Recent ESU Theatre Graduate Steps Up to New Challenge

Deciding the next step for your career, and when to take it, is a challenge that all college seniors face at some point. For Katherine French of Springtown, Pa., a December 2018 graduate of East Stroudsburg University, the answer was an internship with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

French, who earned her degree, summa cum laude, in theatre with concentrations in acting for theatre, television and film and in technical theatre, had planned to stay at ESU for the spring 2019 semester to complete a minor in English.

A meeting with Margaret Ball, D.M.A., professor of theatre and interim associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, gave French a new set of options. “Dr. Ball had a list of internships available for the spring, including several at the Kennedy Center,” French said. “After a phone interview with Anne-Carolyn Bird, the executive and artistic assistant manager, I was offered an artistic and operations internship.”

During her 16-week internship, French will be working in production management, company management and administration. She will schedule auditions and rehearsal spaces and do strategic planning for a project called “Opera in the Outfield.”

“I’ll also be helping with budgeting documentation,” French added. “I’ve had some experience with budgeting as president of Stage II (ESU’s student theater organization). I hope to learn how the budget for such a huge operation is decided.”

French is looking forward to expanding her experience with opera, a genre she first encountered through the ESU theatre department’s educational trips to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City arranged by Yoshinori Tanokura, associate professor of theatre and interim chair of the department. “During some of the rehearsals at the National Opera, I’ll be shadowing the stage managers to learn how running an opera production differs from a theatre production,” she said.

An actress since she was eight, French began her theatre studies at ESU with a concentration in acting for theatre, television and film. “The theatre department offered me many opportunities to explore options in technical theatre,” she noted. “I like acting and hope to do more, but only occasionally since I’m now more interested in management.”

At ESU French appeared in The 39 Steps, Anon(ymous) and Our Town. She was assistant lighting designer for Godspell, stage manager for The Library and The Laramie Project, assistant director for The Crucible, assistant stage manager for A Doll’s House and Little Shop of Horrors; and one of the directors for Almost, Maine, the 2015 Stage II production.

French earned an honorable mention award for stage management excellence for her work on The Laramie Project at the 2018 Region II Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Last summer she was a box office assistant with the Berkshire Theatre Group in Pittsford, Massachusetts.

Making the decision to graduate in December and take the opportunity offered by the Kennedy Center internship wasn’t easy, “After living in rural Pennsylvania almost all of my life, living in Washington, D.C. will be a big adventure,” French said. “I’m happy Dr. Ball and Professor Tanokura both urged me to take this chance.”

“Katie will be following the path of other successful ESU theatre grads who have established exciting careers in the field of stage and production management,” Ball noted. “Majoring in theatre really does develop the entrepreneurial and ‘soft’ skills needed to enter the workforce,” Tanokura added. “ESU theatre graduates are prepared to enter the entertainment field, which is such an important part of our economy.”

“ESU gave me a lot of experiences and I’ll miss everyone here,” French added, “but it’s time to move on to the next chapter. I hope to gain as much experience as possible from this internship because you don’t know what connection might bring you your next job.”

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