MEET THE INTERNS PART FIVE- COLIN FROEBER

Right, so, kind of sike because I don't actually know any of Colin Froeber's answers to the stock "Meet the Intern" questions. I do know he's from North Dakota. That's about it though really.

HOWEVER none of that matters because TODAY IS HIS BIRTHDAY!!!!

So, I can safely surmise that his answers to said stock questions would probably go a little something like this....

Hometown: BIRTHDAYVILLE, USA

School/Education: THE ACADEMY OF PARTYING ON YOUR BIRTHDAY

Favorite Theatrical Experience: EMBODYING THE SPIRIT OF A BIRTHDAY CAKE

Describe your position at Clubbed Thumb: BIRTHDAY BOY FO' LIFE

What do you like best about Clubbed Thumb: THE FACT THAT IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

Favorite memory/moment/quote/happening from this summer: Um, today I guess, because IT'S MY BIRTHDAY.

So please, wish that Master of the Blogoland, that Champion of the Bottle Opener, that Unfortunate Recipient of the PVC Piping Headache COLIN FROEBER a rockin' day of birth.

(And also, I'm sure he's a very interesting person with very interesting answers to all these very interesting Meet the Intern questions, and I apologize profusely if I at all intimated otherwise.)

Love,

Intern Jessica and the whole Clubbed Thumb Fam

to you from me, pinky lee

Dearest Blogosphere-

I would like, if i may, to place at your feet a humble apology.  I am Intern Jessica, frequent barkeep and general assistant to the talented Sarah Billington Stevens (of Summerworks House Manager and "The Wendy Complex" fame.)  I am also, most likely, one or more of the following:

A. The person responsible for the unappetizing chunks of cork in your wine

B. The person who awkwardly cracked the door of the Ohio Theater around 8:11 to inform you that you couldn't actually come in to see the show you planned your evening around 

C. The person who took the last piece of salami you were eyeing at one or more of the opening night shindigs.

And thus my apology must be threefold.  And multidirectional. Ahem.

If to you, darling blogophile, I am A, all I can say is those doohickeys that resemble small people with corkscrews for bodies are really far more complicated than they first appear.  And also, I am sorry.  Intern Colin will soon surpass me in wine opening ability, so just direct all further corking requests to him.

If Apology B is more suited to your Clubbed Thumb experience, here goes: turning people away from theater sucks.  For all of us.  Honestly, I'd never really had to do it before this summer, and it is righteously awful!  It makes me feel all guilty and sad and uncomfortably like "the man."  Just, please know this: Clubbed Thumb loves you as much as you love it, so turning you away from Clubbed Thumb was a lot like tearing apart lovers that, until I showed up, were highly un-starcrossed.  I was your Chino, I was your Balthasar.  It hurt me as much as it hurt you.

As for those of you to whom Apology C applies: I am a student.  I am living in the East Village, in an apartment I obviously cannot afford.  So I took some of your salami.  So what.

Alright, well, sadly this post seems to have taken an abrasive turn and thus, oh blogosphere, become the exact opposite of what I initially intended.  And so to quickly conclude: Please don't let my incompetencies stop you from taking in a truly awesome theatrical experience.  Come to Ohio, the Buckeye Theater!

Love and kisses,

Intern Jessica

MEET THE INTERNS PART FOUR - JENNY VALLANCOURT

Hello Thumbers!! It's that time again - time to meet yet another Summerworks 2008 intern. Today we feature none other than Miss Jenny Vallancourt. And feel free to call her "Little Jenny" - everybody else does. Enjoy!


Hometown: Red Bank, New Jersey

School/ Education: I will be a sophomore at Barnard College in the fall

Your favorite theatrical experience (past tense): Playing the psychotic Chicklet Forrest in Psycho Beach Party

Describe your position with Clubbed Thumb: General Intern. Building stuff, painting stuff, sweeping, arguing with the people at Staples

What do you like best about Clubbed Thumb? The lovely, wonderful people working there and the entirely unique theatre that they produce.

Favorite memory / moment / quote / happening from this summer so far?: Sweeping the Gentleman Caller set as everyone else watched

smell you, nancy drew

Hi again everyone. It's intern Colin with a (gasp!) non-Meet The Intern-related blog post. I don't know if anyone else is aware of this (or if anyone has stories of their own to share), but apparently the Ohio Theatre has a very colorful past, involving sewing machine factory work, homeless men living below the very floorboards we walk across every day, and, perhaps most intriguing of all, a seemingly endless pathway underneath the theatre itself. This evening after the opening night party, Meg MacCary was regaling a small but captivated audience with tales of her terrifying excursion into the bowels of the Ohio back during Amazons And Their Men. Her tales - of a veritable maze stretching out below the theatre, complete with random carpeted areas (with a couch!) and tiny men poking their heads down from tiny ladders and claiming to be plumbers - have inspired me.

Tomorrow evening, I am going to venture deep below the Ohio Theatre to traverse this very same path. Armed only with a flashlight and a non-flashing-digital camera (and perhaps intern Chris, although this remains to be seen), I will risk my very life to investigate this horrifying abyss. And it's all for you, dear blog readers. If I'm not killed or maimed by rats or deviants, keep your eyes here for an update. And if I am - well, it's been a fun ride...


