Saint Michael's student Mary Jo Rodriguez of Springfield lands internship at professional summer theater

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Saint Michael's College student Mary Jo Rodriguez of Springfield working in the scene shop of the professional Saint Michael's Playhouse.

COLCHESTER, VT (06/17/2011)(readMedia)-- Mary Jo Rodriguez, a junior music major at Saint Michael's College, will be working with the Actor's Equity Association as a proprietary intern at Saint Michael's Playhouse, a professional summer theater owned and operated by Saint Michael's College in Burlington, VT.

Ms. Rodriguez landed a backstage role, doing construction in the set shop, and building and preparing props for on-stage performances.

The daughter of Daniel and Josephine Rodriguez of Springfield, Ms. Rodriguez graduated from Cathedral High School before coming to Saint Michael's College.

"It's been a great way to learn more about shop efficiency and the tools found in the shop," says Ms. Rodriguez.

"And it's just a wonderful opportunity for anybody involved with technical work in the theater," she said. Actors have great experiences as well, according to Ms. Rodriguez, but she thinks that they are different kinds of experiences, as actors and actresses are also assigned roles as administrative interns.

"It's a great reminder of how many aspects of theater there are," she said. "There's a fast pace and, since this is our job for the summer, we stay focused on it and not classes. It really is a great way to learn." Playhouse internships are highly competitive and highly valuable.

Playhouse background

Founded in 1947, Saint Michael's Playhouse features talent from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theaters nationwide and attracts approximately 16,000 theatergoers each season. An auxiliary enterprise of Saint Michael's College, the Playhouse is Greater Burlington's only actors' Equity resident theater company and operates under contract with Actors' Equity Association in New York City. At the same time, Saint Michael's College students have the opportunity to learn from the pros through internships in technical theater, costuming, lighting, set construction, publicity, and occasionally, on-stage roles.

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top 10 college towns. Saint Michael's is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nations Best 373 Colleges, and is included in the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report rankings.