Maria/Dexter Alderete-Moreno

Blog 1: September 6, 2015 (2:30 – 5:30)

What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you? Who did you meet and what do they do? Did you engage in any code switching?

Today I started my internship at Su Teatro! It was really quite fun. I met some of the other interns and volunteers there. My first “task”, I guess you could call it, was to participate in the after school program they have there. The interns and volunteers all introduced themselves and I discovered some really cool things that surprised me. One of them, Mary was her name, looked really young. As in, 15 years young. But apparently she’s 24. Another girl, Susana, was being homeschooled, and the friend she brought was interested in the backstage part of theater as well. After introducing ourselves, Mica, my second sponsor, came in to lead the program. We talked and I learned about the history of the theater and how it evolved to what it is today. Afterwards, we began to play a game to help loosen ourselves up. It mainly involved moving around the room and not allowing others to catch us. At the end of the day, we read through a script, changing characters halfway through. When reading through the script, I saw how they were using code switching. They changed personalities and voices to better adjust to their characters. Personally, I found that whole day enjoyable. The only part I didn’t like about it was the walk there. I don’t know how to ride the bus so I decided to just walk there; which was a big mistake. Apparently, the theater is three miles from my house, and it was smoldering hot outside. But Ms. Mote, my sponsor, was kind enough to give me a ride home! Though I’ll eventually have to learn how to get home by myself, of course. Big thanks to Nache though! He said he’ll be getting me bus passes! I’ll finally be able to learn to use public transportation!

 

Blog 2: September 16, 2015 (3:00 – 5:30)

What was the best thing that happened this week at your internship? How did it make you feel?

Today was a disaster. My worst fear realized. I, Maria/Dexter Alderete Moreno, was late to my internship. Badly. Nache got my bus passes two days ago and so I decided to try and ride the light rail and bus to Su Teatro so that they don’t go to waste. Well, as expected, I got absolutely lost. I didn’t have school today so I had to be there at 1:30 today. I showed up at 3:00. Ms. Mote didn’t get upset, she was very understanding and told me not to worry about it, but it still bothers me. After I arrived and relaxed a little, Ms. Mote took me out for a walk to get familiar with the surrounding stores. We went inside a Spanish art gallery and she introduced me to some of the workers there. Ms. Mote said that if I wanted, I could also help them out. That’s really cool because they do 2D art and that was what I practiced for several years. We’ll be doing sugar skulls! Afterwards, Ms. Mote took me to a nice little cafe and bought me lunch. We sat there a while talking about all the responsibilities I’ll be having at the theater. After going over everything, we headed back and I helped the other interns and workers finish some props for a play a school was doing. All in all, it was a nice day. Minus the part about me being late, heh. Though the best part about the day was that Ms. Mote was very understanding. It made me feel more confident about learning how to travel around the city myself. I’m sure that I will figure it out in due time.

 

Blog 3: September 23, 2015 (2:30 – 6:00)

How do your actions affect your workplace? Do you contribute positively? How do your co-workers actions affect your internship?

Today was a really fun day! Tanya wasn’t here because she was on a business trip, but my second sponsor, Mica, was. At first Mica put me to work with Susana on creating possible posters to advertise the after school program at the theater. I think my actions affected my workplace positively because I put all my focus on my task and did it with a very positive attitude. Because of this, Susana was in a good mood too and that made me feel even better about my internship. This just comes to show my co-workers actions affect my internship a lot. After an hour or two of working on the posters, it was time for the program to start so we headed down to the room where it takes place. There was a guy there that would direct the program, but darn, I can’t remember his name! I really am awful when it comes to remembering names. But anyways, he started talking about the program and what we’d be doing in it. He seemed like a really cool teacher. After introducing ourselves — it was just us three plus another girl whom I have also forgotten her name — we simply talked about our day. It was way to open up and relax. We talked about things that went well and bad during school and that’s it, we just talked. But i really enjoyed it because one topic led to the other until we were talking about sexuality and race and how the times have changed. We agreed we should make a play or, at the very least, a skit that talks about those kind of topics. Oh! That’d be a good idea to make for my internship project! Maybe I could write a script for a play that’s about a girl/boy finding their true self and going through the struggle of accepting themselves. Maybe even add the struggle of coming out to their family and friends, and seeing the different reactions from different people from different races.

 

Blog 4: September 25, 2015 (4:30 – 5:30)

What are you responsible for at your workplace? What do you think is your main contribution to your work site?

