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Theatre has always been a passion of mine, and I use my free time to participate in 9IÖÆ×÷³§Ãâ·Ñ and Montreal theatre. I am entering my fourth year at 9IÖÆ×÷³§Ãâ·Ñ as a double major in Chemistry and Linguistics, however, if I could major in theatre as well I would. I am always doing as many creative things as a can; from knitting and crocheting to playing the tuba in the Symphonic Band Club. This summer, I was able to explore my creativity working with the Geordie Theatre School Company (GTS) as a recipient of a Faculty of Arts Internship Award. I was able to complete this internship because of the Arts Undergraduate Improvement Fund set up by the Arts Undergraduate Society.

I chose this internship because I value the way in which a creative outlet can change a life. As someone who has struggled with confidence and social anxiety since I was a child, it was incredibly meaningful for me to have a creative outlet. I chose GTS because they share this same mentality as me through their theatre classes for kids. GTS is both an anglophone theatre as well as a place for people of all ages to learn theatre. This summer I worked on their GTS summer camps which consisted of five weeks of camp in which kids learned to create their own theatre shows and explore themselves through the art of theatre.

As an intern with GTS I had two main responsibilities: working as a teacher’s assistant during the summer camp and working in the office doing administrative tasks. For the first month and a half of my internship I would be in charge of emailing families and updating them about registration for GTS activities as well as using salesforce to register them. I also assisted with budgeting reports, ordering t-shirts for the campers, and organizing information from previous years. During the five weeks of camp, my role was to assist the teachers in any way they needed. For some weeks, this involved running theatre exercises, assisting in developing the play, and organizing materials. In other weeks, I would be one-on-one with kids on the spectrum or with kids who needed more help participating in the activities.

One memorable moment during my internship was during the second week of camp when I was in charge of programming the lights for the end of week show. We brought the campers into the theatre space and asked them what lights they wanted for each scene, and they were all so impressed and fascinated as I changed the lights to the colours they asked. This was particularly memorable because theatre lights are my favourite part of doing tech for theatre and being able to bring that to a group of 6-9 year olds was so special for me. Of course, no work comes without its challenges, and one such challenge I faced was a physical fight between two campers, it also was something i had never dealt with before.ÌýI was able to overcome this challenge with the help of my co-workers who were all there to help and were very supportive. We were able to deescalate the situation and give both campers the time and space they needed to feel their emotions and learn that how they acted was no appropriate. Due to Geordie being so supportive of the campers’ feelings and not just punishing them, everyone was able to move on and continue to have an amazing week at camp.

This opportunity was a dream come true as it allowed me to strengthen my technical theatre skills as well as learn and connect more with the Montréal theatre community. Since this award gave me the chance to work with Geordie, I have made everlasting connections with theatre folk, and I have already found another job with them! This internship has made the career of theatre go from just a dream to something real. I want to greatly thank the Arts Internship Office and the Arts Undergraduate Society for the Arts Undergraduate Improvement Fund award. Thank you for making this opportunity possible and for your generous support.