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RELEASED: July 15, 2004
DANVILLE, KY—Following her final exams at Centre in May, Erin McGuire packed her bags and headed to Winchester, Va., to begin an internship with the Shenandoah Conservatory's Summer Music Theatre.
Shenandoah Conservatory is one of the top theater and performing arts schools in the south, and the Summer Music Theatre, which is in its 18th year, is putting on several shows this summer. As a technical theater intern, McGuire, a rising junior from Lexington, Ky., has been working behind the scenes and is specializing in scenic art.
"I spend most of my time in the paint shop," she says. "It's a lot of fun and something I can maybe see myself doing in the future."
McGuire, a double major in dramatic arts and music, says some of her professors and friends in the drama department at Centre encouraged her to attend this year's Southeastern Theater Conference this past spring in Chattanooga, Tenn. As the largest theater gathering in the United States, SETC allowed McGuire—along with the 28 other Centre students who went with Tony Haigh, professor of dramatic arts—to make some great contacts.
"When I went to SETC, I was able to do some interviews, and I got some job offers," McGuire says. "I decided that Shenandoah was the best place for me."
McGuire admits that she’s a bit of a newcomer to theater, having just begun to act and study drama this past year with Centre's productions of Yellow Boat and Cocoanuts.
"My experiences at Centre with the plays and my drama classes gave me the confidence and foundation to branch out, which eventually led me to Shenendoah."
Working in the theater this summer will also help McGuire with her future plans. She's keeping her options open, pursing acting, technical theater, music and art at Centre, but she says that the theater will definitely play a big role in her plans after graduation.
For more on Centre's dramatic arts program, go to http://www.centre.edu/web/academic/majors/drama.html. To learn about internships, visit http://web.centre.edu/careerd/internships.htm.
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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top-50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/
For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.
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