Even though internships give students the opportunity to gain experience in different fields, most high schoolers turn down the benefits they provide. A 2018 survey by American Student Assistance found that only around 2% of highschoolers will participate in an internship before they graduate, with most being for engineering, business, or medical professions. However, junior Rory Moore does something much more unique. She interns at The Rose Theater.
“[I] help teach classes,” Moore said. “Right now I’m helping teach a Shrek [the musical] kids class, and I’ve helped teach an art/theater design– like costuming and makeup– class. And then we do backstage tech stuff.”
Having fallen in love with theater her freshman year, Moore joined the International Thespian Society and was inducted in her sophomore year. She has been in several shows, and even got a main role as Imogene Herdman in this year’s fall play, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Moore recently performed “Ride the Cyclone” as a part of her play production class along with her friend, sophomore Dane Bloes, who played Noel. Both Moore and Bloes were also in last year’s musical, “Fiddler on the Roof.”
“She just loves [theater] and it’s obvious,” Bloes said. “She loves what she’s doing and she’s willing to put in the effort for it.”
In the summer of this year, Moore decided to sign up to intern at The Rose Theater.
“I did the Young Playwright’s Festival, and I continued doing more Rose stuff,” Moore said. “I did Twelfth Night. After Twelfth Night, one of the staff told me, ‘Hey, there’s like an internship and you’re like hired if you do it,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, that’s great, thanks!’”
Moore, of course, isn’t just interning for fun. She’s interning to learn more about the stage and what happens behind it.
“I want to get more into theater, and [the internship] would look really good on my resume,” Moore said. “It helps me learn a lot more about theater, especially backstage stuff, because I want to get into costuming.”
Along with learning more about theater tech, interns help teach children about theater. The Rose and its interns do their best to help kids interested in theater by giving them the education they need to succeed on the stage. The Rose aims to help kids as young as three all the way to 18 years old.
“I think what The Rose does in general is making a difference in communities because it’s encouraging more children to do theater,” Moore said. “They get to meet new people and they get to learn stuff that they wouldn’t. They get to learn stuff about social settings and how to act.”
A large part of the internship is working with the kids and making sure they get work done. For Moore, sometimes it can be difficult to get the kids to listen.
“[The kids] do not stop talking. Like, you’re trying to explain stuff, and they’re just, like talking to their friend, like off topic,” Moore said. “Sometimes they’re annoying and they don’t listen.”
The internship is pretty lenient with time required, and is very flexible for interns.
“You work at your own pace,” Moore said. “You pick up stuff that you know you can do with your schedule. You’re able to decide your own schedule. You pick the classes you can teach and what days you can teach it.”
With all she does for theater and beyond, her peers believe that Moore is a perfect representation of what it means to be an actor at PLHS.
“She’s so awesome,” Bloes said. “She is genuinely the sweetest, kindest person anywhere. I’m honored to work with someone like her.”
