(2021) Biggest Takeaway by Ana Gutierrez

 By: Ana Gutierrez (Milwaukee Repertory Theater)

Reflection 

In the summer of 2021, I was an intern at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater with the Professional Training Institute (PTI). I was an actor for the PTI production of Ghost Bike written by Laura Jaquim and directed by Jeffery Mosser. I had the honor of working with other young professionals from around Wisconsin and working professionals in the industry. Working with such amazing artists for 4 weeks straight was an amazing experience. I was able to make a community with my cast mates and learn more about being a young artist. 

Question: How has this opportunity influenced your future endeavors as an artist, a student, or your career choice? How and/or why?

This internship experience definitely changed my view as an artist. Before this internship I was unsure if I wanted to continue to pursue acting as a career, but after my amazing experience I have now built up confidence to continue my work. This was due to the amazing community at the Milwaukee Rep. It was the first time I had worked with a working director, stage manager, producer, sound designer, and costume designer. They all shared with me their experiences in the industry. As an artist, their advice was very helpful and I felt very comfortable asking questions. Community building with the cast allowed me to learn about opportunities in Milwaukee to continue to act. Since many of my cast mates are more experienced in acting, they gave me helpful insight into programs and techniques I could use to further help me. 

As a student this internship helped me have structure to my work. Art can be confusing at times and having a schedule every day helped the whole cast stay on track to work on what was important. This has encouraged me to have some more structure to my work, so I can focus on what is important. We started at 9:15am and ended at around 4:30pm, this time frame allowed us as a cast to have plenty of time to experiment with different strategies, scenes, and exercises. 

My career choice did not change, but it was reinforced. As I mentioned before the internship I was unsure of my career choice. I loved waking up and knowing I was getting paid for doing something I love. I now have a better idea of what my days could look like as an actress, and that is very helpful. Having hands-on experience in acting has helped me understand my craft better. Having rehearsals for almost 8 hours was amazing. Analyzing scripts and learning the whole process of building a play taught me so much I did not know before. During our rehearsals we had the opportunity to have panels and talk with other professionals. One professional we had the honor of meeting was Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj. Rajendra is an award winning Director who has worked with many industry professionals. Our panel with Rajendra gave me confidence in the work we were doing and Rajendra's advice was very helpful as aspiring actors, directors, producers and more.  

My biggest improvement during this internship was definitely confidence. During rehearsals I gained more confidence in my performance which allowed me to explore new ideas for my character and be excited about the play we were doing. Because my confidence levels went up, I felt I was contributing more to the play. Now that I have this professional experience, I feel more confident for my next production because I now have knowledge I did not have before. I used to feel intimidated by my fellow peers, but after this internship I have the capability to feel equal to them and be myself. 

Overall my experience with the Milwaukee Rep was fantastic. I walked away with new experiences, connections, and knowledge. This internship has influenced me to continue to pursue my art. I am very thankful to my cast mates, director, and stage crew.