Thank You, Music Hall
Ever since I was a young girl, I have ventured downtown Portsmouth during the winter months to see performances at the Historic Theater. It started when my grandmother and mom took me to see the Nutcracker, which is a classic show for any little girl to see, especially if she does ballet; I did of course do ballet and continued dancing until I aged out of my dance school, but that is a story for another time. Throughout the years, I have seen many plays put on by The Music Hall from Annie to Beauty and the Beast to the 2017 production of White Christmas. The holiday shows became a tradition for me and my mom to go see each year for my birthday and celebrate.
When I got the opportunity to intern at the place that had been part of my childhood and much of my adult life, I was thrilled; it has always interested me to see how things work behind the scenes and how each little thing is put together to create one grand show. The ins and outs of the organization were not the only things I got to see; interviewing musicians, photographing live events, and writing blog posts were my main tasks as well as posting daily social media content. I have learned that technology is not always your friend, especially when you have seven tabs open, trying to make one image work for one post. Thankfully doing what I love (writing) made it all worth it.
Interviewing River Sister was such a great experience for me because I rediscovered my joy of writing and telling other people’s stories; they were also incredible people to get to know. Writing blog posts and photographing shows are probably my favorite things I have done during my internship, it also helps that I get to use an awesome camera that I will be dreaming about for several months. Photography is another one of my passions and I believe that pictures can tell a story just as well as an article can; that’s what I try to do when photographing things, people, and events.
Besides article writing and photography, getting to proof and read the Classic Hollywood blog posts by Jeannie MacDonald has easily become one of the best parts of the job. In my Freshman year of college, I took an intro to film studies class where we took a deep dive into the classics like Psycho, Taxi Driver, Kill Bill, and Citizen Kane. I really enjoyed learning about the different aspects of filming a movie and all the work that goes into the final product; I found it fascinating. Jeannie’s Classic Hollywood blogs brought me back to that class and taught me a lot about the film industry in old Hollywood as well as some of the actors who starred in the iconic movies I studied.
I write this blog as I am rounding out my time as a marketing intern here and I am grateful for the opportunities The Music Hall has granted me. Getting this position right out of college was unexpected, but it is what I needed to figure out my next steps (not that I have any clue as to what I want to do with my life, but I’ve heard that it’s okay not to know right now). Working with the amazing, hardworking staff of The Music Hall has given me a new appreciation for the nonprofit and entertainment industry. I can confidently say that I have made some really good friends and great network connections.
Support local and see the amazing programming The Music Hall provides for the community!