Apprenticeships

Summer 2024 Education Apprenticeship Applications due Feb 15, 2024
All 2024-2025 Season Long Apprenticeship Applications due Mar 1
, 2024

Apprenticing at Portland Stage

The Portland Stage Apprenticeship Program is committed to training future generations of theater professionals. Applicants should be highly motivated individuals who have acquired basic training in the theater arts and are looking to explore their field further through meaningful hands-on experience. Portland Stage apprentices can expect to be challenged by a creative process that relies on both ingenuity and collaboration.

Apprentices at Portland Stage work with leading designers, directors, administrators, and our professional production team throughout the season. They leave with a greater knowledge of the theatrical process and the satisfaction of being part of a dedicated theater company where exceptional quality is the end goal.

All Portland Stage employees, apprentices and guest artists agree to create a work environment that respects diverse ideas, races, genders, sexualities, abilities, culture, and religions, contribute to working in an anti-racist theater, and value Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA).

What You Can Expect:

  • The hours are full time (40 hours a week) and the schedule will likely fluctuate from week to week.
  • Furnished housing, utilities (electricity, heat, internet) and a $107 weekly stipend will be provided.
  • Limited $5,000 cost of living scholarships are available for those with financial need. We encourage everyone to apply for this scholarship.
  • There will be physical tasks that require repeated lifting of at least 40 lbs and bending, as well as possibly being on ladders, lifts, or catwalks. Please note that some areas of the theater facility are not handicap-accessible.
  • Everyone will be on run crew at least twice.  Some apprenticeships have more run crew expectations than others. Some run crew positions might require that you appear onstage in a costume.
  • There are additional Swing Run Crew positions for each production that will function essentially as an understudy for the production run crew and may sub in to run shows as needed to provide time off for other run crew members.
  • College credit can be arranged.
  • The minimum commitment is from late August through early June; Education Apprentices may be invited to stay as late as early August.

Apprentice Coordinators

All questions regarding the Apprenticeship Program can be sent to our Apprentice Coordinators via email at ApprenticeSearch.

Our Apprentice Coordinators are:

Jennifer London Company Manager/Apprentice Coordinator

Julianne Shea Education Administrator/Apprentice Coordinator


Apprenticeship Areas

Please Note: Each year the specific apprenticeships offered fluctuate depending on the needs of the season and the skills/interests of the year’s applicants.

  • Production
  • Arts Administration
  • Directing/Dramaturgy
  • Education
  • Summer Education
  • Stage Management

Production

Arts Administration

Directing/Dramaturgy

Education

Summer Education

Stage Management


Apprenticeship Application

Summer 2024 Education Apprenticeship Applications due Feb 15 2024
All 2024-2025 Season Long Apprenticeship Applications due Mar 1
2024


Application Materials

To apply, you will need to submit a completed application form (download it below), cover letterresumé, three reference phone numbers, two letters of recommendation, and any additional supporting materials required of your preferred apprenticeships.

Make sure you download the detailed application instructions below and read it in its entirety to learn about the application’s submission requirements and any additional supporting materials needed. Make sure you fill out your application form completely.

All questions regarding the Apprenticeship Program can be sent to our Apprentice Coordinators via email at ApprenticeSearch.

Cost of Living Scholarship

If you would like to apply for a cost of living scholarship please download & complete the application.

NOTE: This is not currently available for the Summer Education Apprenticeship.

Email any questions to Scholarship. This application is due by April 1 2024.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is housing provided?

How can I apply for the financial aid scholarship?

What can I expect to do beyond my apprenticeship area?

Do you offer any summer apprenticeships?

Can I have a part-time job during my apprenticeship?

What do you mean by fluctuating schedule?

How many apprentices do you select?

How large is your pool of applicants?

Do you accept International applicants?

When are final selections made?

What about COVID?

Which guest artists have apprentices worked with at Portland Stage in the past?

Past Guest Artists

Portland Stage apprentices have the opportunity to work with talented guest artists from many different fields of theater. Some of the past guest artists include:

Past Directors

  • Jade King Carroll (one of American Theatre’s 6 Theatre Workers You Should Know, 2016)
  • Kevin R. Free (Actor, Director, and Voice of Kevin from Desert Bluffs on Welcome to Night Vale)
  • Liz Diamond (Chair of the Directing Department & Resident Director at Yale Repertory Theatre)
  • Christopher Grabowski (Director of Theater, Vassar College)
  • Markus Potter (Artistic Director of New York Rep)
  • Paul Meshejian (Founding Artistic Director, PlayPenn)
  • Tony Giordano (nationally known director: Yale Rep, Trinity Rep, numerous NYC productions)
  • Gabriel Barre (Tony Award Nominee; Manhattan Theatre Club & other Off-Broadway credits)
  • Bartlett Sher (Tony Award Winner; former Artistic Director, Intiman Theater)
  • Anne Bogart (Founder, SITI Company)

Past Designers

  • Bryon Winn (Director of Theater, University of Iowa)
  • Christopher Akerlind (Tony Award Winner – Light in the Piazza)
  • Tyler Micoleau (Obie and Lucille Lortel Award winner)
  • Ellen McCartney (Cal Arts Faculty)
  • Marcus Dilliard  (The Guthrie Theater, Theater de la Jeune Lune)
  • Jennifer Tipton  (Yale School of Drama)

Past Playwrights

  • Callie Kimball (SofonisbaPerseverance)
  • John Cariani  (Almost, Maine; Last Gas; LOVE/SICK)
  • Monica Wood (Papermaker, The Half-Light)
  • Eleanor Burgess (The Niceties)
  • Brenda Withers (String Around My Finger, Matt & Ben)
  • Willy Holtzman (Two-time Pulitzer Prize Nominee: Searching for Mr. Moon, Sabina, Inside Out, The Morini Strad)
  • Deborah Zoe Laufer  (Out of Sterno)
  • Quiara Alegria Hudes (Yemaya’s Belly)
  • Nilo Cruz (Bicycle Country, Sotto Voce)
  • Kate Moira Ryan and Kim D. Sherman (Leaving Queens)

Past Performers

  • Richard Topol (Film, TV, and Broadway actor  in Indecent, The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino)
  • Michelle Hurst (TV Actor, Orange is the New Black)
  • James Cusati-Moyer (Tony-nominated actor for Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris)
  • Winston Duke (Black PantherUs)
  • Kristin Linklater  (author of Freeing the Natural Voice and Chair of Columbia University’s Graduate Theater Department)
  • Ann Harada  (many Broadway credits; originated role of Christmas Eve in Avenue Q)
  • Avner Eisenberg  (Avner the Eccentric, International Solo Performer)

Past Educators

  • Kevin Coleman (Tony-nominated teaching artist and Director of Education at Shakespeare & Company)