A month ago, I threw all my worldly possessions into my trunk and drove from southern California to Massachusetts to be Barrington’s first year-round education intern. It’s not often that a 23-year-old has the opportunity to travel across America, but my life’s savings and a great internship on the East Coast made it possible!

Theatre became my home during my sophomore year in high school.  In 2009, I graduated from California State Polytechnic University Pomona with a BA in theater with a community and education option. While going to school I worked as an extended daycare teacher at an Orange County (it’s not like the show AT ALL!) private school. I also worked as a camp counselor, a Peer Theater director and mentor, a THINK Together program leader, a YMCA site facilitator, and a recreation assistant on the Morongo Indian reservation. For my senior project at Cal Poly, I worked in collaboration with the L.A. County Sheriff Departments S.T.A.R program and helped participants create original plays about drug prevention.

On my cross-country adventure, I visited Bryce Canyon in Utah, Denver’s Nature and Science Museum, Washington, D.C., and finally, Niagara Falls. The Maiden of the Mist took me directly under the Horseshoe Falls, and it was the most breathtaking experience I could’ve asked for before starting at Barrington!

Being an intern during the year is especially rewarding because I get to be part of our award-winning Playwright Mentoring Project, which gives me the opportunity to work with at-risk high school students.  I also work with  elementary school students in our Saturday program, KidsAct! and our Friday collaboration with Girls Inc. These programs only take place after school or on the weekend, so during the week I’m in the office, helping with administrative duties. Right now, I’m going through all the Playwright Mentoring Projects scripts from the past ten years, since we’ll be publishing a Best-of-PMP for its Tenth Year Anniversary!

Saturdays are fun days for me though because our KidsAct! students are super creative and energetic. I love watching them play their favorite improvisation game,“Gibberish.” In this game there are three participants: a talk show host, an expert on a topic who only speaks gibberish, and a gibberish translator. We laugh a lot! Recently, I also enjoyed watching Barrington’s wonderful production of The Crucible.

The Playwright Mentoring Project just started two weeks ago and has proven to be even more exciting than I expected! Back soon with an update!

–Mallory Fehrensen, Education Intern