Today was a more productive day. My responsibility right now is to research eight Latina comedians. This helps contribute to the history part of the play Doña Rosita’s Jalapeño Kitchen since the main actor is a female, Latina comedian and most of the audience is unaware of the history of such women. There are quite a few Latina comedians that really impacted the world. Some of them I’ve heard before, like .La Chata and Lupe Ontiveros. And that’s considering I’m like a hermit, very out of touch with the social world. Like Rita Moreno and Socorro Valdez. I’ve never heard of them before this day. But now i know their maiden names and when and where they were born. I’m learning a lot more than just the basic theater works. I’m glad I’m learning more than just that. I actually get to learn about the people that have worked such business. This internship becomes more and more enjoyable the longer I’m here. I was able to get at least one done because I wanted to have some detail, but not too much.  Aside from that, not much happened. Though I did finally manage to ride the bus and light rail to the theater no problem! It was so much better than walking all the way over there. I like this about the internship as well. Not only do i get to learn about theater, the history of it and its past actors, but i also got to learn real world things. If i had never gotten this internship, i would have never been able to learn how to ride the bus or light rail. I wouldn’t know the street name of the street near my home. I wouldn’t even have known which way was which. Now i know the street name is Alameda and my house is on the West!

 

Blog 5: September 30, 2015 (2:30 – 5:30)

How do you feel like your internship is going so far? Are you forming good relationships with your co-workers? What can you do to improve your experience?

I feel like my internship is going very well so far. I have made very friendly acquaintances with my co-workers and sponsors these past few weeks. But I feel I should try and become more comfortable with my surroundings in order to have a better experience here. Anyways, today I continued on with my Latina comedians of history research. It has also been decided that I’ll use the information from this research to create my internship-inspired project too. Me and Tanya were thinking of creating cardboard presentations of every comedian. I’ll print out all the facts i found out about each woman and cut them out to decorate the poster board. The board will also include the picture of each woman and some general information. I really like the idea and i already have a lot on each comedian, so i think this would make for a really good internship-inspired project. After finishing the research for each woman, I saw i had a lot on each one of them, and they all had things in common that i could point out. They all won some kind of award, they all started from the bottom and made their way up, and they all married at one point it seems. Song of them also got cartoons or songs written or inspired by them. For example, Carmen Miranda inspired Jimmy Buffett’s song “They Don’t Dance Like Carmen No More.” But now I’m thinking about doing something else for my internship-inspired project. I want to include my own art form into it. I thinking of doing a painting short of thing. I want to gather pictures from the events that have been going on while I’ve been here. Then, using those very same pictures, create the Teatro logo on a canvas. Then paint around it with the colors of the place, which would be bright orange and yellow and red. I want to leave something back of mine here so that I don’t leave feeling like i took everything they gave me and i left nothing in return.

 

Blog 6: October 2, 2015 (3:30 – 6:00)

What do you think is your main contribution to your work site? Are you proud of your contributions? Is there any way that you can self-motivate to contribute more?

I believe that my main contribution to my work place is undefined. I’m simply an extra hand. If there is something that has to be done but there is no one to do it, then i become that someone. But even though i don’t have a specific job, i still feel my role here is important. I helped in a lot of things that maybe wouldn’t have been gotten done on time if i wasn’t there. I also think that i can push myself into doing ore. Like helping out with things before i’m even asked too. Like today. When i arrived to the theater, i was to participate in the after school program. Instead of waiting to be asked to help out, i put my things away and started setting up the room for the program. When the others came down, they didn’t have as much to do and we were able to get started quickly. Which was a really good thing because today we practiced acting by playing some improv games. I think they really helped me improve my acting skills, as poor as they are. At one point we had to sort of put this one person play using three words: pumpkin, tortilla, and beach. It was actually quite fun having to create this whole story out of three simple words and connect them all together. I went first, but i don’t really think i did a good job since everyone else did something completely different. Oh well. Now that i know how to do it correctly I’ll be ready for the next one.

 

Blog 7: October 7, 2015 (3:00 – 5:30)

How do people at work treat you? How does it make you feel? If you have in intern one day will you treat them the same?

To say today was a very productive, business like day is quite accurate. We had an upcoming play called Doña Rosita’s Jalapeño Kitchen and we had to get volunteers to come and help during the play. Usually, people would come and help at the snack bar, making food, taking tickets, and cleaning. I was assigned to make calls to all past volunteers and ask if they would be willing to volunteer some day this month. But before i made any calls, Tanya sat me next to Miguel and went through a short exercise to teach me how to make calls and leave a voicemail. Miguel was really nice and helpful during the exercise. It made me a bit more confident about calling up strangers and asking them for their time. I made a mental note that if I ever have an intern of my own, I would be just as supportive because I’ve gone through the experience of being shy and awkward around new people. But after making a few calls on my own, i got the hang of it and soon stopped feeling so self-conscious about it. Miguel would make a supportive comment whenever i would make a frustrated noise or simply sighed a lot. But in the end, i was able to get through the whole list of phone numbers. I did make a few mistakes, like calling the same person twice and then profoundly apologize for it. The people were really nice about it though, so i didn’t carry that guilt around with me as much. But overall, i feel like i did a lot of business-like help and that is really helped contribute to the play. It was a nice feeling.

