2023

Summer Theatre Job and Course Parallel Rising Junior’s Muhlenberg Experiences

On campus, Anna Item ’25 became familiar with new work development, company management and theatrical consent practices. Now, she’s seeing what those look like in a professional setting.

By: Meghan Kita  Thursday, August 3, 2023 11:36 AM

Jessi Stier '21, producing assistant at Powerhouse Theatre, and Anna Item '25, who's assistant company manager there this summer, at a staff celebration

Last semester, Anna Item ’25 acted in ...even in another time by Brayden Stallman ’23 and directed Lights Out by Rebecca Zipper ’23, both new works making their debuts on campus. This summer, she is working as an assistant company manager with Vassar College’s Powerhouse Theater, which focuses on new work development. Some of the earliest workshop productions of Hamilton, for example, took place there.

“I really love the increased collaborativeness of the environment with a work that’s still in development,” says Item, a theatre major with a double minor in English and music. “I really felt like I was part of the process for both of these [student] works … The culture [of a new work] is just naturally more welcoming of actor contributions, which I think is a really powerful thing.”

Item is a work-study employee in Muhlenberg’s box office, where she works with Audience Services and Company Manager Maya Costanzo: “Seeing the work she does everyday inspired me to explore what company management looks like,” Item says, explaining that it involves managing logistics such as transportation and housing for the cast and crew of a production. “She helped me with my application [for the job], and working in the box office and theatre & dance office all year gave me administrative experience that helps me today.”

In addition to the job, Item is also taking a summer course through Intimacy Directors & Coordinators: “I'm very interested in making sure all actors are protected and comfortable when blocking intimate scenes,” she says. “It's becoming a new industry standard to only produce shows with intimate scenes if an intimacy director will be there, and Muhlenberg and the Muhlenberg Theatre Association are keeping up with that standard.” Item received an Experiential Learning Grant from the College to cover the cost of the course.

“I’ve always been the person to speak up for someone else if I see that good consent practices aren’t necessarily occurring, and now I have much stronger tools to articulate that,” she says. “I’m now getting the tools to do it in a way that aligns more with the professional world.”