Over two years ago, by a stroke of good fortune, I found myself sitting in a back row at the Loeb Drama Center watching a tech rehearsal for the A.R.T.’s soon-to-premiere production of Pippin. I perched one row in front of Diane Paulus as she presided over a literal circus of activity, and I watched with a dropped jaw as some of my favorite Broadway stars worked their magic before me. On a break, Diane turned her laser-sharp focus to me and said that if I wanted to work in the theater, I needed to jump at any opportunity to be involved, whether I was starring in a show or sweeping the stage. That night set the wheels in motion for a summer internship, and for my gap year at the A.R.T.
Last week, I sat in the theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and watched the national touring production of that very same Pippin. My perspective was different for several reasons. For one, I was seated in the wings instead of the audience; the stage manager was kind enough to set up a stool next to her station where I could sit and listen to her call the cues for the show. But more importantly, I wasn’t watching with the same unthinking fascination that I had when I was sixteen. Although that sort of all-embracing love for theater has value of its own, the perspective I have gained this year has actually given me a deeper appreciation of the work that goes into every single show. I could see the precise gestures of the conductor in the orchestra pit and the sweat dripping from the performers as they darted offstage after a dance number. I could hear the vocal warm-ups and the whirring spotlights and the rapid-fire cues. I could feel the energy that only exists during a live theatrical performance.
In a few weeks, I’ll be in New York City for rehearsals, working on a new Diane Paulus/American Repertory Theater production — Crossing, a new opera inspired by Walt Whitman’s Civil War diaries. At least once a day, I feel the need to pinch myself. Two years ago, I never could have imagined the sort of access to and admiration for the theater that I have today. The more I see it up close, the more I see it’s really magic to do.
Nina Goodheart is a full-time artistic intern, production assistant, blogger, and soon-to-be assistant to the director for Crossing at the American Repertory Theater. She can also recite the complete American musical theatre canon on command.