 

Blog 8: October 9, 2015 (4:15 – 10:45)

What is the difference between working on personal art projects and working in a creative business? What have you learned about working in a creative business?

I would consider cooking to be an art. It takes a lot of skill to prepare food that both looks good and tastes amazing. I have tried cooking before, when i’m alone at home. My food comes out, consumable to say the least. But my personal experience with it is completely different when at the theater. I have learned that while cooking in a creative business, the food is abundant and there is a lot of help provided if need be. Today was the first day of the play Doña Rosita’s Jalapeño Kitchen and we were going to make quesadillas for the opening day. Well, i became in charge of making those and I became very surprised with the results. Quesadillas aren’t hard to make per se, but when it comes to me cooking, I can burn water. But Tanya walked me step by step on how to use the little electronic stove things to cook the tortillas and cheese and how to not burn my hand off. After about an hour of it, i had a batch of decent looking quesadillas that resembled cheese tacos. Though once the audience started appearing and buying food, they seemed to like it. This helped me appreciate full time cooks because constantly cooking the same food again and again for over an hour is tremendously difficult. I burned my fingers more times than was expected. But that’s just me: Dexter, being able to make the simplest of tasks seem complicated since 1999. Afterwards, once everyone had eaten and socialized, I opened the doors to the main theater and started taking people’s tickets. I was wearing a shirt that read “I’m not anti-social, I just don’t like you” which i found inappropriate for the situation. But the guests just laughed and complimented my shirt, so it would appear everything worked out. I was able to sit down and watch the play along with everyone else, and I enjoyed it very much. Overall, it was a good day.

 

Blog 9: October 26, 2015 (4:30 – 5:30)

What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own artistic journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? How?

During days in which we have a performance that requires me to usher people in and take their tickets, I have a lot of time to observe the various paintings the theater has hanging throughout the lobby. Most of them seem to have a Latino theme to them, though you can’t tell for some of them. What really draws people’s attention to them is that they are full of bright colors and swirls. Even the brown in some paintings looks as bright as the yellows and reds. I am, mainly, an abstract 2D artist. I have worked mainly on drawings and paintings. My two favorite colors are black and rainbow, and so I try to incorporate both into my art works whenever possible. But whenever I include rainbow, i use it in low, soft tones so that it blends in with the rest of the piece. But after seeing the art work that is hung around the theater, I want to start using brighter and more bold colors. I want to be able to convey my passion for art through the colors I should and the way I use them to emphasize my meaning. Whenever i create an art piece, my color choices change accordingly, but most of the time they always include black and rainbow. I think that for my next art project, which will be colored glass, I will try to use more bold colors. Something that really stands out while still looking natural hung up in someone’s home. Even though i intern at a theater, I have received a lot of inspiration for my 2D art projects.

 

Blog 10: November 24, 2015 (11:00 – 4:00)

Has this experience been a rewarding one for you? Why or Why not? How has the reality of your internship matched or contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?

I can say, with complete confidence, that this has been one of the most rewarding experience I have ever had. This is because I have learned a wealth of knowledge during my internship at Su Teatro. When i first started, I expected to help with just the plays. Maybe even participate in one. But if i”m to be honest, what i got instead was much better. I was able to learn the works behind the performances and what it took to maintain a theater. I never worked with the actors or in the plays, but i was able to help prepare the sets and assist with the audience. Also, aside from learning about the theater as a whole, i was able to learn a lot about everyday things that i am positive will help me in the future no matter what. I was able to learn how to travel using public transportation, take calls, talk with professionals, research ways to promote an event, create posters for advertisement, cook, and so much more. I don’t need anyone to tell that i have grown both as a person and an artist. Even though I interned at a theater, so much more is involved that i can relate back to the arts as a whole. Paint, lighting, and music are just a few of other art forms that come together in a theater. But i think that the most important lesson i learned at Su Teatro was that no matter what, it was teamwork that allowed everything that happened to happen, Everyone at the theater has a role and every role is essential in order to create the whole product. I have always been an independent kind of person, so this experience has helped me open up more and work with other people. As stated before, this has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.