{"id":554,"date":"2014-02-20T18:22:25","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T18:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=554"},"modified":"2014-02-20T18:22:25","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T18:22:25","slug":"centre-senior-interns-at-paramount-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2014\/02\/20\/centre-senior-interns-at-paramount-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Centre senior interns at Paramount Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Humble<\/strong> – Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n

Senior Martha Grace Burkey is on the fast track to success in the world of theatre. During CentreTerm, she participated in an internship at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, diving headfirst into post-college life in the theatre community.
\n\u201cI was the Arts Outreach and Education Intern, [where] I assisted teaching artists who have classroom residencies in the Austin area, and I taught pre-show workshops in Austin classrooms,\u201d Burkey said. She taught students aging from Pre-K to twelfth grade and learned more about non-profit organizations during her time there.
\nIt sounds exciting, but it wasn\u2019t all fun and games \u2013 working at the Paramount kept Burkey pretty busy. \u201cI would teach in classrooms for the first half of the day and do office work for the second half,\u201d she said. \u201cDuring my time with the theatre, I wrote a pre-show workshop lesson plan for one of the theatre\u2019s student matinee performances, which took some time to draft and revise. Also, on the administrative side, I did some data entry and minor research projects.\u201d
\nBurkey attained this internship through her advisor, Professor of Dramatic Arts Tony Haigh. \u201cI mentioned that I was interested in an Arts Outreach internship. Tony set up communications between Chad [Dike] and I,\u201d Burkey said. Dike, a Centre College graduate, was Burkey\u2019s supervisor at the Paramount.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s what we do,\u201d Haigh said. \u201cWe in the Drama Program maintain close relationships with our former students because we like them, and also because of the network of contacts they represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/a>
Senior Martha Grace Burkey is the Vice President of CentrePlayers and plans to remain involved in dramatic arts after graduation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Burkey\u2019s recent foray into an arts outreach program has her pondering her future career goals. \u201cI think it would be beneficial for me to have more internship experience, perhaps for a longer span than just the month I had during CentreTerm,\u201d she said. \u201cI still have tons to learn as an artist and educator, but my experience at the Paramount has definitely set me on the right path to becoming an effective teaching artist.\u201d
\nShe now dreams of succeeding in teaching and outreach in the arts and credits her readiness to enter the field to the Centre Drama Department.
\n\u201cI have been fortunate enough to have been involved with many productions here at Centre, mostly in the field of acting, but dabbling in directing as well,\u201d Burkey said. \u201cCentre\u2019s Drama Department is very good at training its students to have a well-rounded, academically-focused theatre education, which has instilled in me a great appreciation for the collaboration, research, and social awareness involved in making theatre.\u201d
\nBurkey plans on receiving an undergraduate degree in Dramatic Arts from Centre and ultimately working toward obtaining a masters degree and Ph.D. after graduation. \u201cI feel like I need more experience in the real-world application of theatre first before I get too bogged down in academic theory,\u201d she said.
\nAs far as theatre application at Centre goes, however, Burkey directed The Vagina Monologues her sophomore year, which was performed on campus again this week, this time directed by senior Anna Ellis, sophomore Emily Morrell, and junior Mariele Fluegeman. \u201cI loved directing [the show] because of its important social message about women and equality,\u201d Burkey said. \u201cI am proud to say that [it] helped shape my thoughts about feminism and sparked my love for gender studies.\u201d
\nHer favorite production in which she made an appearance was last semester\u2019s Our Country\u2019s Good. \u201cThat show is very near and dear to me,\u201d she said, \u201cand it was an honor to work with such a cohesive cast and crew, all dedicated to sharing the very real societal narrative of injustice and oppression.\u201d
\nIn fact, one of Burkey\u2019s favorite aspects of working with the Drama Department at Centre was working with others who share her passion for the stage. \u201cOur graduating class of 2014 is a particular powerhouse group,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has been a privilege to witness firsthand how all our Dramatic Arts majors have grown over the last four years into artists whose work I continually learn from and admire greatly.\u201d
\nAnd it seems the Drama Department loves her back. The word Tony Haigh would use to describe her is simply, \u201cBrilliant!\u201d It is clear, then, that Burkey\u2019s love for the theatre does not only pertain to the shows on which she works but the people the theatre touches. From fellow actors to children to women in search of equality and others feeling the confines of oppression, Burkey clearly recognizes theatre\u2019s immense power to affect all people from all walks of society. With such a generous, creative soul, there is no doubt that she will succeed in her endeavors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Laura Humble – Staff Writer Senior Martha Grace Burkey is on the fast track to success in the world of theatre. During CentreTerm, she participated in an internship at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, diving headfirst into post-college life in the theatre community. \u201cI was the Arts Outreach and Education Intern, [where] I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-leisure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}