IN OTHER NEWS: Let's bid a fond farewell to our old pal Vendetta Chrome (and congratulate the show on a kickass, unprecedented several-night-long sellout pattern) and welcome the newest addition to Summerworks 2008: Slavey!



You may have missed the opening night gala - and it's too bad if you did, because it was awesome - but don't miss your chance to see this show. The run continues Monday through Saturday (the theatre is dark Wednesday). AND! Come tomorrow or Tuesday, enjoy the show, and then join us for free beer and wine following the performance. It's truly the best deal in town. Don't pass it up.

Lots to digest today, faithful blog readers, but I'm sure you can handle it. You've still got three more interns to meet, as well as some scary stories from me (or else an invitation to my funeral). You read it here first.

Keep reading, and we'll see you at the Ohio!!

-Colin

MEET THE INTERNS PART THREE - JESSICA GOLDSCHMIDT

Good evening fellow Thumbers! This is intern Colin bringing you yet another installment of "Meet The Interns." I know these updates are coming at you fast and furious, so pay attention - you will be tested. The lady of the day today is none other than Miss Jessica Goldschmidt:


Hometown: Pennington, New Jersey

School / Education: High School: The Lawrenceville School, Current College: Brown University

Your favorite theatrical experience (past tense): Playboy Bunny in "Be Brave, Anna!", a melodrama of the Life and Times of Anna Nicole Smith by Tara Schuster, soon to be part of the August 2008 NYC Fringe Festival. Aw yeah.

Describe your position with Clubbed Thumb: Assistant Front of House- I sell beer and wine and water and the Clubbed Thumb book!

Why Clubbed Thumb? Because they foster amazing playwrights and create amazing theater and are amazingly chill about it all. And because that's what my ideal existence would probably look like.

What do you like best about Clubbed Thumb? The feeling you get that somehow, you were important to the success of this festival, that somehow you actually helped make this thing happen.

Favorite memory / moment / quote / happening from this summer so far? The last moments of the Constitutional Convention.

MEET THE INTERNS PART TWO - CHRIS HARDER

Welcome, Clubbed Thumbers, to the second installment of MEET THE INTERNS!! Today, say hello to Mr. Christopher Harder, a fellow former North Dakotan and, apparently, a man of few words (at least compared to Emily). And before you ask - yes, that is his real name.


Hometown: Minot, North Dakota

School / Education: B.F.A., University of North Dakota

Favorite theatrical experience (past tense): Watching Spring Awakening drunk.

Describe your position with Clubbed Thumb: Production assistant / run crew for Gentleman Caller

Why Clubbed Thumb? Because it kicks ass and produces new plays.

What do you like best about Clubbed Thumb? Everyone's f-ing cool. Plus free beer.

Favorite memory / moment / quote / happening from this summer so far? "Bartending" at the caucus party.

MEET THE INTERNS PART ONE - EMILY JABLONSKI

Alright, we're running out of time...so here's the first installment of the highly anticipated feature MEET THE INTERNS - today starring Miss Emily Jablonski. More to come!


Hometown: Clinton, NJ

School / Education: Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD--expected BA in theatre arts December 2008

Favorite theatrical experience (past tense): My senior year in high school we did the Compleat William Shakespeare Abridged. To this day it is the BEST show I have ever been a part of. There were no elaborate sets or lights or costumes (sorry guys), just a group of people putting on good theatre. Everyone in it was having fun performing and the audience knew it, which made them enjoy the show more.

Describe your position with Clubbed Thumb: Well...as an intern I am the Assistant Director for Vendetta Chrome. I work for Clubbed Thumb as the company manager and administrative assistant for Summerworks 08. I also am in charge of getting done all of the distribution of the brochures for the festival. And I am on run crew for Vendetta as well. What a great summer :)

Why Clubbed Thumb? To be honest, back in November 2007 I was already looking for internships and I came across Clubbed Thumb's site and filled out the internship form. About a month later Meg called me up to see if I would be interested in an assistant house managing internship they had for Amazons and Their Men in January. I of course accepted. After interning over the winter they invited me to come back at a different capacity. I decided to do so because they gave me (as you can see above) opportunities to experience several different areas of theatre all in the time of one internship, and I thought that was pretty great :)

What do you like best about Clubbed Thumb? I love the community. Clubbed Thumb really cares about their artists and their careers...even interns. If they hire someone and another opportunity comes up, they don't just say too bad you're already working with us. They congratulate you and make it work!!! With the kind of egos that go along with theatre sometimes (we have to admit that) it is really hard to find companies and people that care about YOU and not their personal gain. Clubbed Thumb definitely cares :)

Favorite memory / moment / quote / happening from this summer so far? Probably the Constitutional Convention, preparing everything with everyone, that was fun.

and look!

Here's another one!

-Colin

"charming"? andrew lloyd webber comparisons? oh, please

Check out this review of Vendetta Chrome. It took me several reads to figure it out, but I've come to the conclusion that it's saying very good things (minus one major typo).

Congratulations everyone!!

