my exit interview with my supervisor, he noticed my growth during the summer. He said he saw how much more confident I became in the room and more knowledgeable. He also said he was impressed by my design and that at moments forgot I tech’d it in a day. Needless to say, I grew and I loved my time there.
Check out some of the pictures below of fun times I had. Also if you’re thinking of applying, do it. There is nothing like accidentally driving to Pennsylvania to grab Chipotle with a friend and singing musicals the whole way there or playing UNO at 1am with friends on the porch while you’re in charge of AUX (which of course the sound team was because we knew how to sound design the room).
