Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

It’s my last week at Steppenwolf.  I have that funny feeling in my stomach you get when you realize that date you’ve looked at many times- May 28th, final day of Apprenticeship- has appeared in your weekly planner.

A friend from school who works at a web design firm downtown met me at Steppenwolf’s office my first week of work.  “Books!” He exclaimed when he arrived at the desk where I work, surrounded by our play library, crisp copies of contemporary plays, leaning happily against hardcover anthologies so old their titles have worn away.  “Books,” he said more softly, running a finger down one’s spine. “I wish I worked near books.”

I have spent nine months working near books.  I have spent nine months working near the thoughtful and brilliant leadership of Martha Lavey.  I have spent nine months working near the innovation and ingenuity of Polly Carl and the insight and intelligence of Joy Meads.  I have spent nine months working as the Artistic Apprentice: reading plays, writing program articles, researching everything from the Louisiana Bayou to theories on time travel, leading post show discussions and jamming the copier until I learned how to fix it myself.

The word apprentice has been with us for over 600 years.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as, “A learner of a craft; one who is bound by legal agreement to serve an employer in the exercise of some handicraft, art, trade, or profession, for a certain number of years, with a view to learn its details and duties, in which the employer is reciprocally bound to instruct him.” This feels true to me, based on how I’ve spent my days these past nine months. It echoes something Rebecca Rugg, our associate producer has said.  “This is a craft trade,” she told me.  “You can study how to run a theatre, but you also have to work in one.  It’s the responsibility of the people before you to take you and teach you what they know.”

Theatre is a funny thing because it is always ending.  We plan with an eye to a play’s end: the last marketing campaign, the last performance, the many logistics of striking and storing of a set.  Even in the midst of all that inevitable conclusion, theatre is also always beginning.  I make careful copies of next year’s plays to distribute to the senior staff.  I push back from my desk where I am typing up the notes from the final meeting with this year’s visiting companies to take notes as a committee meets to discuss next year’s applicants.  We are always coming and going, leaving and returning.

So, I say goodbye to Steppenwolf with the hope of returning. Time for another beginning. Time to learn from other theatres, other people, other plays. Time for me to go find my own church basement somewhere and see where it takes me.

This entry was posted by Rebecca Stevens on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 2:13 pm and is filed under General, Apprenticeship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.