Directing and Design Observerships

The Observer­ship pro­gram of The­atre Pro Rata was estab­lished to offer emerg­ing, ear­ly-career direc­tors the oppor­tu­ni­ty to observe direc­tors devel­op new works, delve into the clas­sics, and tack­le edgy con­tem­po­rary pieces. The­atre Pro Rata Observers have access to the entire rehearsal process, from first rehearsal to open­ing night.

The exact nature of each Observer­ship varies depend­ing on the needs of the pro­duc­tion. It must be remem­bered that these are Observer­ships, not assist­ant­ships. How­ev­er, you will be guar­an­teed the oppor­tu­ni­ty to observe, first-hand, the tech­niques, dis­ci­plines, and approach­es of the direc­tor. Any­thing more is up to you, the direc­tor and the cir­cum­stances of the rehearsal.

The Observer­ship is an unpaid position.

Application Deadline:

Each pro­duc­tion has one Observer­ship posi­tion, con­tact us for details on availability.

To apply, please send a let­ter of inter­est and resume info@theatreprorata.org.

Testimonials

I real­ly appre­ci­at­ed how I was imme­di­ate­ly wel­comed and spo­ken to with the same for­mal­i­ties as oth­er com­pa­ny mem­bers rather than ignored or dis­re­spect­ed as a young artist. I was so hap­py to be able to observe Carin, not only as a direc­tor, but the Artis­tic Direc­tor for The­atre Pro Rata, and wit­ness what it means to take on that larg­er role and also have to pre­pare for oth­er shows and respon­si­bil­i­ties while in the midst of this one. This was a won­der­ful ‘first-time’ pro­fes­sion­al the­atre expe­ri­ence for me per­son­al­ly. It was also very inter­est­ing to be able to see how to work with a site-spe­cif­ic show such as Emi­lie, as I got to see the quick adjust­ments made as we entered the space, and how impor­tant it is to intro­duce ele­ments of a pro­duc­tion piece by piece in order to not over­whelm the actors or crew members.

-Amy Abri­go, Emi­lie Direct­ing Observer

I start­ed my rela­tion­ship with The­atre Pro Rata as an audi­ence mem­ber, and it quick­ly became my favorite com­pa­ny in town. When the chance came up for me to observe their pro­duc­tion of Neigh­bor­hood 3, I was ecsta­t­ic. Being a high school-age stu­dent with expe­ri­ence in only high school the­atre and the Fringe Fes­ti­val, I came into the Observer­ship whol­ly in the dark of how a quote-unquote “real” pro­duc­tion is formed. Every­one, from the design­ers to the actors, was incred­i­bly friend­ly to me and had no prob­lem let­ting me into their space. This expe­ri­ence was incred­i­bly ful­fill­ing and I am end­less­ly thank­ful to Pro Rata for giv­ing me the oppor­tu­ni­ty. The project has syn­the­sized my thoughts and feel­ings on the­atre in a way I have been crav­ing for a long time. So thank you.

-Cole Peter­son, Neigh­bor­hood 3: Req­ui­si­tion of Doom Direct­ing Observer

My direct­ing observer­ship at The­ater Pro Rata was my first pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence as a direc­tor out­side of col­lege, it gave me the foun­da­tion and base for my career that I need­ed as a young direc­tor. The observer­ship allowed me to com­plete­ly observe how a direc­tor works in a pro­fes­sion­al com­pa­ny. From observ­ing the com­plete process from con­cept to open­ing night I was able to learn the bal­ance of how to col­lab­o­rate effec­tive­ly with the whole team as well as com­mu­ni­cat­ing the concept/vision, how to uti­lize a non-tra­di­tion­al space, as 44 Pres­i­dents for 44 Plays, was in a church base­ment, not a the­ater, and how to work with the actors as well as the design­ers. I would rec­om­mend The­ater Pro Rata’s observer­ship to any young direc­tor fresh out of col­lege, as it’s essen­tial for any direc­tor start­ing out to observe a great pro­fes­sion­al direc­tor in action before delv­ing into their own direct­ing careers.

-Meg­gie Greiv­ell, 44 Plays for 44 Pres­i­dents Direct­ing Observer

The­atre Pro Rata’s direct­ing observer­ship was a great way to get a front-row seat on what it takes to be pro­fes­sion­al director/producer out­side the edu­ca­tion­al realm. Many of the solu­tions to time, space, and mon­e­tary con­cerns — con­cerns most col­lege pro­duc­tions just don’t have — were resource­ful, cre­ative, and solu­tions I would nev­er have thought of. Over­all, it was a great expe­ri­ence that I’d high­ly rec­om­mend to any direc­tor just start­ing out.

-Michael Mel­las, The Life of Galileo Observer