Recent Tufts graduate Evelyn shared the following about being an Administrative Intern/Research Assistant with Actors’ Shakespeare Project …
What did you do as an intern at this organization?
The Actors’ Shakespeare Project provides free Shakespeare performances and lessons to Boston-area schools, with a particular focus on schools in needs of Arts programming. As an intern at ASP, I gathered information on the Boston Public Schools and surroundings uburbs’ public school systems, including contact information and demographic research. I also wrote several research reports on the benefits of arts education with a special focus on low-SES students
How did you find this internship?
During the spring semester of my Junior year, I was lucky enough to perform with a group of Tufts students affiliated with the Actors’ Shakespeare Project. We adapted and performed Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo & Juliet for more than 1,000 students. I reached out to the Director of ASP (who has her Masters in English from Tufts) about the possibility of a summer internship, and she took me on right away!
What did you enjoy most about your internship?
While doing research on arts education and its academic and emotional benefits for students, I learned so much about how theatre helps students learn and become more engaged at school. Being an English/Drama double major, it was incredibly validating for me to know about how much my passions can help students, especially at-risk students, succeed in school and beyond.
What did you find challenging?
At my past internships, I worked with large teams of people. Actors’ Shakespeare Project was a relatively small non-profit when I started, so it was just my boss and I in the office doing all the work. It was different to adjust to that kind of one-on-one work environment, but by the end I ended up enjoying it!
What advice would you offer to someone who wants to make the most of an internship like yours?
Reach out to the connections you make at Tufts! There’s nothing wrong with writing a polite email to a professor, supervisor, or boss that says “I’ve really enjoyed working with you; do you have any opportunities for this summer?” If they don’t have an opportunity, they might point you to someone who does!
About the Organization
Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Charlestown, Massachusetts
Actors’ Shakespeare Project, founded in 2004, is an award-winning professional theater company with a Resident Acting Company and extensive education, youth, and community programs. ASP performs and works in found spaces, schools, theaters and neighborhoods to present and explore the robust language, resonant stories, and deeply human characters in Shakespeare’s plays and in works by other great playwrights.
Our work is ensemble-based and focused on intimacy, storytelling, language, relationships, voice, risk and artistry within and throughout the Boston area.
