INTERN WITH THE PERIPATETIC PLAYERS!

PERIPATETIC PLAYERS SUMMER INTERNSHIP

Responsibilities & Opportunities

You’ll help the Players set up and tear down their outdoor touring show, including organizing props and costumes, and helping to set up scenic elements.
You’ll help the Players welcome the audience, and interact with the audience before and after the performance, distribute programs, and help to build excitement for the show.
You’ll assist the “house manager” at the SPPPs outdoor productions, helping to count audience members and to prepare performance reports.
You’ll take photos at rehearsals and performances, and post them to the Peripatetic Players’ social media accounts.
Optional – if you’d like, you can create your own Peripatetic Players character who is part of the troupe, though not performing in the show: you’ll create a name, costume, and backstory for your character and attend shows “in character.” This option requires attendance at at least 3 rehearsals.
Optional – you can help create and build props, costumes, and scenic elements. This option requires attendance at “build days,” usually in July and early August (contact us for dates).
You’ll observe and learn how independent theatre companies run, how they produce and market small-scale professional shows, and how they engage with best practices for sustainability and work toward equity, diversity and inclusion.
You’ll see first-hand the unique joys and challenges of creating free, interactive and inclusive outdoor shows in public parks, for audiences of all ages.

Commitment

Your commitment is flexible based on your availability and interest in different rehearsal and production activities.
Rehearsals – you’ll attend as many rehearsals as you wish to observe the Peripatetic Players’ process of creating and rehearsing their summer touring show, and can help keep track of script edits as well as and prop and costume needs. Rehearsals are held in East Oakland; we can help arrange transport from BART. Contact us for exact dates.
Tech rehearsals and performances, dates to be announced, at public parks in Alameda, Oakland, and other East Bay locations to be announced.

Compensation

This is currently an unpaid internship. We’re working on funding an hourly rate for interns and are committed to finding other ways to make this internship sustainable for you.
We’ll work with you to provide a learning experience that fits your interests, and will gladly write letters of recommendation for you at the end of the internship for colleges or other internship / fellowship opportunities.
We’ll provide sunscreen and bug spray, water, snacks, and reimbursement for transportation or transit costs.

Qualifications

Ages 16+
You love collaborative and/or interactive theatre
You’re responsible, helpful, and motivated, with a positive attitude
You enjoy interacting with people of all ages – from toddlers to elders

How To Apply

Easy-peasy! Just send an email to idiotstring@gmail.com telling us a little about yourself and why you’re interested in this internship. Just a few sentences will do. Be sure to include the best way to reach you: an email address and/or phone number. Feel free to ask us questions, too!

Princess Gwen as Frodo saves Samuel Peaches as Sam from drowning amongst the audience at Lincoln Park, Alameda, in 2019.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

ABOUT IDIOT STRING

Idiot String, the parent company of the Peripatetic Players, is a collaborative ensemble theatre company. We engage audiences with highly entertaining interactive performances that incite delight and spontaneous community wherever we appear. Whether performing in a theatre, on the street, or in the open air, Idiot String creates opportunities for joyful shared experience and participatory fun. Idiot String has produced the Samuel Peaches Peripatetic Players’ shows in Bay Area neighborhood parks since 2014, and premiered an original interactive touring play, Elixir of Life, in 2017. In 2019, Idiot String was commissioned by the East Bay Fund for Artists and Port Costa Conservation Society to create Port Stories, a site-specific interactive exploration of a fictional version of Port Costa, California. Learn more at www.IdiotString.org.

ABOUT THE PERIPATETIC PLAYERS SUMMER TOUR

The Peripatetic Players arrived at the San Francisco Fringe Festival in 2013 with a trunkload full of tall tales of world travel. Since then they have performed at theatres, schools, parks, and public spaces around the Bay Area, usually aboard FluxWagon, their folding mobile stage. Performances are outdoors in neighborhood parks, offered free to the public, and are highly interactive. If you’re not familiar with the PPs, please explore our website to learn more!