Today I got to tour the Paramount Theatre in Seattle.
I got to meet the technical director, props master, and main fly guy. I went into dressing rooms, up onto the grid, into a special viewing room (in which, the TD Mike said, Mel Brooks had been at one point or another), onto the stage (where ROBERT PLANT was rehearsing for a show. NBD.), into the main house, down underneath the stage where the orchestra pit lowers down on hydraulics, and even into the main house where Joe the props master explained how the two front rows of seats can be hidden below the floor to allow for a bigger orchestra pit.
Now, this wasn’t any special trip with a class, nor was it the prize in some competition or something. No, this stemmed from my own initiative. Damn straight.
After talking with some upperclassmen in the drama department at my university, they told me how it was pretty standard for the production majors to intern for a theatre company during the summer. So I decided to look for some opportunities around my hometown - hence the meeting with Mike and the subsequent tour of the Awesome Theatre of Awesome.
All I can think about now is how freaking amazing it would be to work at a theatre. And as an intern I wouldn’t even be paid, but I’m STILL wigging out about it all.
And I can’t believe that *I* took it upon myself to email the technical director at a prominent theatre and coordinate a meeting with him.
Overall, it was such a surreal experience that I don’t know if I’ll ever stop reeling. I got my own private backstage tour of a theatre I’ve only ever been in as a member of the audience. And furthermore, everyone was just so casual about it - and that made it THAT much more incredible.
It certainly is a wonderful feeling when dreams come true.
It’s even more amazing when you feel the beginnings of them forming.
‘From the Dairy Queen to the head of the parade
in a blink your life could change
this could all be yours someday’ - 'This Could All Be Yours', Guster
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