Day in the Life of an Intern - Samantha Evans

Curious about what being an intern for the Hollywood fringe is like? Check out this blog post by 2012 intern Samantha Evans!

Interning as the Outreach Intern for Meghan McCauley at the Hollywood Fringe 2012 was an incredible experience. It truly opened my eyes and introduced me to the not- so-underground theatre scene in Hollywood, as well as taught me a lot about the inner workings of the industry.

My usual day started at 2pm, except when I was volunteering to walk as a Fringe Freak in the West Hollywood Gay Pride Parade, but that wasn’t a usual day! I was quite keen, and also nervous about the summer school traffic, so I’d leave at 1 o’clock, and get there 20 minutes early, after parking in the staff lot, or finding some ‘gold’ street parking. I definitely shaped up on my parallel parking skills at the Fringe.

I’d walk to Fringe Central, where I’d ask if anyone needed help. One time I had to fold shirts, another time I had to clean the bathroom (that’s when I really felt like an intern), and another time I had to make a collage with all the theatre postcards in the bathroom (that’s when I felt like a hipster intern). Sometimes it was brooming the cigarette butts and picking up plastic cups, sometimes it was just having a chat with the Fringe Family. Once it was actually 2pm (told you I was a bit keen) Meghan and I would prepare for the Student Fringe, assembling press kits and programs and discussing how to plan and orchestrate an event of this kind. I saw first hand how much effort and time went into organizing and leading a Student Fringe Performance.

Student Fringe was an incredible experience. It was amazing getting to help the performers get ready, and then watch them on stage, thinking, I shook their hand, I helped them get into costume, and now they are on the stage in front of all the kids. The kidns loved the shows, and as the ‘Bathroom Buddy’, I was constantly on duty. It was funny talking to the kids after the show and seeing how they enjoyed themselves, as well as promoting some social media for the Fringe. I learned so much, and got to be a part of the final showing of so much effort.

When I wasn’t with Meghan, I was helping and learning about the Front of House and Box Office, answering questions, selling tickets, and introducing performances. I was pretty proud of House Speeches. It was such an amazing experience getting to meet all of the productions in the Fringe as well as before in preparation and then seeing them on stage. I felt so cool. Once a week, the other interns and I would meet with another person of the staff, getting to ask questions and learn about their role in the Fringe.

If I wasn’t volunteering with Liz in Box Office or Interning with Meghan, I just got to hang out in this radical environment, see some amazing and crazy weird dynamic performances for discount or for free, listening to live bands, hanging with the other interns (they were soo cool), singing live karaoke, talking with writers, directors, producers, actors, students, technicians (…basically the most interesting people ever), watching stand up comedy, and I even got to perform at the open mic hosted by Lonesome No More.

It was truly an incredible experience, like a dream, and gave me solid proof that all my goals and visions of the future could become my reality, and not just my life-changing summer intern experience.