Penny Remsen Design & Technology Theater Internship Fund 2023

Can you help a UMass Theater student take the next step in their education? Internships are an unparalleled way to put the lessons of the classroom into practice. They give a higher level of hands-on training, expose students to the rhythms and rigor of professional theater, and open doors to future employment. Unfortunately, they are often unpaid, offer minimal stipends, or require travel, and thus are not accessible to many students who can benefit most from them.

 We’re contacting you today hoping that you can support students who are pursuing theater internships in technical theater and theater design — costume, scenic, lighting, and sound.

 In late 2019, thanks to a suggestion from Harley Erdman, with a small gift from the artist Alice Arkin and with the help of some very generous friends, we established the Penny Remsen Design & Technology Theater Internship Fund, named in honor of Professor of Lighting Design Penny Remsen, an ardent proponent of internship opportunities.

 Since then, we have used the fund to send six students to complete internships, such as undergraduate Jemma Kepner, who interned as a theater technician at a historic Vermont playhouse, and graduate student Hyejung Kang, whose time shadowing lighting designer Ben Stanton in New York City internship is crucial to her MFA thesis.

 With such demonstrated success, we want to keep the fund going and ask for your help. We’re hoping to raise $3000, which would cover internship funding for two students this spring.