Learning As You Go
Next Act welcomed two interns this fall as part of our Inclusion, Equity and Opportunity (IEO) Internship program. Interns Leslie Lopez (properties, THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY) and Ellie Mungo (administrative) learned valuable job skills and helped develop Next Act productions alongside professionals in the field. We sat down with them to learn more about how the internship impacted them!
Leslie Lopez
Properties Intern, THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY
What drew you to the arts?
I first took a class in digital design my freshman year of high school. I have been designing ever since. I found it challenging but in a really gratifying way. Then, my sophomore year of high school, one of my photography pieces was chosen to be in a gallery in Chicago with other fellow high school artists. Seeing the work that other people my age were creating was so eye opening. And seeing my own work in a gallery space for the first time was quite surreal and made me realize that art could be a career for me.
How did you find out about Next Act’s internship program? What interested you about Next Act?
I originally found out about the internship program through one of my mentors at school. I was intrigued because I am looking to get into graphic design for the film industry. After research with other theaters in the area, I decided that Next Act seemed like the best fit! As a young woman of color, diversity is really important to me, and seeing that they had a program for underrepresented people such as myself was reassuring. I also prefer to work in smaller organizations because the people in those organizations tend to be much closer and allow for a better work environment, which is definitely the case at Next Act!
What were you hoping to get out of the program? What did you get out of the program?
I was mainly hoping to get more real world experience and also allow myself to explore storytelling through props. I think that working with Next Act has allowed me to understand more of what the process and collaboration is like in terms of a big project such as a play. A great prop has very fine attention to detail and should also mesh well with the environment it is supposed to be a part of. I also really enjoyed shadowing [Properties Designer Jim Guy] who has been in the industry for a long time and is very knowledgeable about his craft. Overall, I think what I learned most at a smaller organization like Next Act is that the connections you make in this small industry are incredibly valuable.
What’s next for you?
As of right now, I’ve been focusing on school. I am currently a junior at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, so I still have a little over a year left. I am still hoping to get into the film industry, specifically graphic design for films. So, I am hoping that my dream becomes a reality in the future!
Ellie Mungo
Administrative Intern
What drew you to the arts?
I started in high school. A lot of the people I was close with, they really started getting into theatre, and my first musical was HAIRSPRAY. It was one that I grew up on, the [movie] version with Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron. That was my thing growing up, so the fact that they were doing it, it was like, “I have to do it, I have to do it.” That’s where I got the theatre bug. And from there, I went to school for theatre, and I’m here now!
How did you find out about Next Act’s internship program? What interested you about Next Act?
I found the internship independently, but I was in class [at UWM] with Marcy Kearns, and she was talking about all of the work that she does here and with First Stage, and that’s what steered me here.
What were you hoping to get out of the program? What did you get out of the program?
Going to school for musical theatre, I didn’t get to see a lot of the back end of things, and I feel like that is where all the important work happens. You’re thinking of shows a year ahead of when they actually perform. I feel like as the performer, I only see the little tiny bit of it. Later in life, I want to start actually producing musicals, so I really want to start seeing, basically, everything that I can see about the back end of stuff.
There’s a lot that I feel like I didn’t even think about, all the little details. As an actor, the casting process… laughs I don’t know how it works. I just kind of throw my stuff in there and I pray. It’s interesting to see how all of the puzzle comes together in the end, and what matters, and what doesn’t.
What’s next for you?
I just finished college, and it was already a weird situation in college because of COVID. There was a point where I was like, “can I even do that? What is this gonna look like?” So I feel like I’m trying to take things one step at a time and kind of just look at everything in theatre that I can, so I can find my niche, and I can find what I want to draw people into.
Interested in being part of our IEO internship? Contact us at info@nextact.org or (414) 278-7780!