Photo Credit: Pinterest
Today was my first official day as an intern at the Tower Theatre, and it went great! I got out of school at 11:45 a.m., went to a new Thai restaurant with my mom for lunch, and then walked over to the office buildings. I spent most of my day with Lisa Vann (Director of Contributed Income). She was incredibly welcoming and gave me a lot of information on the community of the theater. She told me all about the people who work theater, how it gets money/donations, how performances adapted during COVID-19, etc. I’ll admit, I felt quite overwhelmed hearing about how many factors go into creating a show. It was much more than I imagined. It’s one thing to be on stage performing in a show, but it’s a whole different experience to be behind the scenes. With all the hard work and dedication, I was very impressed with the Tower’s morals. The Tower Theatre is a non-profit that strives to provide community, art, and entertainment to Bend, OR. They take extra measures to ensure their audience’s enjoyment and comfortability. When the pandemic hit, the Tower fought to still bring smiles to their performers. They sent out congratulatory announcements to local graduating teenagers and sent several encouraging messages to the public, Even though Bend is still recovering from the pandemic, the Tower has taken every safety measure possible to get audiences back in their seats. For the Tower, it isn’t about the money, it’s about creating a safe environment for the community to come together and create wonderful memories.
One of our main topics of conversation revolved around the donors and sponsors, or members of the Tower. People must donate a certain amount of money in order to be considered members. These members get various benefits or perks depending on how much money they donate. Seat-backs are one of these multiple benefits that I got to help Lisa set up! After discussing the complexities of the Tower for about an hour, Lisa and I went next door to the theater to do the seat-backs. The seat-backs include a fancy chair cover, a welcome slip in the cover’s pocket, a Tower brochure, a pen, and some candy. I did about 20 of them to prepare for a country music concert later that night before Lisa introduced me to another benefit; the Nook.
The Nook is a private lounge at the top of the balcony for the Tower’s high-paying members. In the Nook, the members are served complimentary alcohol and snacks, such as popcorn and candy. In addition, there are lovely pieces of art that cover the Nook’s walls for the members to enjoy. They were created by a local Redmond artist and are a hidden gem of the building. After experiencing just two of the Tower’s membership benefits, I was very impressed by the company’s welcoming spirit. They genuinely want to take care of the people who show them support. Lisa told me a story about a woman who donated money and saw a show at the Tower. She said that seeing the show was an experience that she would never forget, and she continues to graciously support the theater. This is just another example that proves how important the Tower’s impact is.
In September of 2020, I had the opportunity to be the Assistant Stage Manager for Titanic the Musical. During the show, I got to work with a lot of the staff at the Tower. Coming back now as an intern, the staff still remembers me! It was very nice to catch up with the people I worked with and feel wanted. Lisa and I made a plan for me to reach out to a few of the Tower’s staff to schedule some shadowing opportunities. I will have more updates on my next meetings very soon! Stay tuned. :)
Comments