-Colin

Togas...the bane of my existence

Hello all,
I would like to write a little about the trainwreck experience I had regarding opening night of "Vendetta Chrome". All was going well, after being at the Ohio for 13 hours straight (gotta love tech) preparing for the opening performance. I have spent the last 5 weeks assistant directing the show and was now hired to do run crew aka properties master aka wardrobe supervisor. Needless to say I was getting a little stressed and overwhelmed. I got all of my presets done (or so I thought). For those of you who do not know there really is not a "backstage" area at the Ohio, it is the lobby that is converted into backstage during the first few minutes of the show. So I was setting out all of my props, when I realized holy shit, I forgot the togas. I left them in the dressing room, they were needed for scene 2 and are a very key piece of clothing for the show. The only way to get to the dressing room would literally be crossing the entire stage behind the audience. After freaking out for 30 seconds with the lovely house manager Sarah, I said I just have to go now. And I did what any other panicking intern would do...I went for it. I crossed down the side of the stage, walked into the dressing room (in tears mind you), grabbed the togas off the hangers (while cursing of course), and ran back to the backstage area/lobby.

After a few minutes I got over it. After the show Maria and Diana (2 of the producers) talked to me about what a great job I was doing and not to sweat it followed by telling me their own horror stories of mistakes they have made during shows. So I felt A LOT better after that. Another reason why I love interning with Clubbed Thumb and the people so much. That is indeed the beauty of theatre...you never know what is going to happen during live performance...

which is why I love it.

-Emily

So Sorry Miss Lupone

Hello all!
This is intern Chris writing for the Cubbed Thumb intern blog.
I'd like to take a moment to blog about beer, and not just any beer, but the Brooklyn Brewery Beer, and how it has considerably improved my life since moving to New York. You may find yourself asking: "Intern Chris, what do beer and theatre have in common?" Well, for one thing this particular brand of beer donated enough bottles that Clubbed Thumb could have its own recycling plant in the Ohio Theatre, but also, its pretty damn cheap (I'm from North Dakota, where $15 will get you drunk, instead of here, where you wind up with a martini called "the gypsy").

In fact, one of the things I've come to love about interning at "the thumb" is sitting around after a performance, eating cocktail olives and drinking pale ale with incredibly funny, gifted young downtown artists.

So... I went to a Tony Party last night at a local piano bar and right away I realized why I'd rather drink cheap beer with Clubbed Thumb artists any day of the week.
1) Not only did I not care that Patti Lupone revived Gypsy;
2) I simultaneously found out who Patti Lupone was and what Gypsy was about last night at the Tony party.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely love me some musical theatre. But I'd rather cuddle up with a giant deformed thumb, sip me some beer, and meet emerging playwrights, actors, and directors any day of the week.

-Chris

west coast style

Good evening, Clubbed Thumbers, and welcome to the newest installment of the Official Intern Blog!

An update: "Gentleman Caller" has officially left the building following one badass closing night performance and a fairly painless strike that only kept us strike-rs at the Ohio until about one in the morning. Not bad, not bad at all.

Question: Is the Ohio haunted? Intern Chris and I were down in the basement discovering all sorts of creepy things, like a sink that was mysteriously running (don't worry, we turned it off) and a talking Pee Wee doll stuffed in a corner. Anyone have any stories they'd like to share? (Intern Chris and I also saw a team of four rats the size of rabbits running out of a trashbag on the street while we were leaving the theatre, causing us (mostly me) to scream like little girls, but that's another story)

Look what I just stumbled across: for those of you who were fans of the bros' background (and foreground) music during "Gentleman Caller," check out their myspace page. Pretty awesome stuff, if you ask me, and I know you did.

SO. Long story short, the Gentleman has moved out of the Ohio and has been replaced by a young lady named Vendetta Chrome:




I caught the (sold-out!) opening night performance tonight and believe you me, this is not a show to be missed. The run continues this Monday and Tuesday, and Thursday through Sunday. All shows are at 8 at the Ohio Theatre (66 Wooster Street) and tickets are available here.

Thanks for reading, and watch for more posts here - not just from me, but from all your favorite interns. And I promise: MEET THE INTERNS is coming soon.

See you at the Ohio!

-Colin

officially making all of meg maccary's dreams come true

Hello all, and welcome to the official Clubbed Thumb Summerworks 2008 intern blog!! This will be a place for every one of you Clubbed Thumbers to keep up with all the happenings of the 2008 Summerworks festival through the wide eyes of its scrappy team of intrepid interns...

(Clubbed Thumbers? Did I just coin a new phrase? Let's see if it catches on...)


Shameless plug: "Gentleman Caller," the first show of the festival, continues its run Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 at the Ohio Theatre. You heard it here first - the show is nothing short of spectacular, and AND a little birdy told this intern that there might be such a thing as free beer post-performance. Just don't tell anybody. Or, if you like, tell everybody, and let's give this thing the full house(s) it deserves. Sound good? Thought so.

Tickets available here.

Keep watching this space for updates, photos, witticisms, quotes, and a recap of all the Clubbed Thumb mania that's sweeping Soho and beyond. Next up: "MEET THE INTERNS"

See you at the Ohio!