Meredith Maiorana

By Zoë Eitel
For Meredith Maiorana, choosing where to intern means choosing how she wants to brand herself to future employers and which skills she wants to develop. In order to ready herself for a future in commercial theatre management, Meredith has spent time interning for Allied Touring, the Goodman Theatre and Victory Gardens Theatre, the last of which has led to her current job as a development assistant.
She has grown her portfolio with skills like brand management and public relations for commercial and nonprofit organizations. She hopes to find one more internship so she can get experience with general management before graduation.
“I think that, especially in my field, picking where you want to intern is a pretty personal thing for us,” Meredith says. “We’re picking really what we want to brand ourselves as.”

Development Assistant at Victory Gardens Theatre

BFA Theatre Management 2020

Through the internships she’s held, Meredith’s love of her major has been cemented. She specifically loved her work at Allied Touring because she sees her future in commercial theatre and working on big Broadway shows like the “Mean Girls,” “Rent” and “Spongebob” tours was exciting.

“It’s great to sit around in the classroom and talk about how something could work or look like and have a template, but until you go out there and actually do it, it’s hard to really understand how it all works.”

Meredith’s internships have included very different aspects of the business side of theatre, she has learned new things from each of them that have supplemented her education in DePaul’s Theatre Management program.
“It’s great to sit around in the classroom and talk about how something could work or look like and have a template, but especially in the theatre world, until you go out there and actually do it, it’s hard to really understand how it all works,” she says. “In all three places I interned at, I had supervisors and bosses who were invested in my growth as a person, were interested in helping me learn and grow.”
Meredith was able to land two of her three internships by connecting with professionals in the field. Her boss at her job in DePaul’s Theatre School connected her with a friend at Victory Gardens who was looking for an intern.
Her next opportunity came after reaching out to the representative of Allied Touring— who happened to be a former Blue Demon— and set up an informational interview to chat about what it was like working in a marketing agency that handles tours. She kept in touch and eventually, Allied needed an intern, so she was able to work for them that spring.
“Some college students are afraid of putting themselves out there and asking because they feel like they’re not up to that level yet, but I was the youngest intern in my intern class. There’s nothing wrong with just putting yourself out there,” Meredith says. “The worst thing someone’s going to say is no, but then they’ve heard your name and seen your resume.”