Video Transcript: Workforce Training Program Prepares Fellows for Theater Production Careers
Tess James:
[Tess is Director of Princeton Production Workforce Training and Associate Director of the Program in Theater & Music Theater at Princeton University.]
This summer, we are in the pilot year of our Princeton Production Workforce Training program. As we speak, there are four training fellows that are in our theaters and in our studios. They’re learning a combination of technical lighting, technical sound, and workforce readiness skills. We have a very strong relationship with Trenton Central High School. Three of our current fellows graduated from there, and one of them is from Camden.
Noni Burke:
My name is Noni Burke.
Aven Rivas:
My name is Aven Rivas.
Toast Jenkins:
I’m Toast.
Alexandria Chery:
My name is Alexandria.
Tess James:
We are paying them for their training hours. We are providing a travel stipend. We are providing breakfast and lunch and a toolkit to get them started. The concept of the program is to remove all barriers to entry point. The program is currently being made possible financially from some very amazing micro-donors. The Lewis Center for the Arts, Trenton Arts, the Music Department, University Services…
Kay Richardson:
These are all that come.
Tess James:
… and the program for Community Engaged scholarship known as ProCES. They all came on board with as much as they could spare from their budgets, and that’s what we are supporting our fellows with.
Noni Burke:
[Noni is a fellow in the Princeton Production Workforce Training program and a student at Jackson State University.]
It’s a technical designing program, which is basically supposed to be training you as if you’re an actual employee.
Aven Rivas:
[Aven is a fellow in the Princeton Production Workforce Training program and a student at Montclair State University.]
Today we’re going to work on putting some lights up, figuring out by ourselves without pretty much not really much help with wires, how to focus on lights. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to continue theater after high school. I was just like, this is kind of it. But now that I came to this internship and I started learning way more about it, I was like, “Heck yes.” I want to find people and opportunities and actors and see if they need someone in the tech side. I’ll be like, “Yes, I’ll play with colors. I’ll play with sound.”.
Tess James:
I have a long history with workforce programs, and in my time here….
That is where the rubber meets the road.
… I started looking around, and what I noticed is we have a really solid core team of production professionals, but what we were lacking is we were lacking casual laborers. We were lacking folks who could swing in for a lighting call or a sound call, or be a support team. That is the whole concept of the program, is that we will invest in our community and we will have entry level trained workers to come and join us at the Lewis Center.
Alexandria Chery:
[Alexandria is a fellow in the Princeton Production Workforce Training program and a student at Mercer County Community College.]
I do see myself doing this as a career. I’ve spent my time looking for new opportunities and I feel like this has opened a new door. So yeah, I’ll definitely be taking advantage.
Tess James:
These are good jobs, they’re high paying jobs. They’re interesting, they’re dynamic. They’re a really great entry point for young workers, but also you don’t have to have a college education. They could apply for entry level as electricians, they could apply for entry level as sound stage hands. I see them working here at the Lewis Center for both the theater and the dance programs, I see them working for the music department.
Just confirming that that is locked.
I see them going to the McCarter as freelance workers.
All right.
Toast Jenkins:
[Toast is a fellow in the Princeton Production Workforce Training program and a student at Mercer County Community College.]
I think confidently I would be able to send in my resume, and if I get accepted, I feel like I could do the job. Before, I was like, “Absolutely not.” I would just move the sets around and that’s it. (laughs) But now I feel like you could put me in a different spot, I’m like, “Okay, I got this. You want me to set up lights from the light plot, I got you.”
Noni Burke:
The workforce training definitely helped me in the sense of really inviting community. It was just really explaining the real requirements and the expectations of the environment of a workspace that you’re supposed to be in.
Tess James:
I am one of the educators, as well as we are very lucky at the Lewis Center to have some incredibly talented production staff. We have Matt Pilsner, who is the Lighting and Stage Supervisor at the Lewis Center, as well as Kay Richardson, who’s our Sound Supervisor.
Kay Richardson:
Can you all turn that keyboard up some? Thank you.
Tess James:
They’re like the masters of their craft, and our students are really lucky to have them with us.
Alexandria Chery:
And because they’re pros in the field, I thought that I would come here and I’d maybe mess up and they’d be like, “No!” but, they are very patient and I appreciate that so much.
Tess James:
Our students will have basic sound skills, they will understand how to set up drum kits and mic instruments. They will be able to do entry level mixing. They will also be able to put microphones on performers. Lighting wise, they’ll be able to hang lights, they’ll be able to focus lights. They’ll be more comfortable with things like ladders and lifts.
Aven Rivas:
All right.
703.
Tess James:
They will be familiar with lighting consoles and be able to do some basic programming on a lighting console. They are also doing some extensive workforce readiness training, so we’re going to practice our resume skills. We’re going to all write resumes.
Marion Friedman Young:
[Marion and Toast sit at a table reviewing a resume]
You should add that.
Tess James:
We’re going to practice our interview skills. My goal for the fellows is so they could have a long-range and diverse career. We are using the tools to train for live theater, but there are so many crossover skills for film and television.
Aven Rivas:
There really is an experience where you get to meet people and see opportunities. Something that really changes you in four weeks.
Tess James:
My hopes and dreams are our current training fellows will continue to work with us. My other hope and dream is that we will be able to expand the program.
Alexandria Chery:
I didn’t know where to start when it comes to getting that experience and just working in the field, but I feel like I have more of a focus.
Tess James:
In the last several months, I’ve started to expand my thinking to the idea of…
Yeah, you got it.
… what if we open the program to veterans? What if we open the program to justice impacted folks? How far could our reach go to helping people enter an interesting and impactful career?
