Student Blog: Summer Stock Central: Personal Intro + Step #1 | Define “Summer Stock”

Personal Intro

Yo yo!

Just wanted to hop on and introduce myself to this wonderful community. My name's Matt, and I'm a 21 year-old rising senior pursuing my BFA in Musical Theatre and my Master's in Business Management at the University of Florida (#gogata). In addition to performing, I'm passionate about cultivating a more navigable and accessible industry through connecting artists to career-advancing opportunities. One way I do that is by providing access to information, and I've been surprised with the lack of content on the internet surrounding one of the most relevant sects of the industry for our age demographic - Summer Stock. So I'm here to fill the gap.

Now, as many of us know, but I think still bears repeating, the most talented people don't always book, it's those that get into the room (or the inbox). Summer Stock is no different. As someone who's been blessed to receive Summer Stock offers for both summers during which I've auditioned (this summer and last), I am so excited to share the knowledge, tips and tricks I've acquired in traversing this process both prior to, and during, the COVID-era. Just a little more background on me, scouring through theatrical websites, creating master lists and spreadsheets, looking at casting calls, finding diamond-in-the-rough theaters are things I do, and actually enjoy doing lol, in my free time. I was even in the process of creating a Summer Stock Theatre Database filled with every Summer Stock venue and its accompanying information before discovering the Up-To-Date Actor (an incredible tool which provides that service and so much more)! But I know those things sound tedious and awful to a lot of us out there, so not to worry, I'm thrilled to help you analyze, strategize and plan for your Summer Stock journey.

Follow along over the next few months as I'll be addressing 1 of the 8 Steps to Booking Work Next Summer in each of my posts. To find all the steps in one place, Click Here. It'll take you to my profile, which will be the home base for all my articles in the Summer Stock Central series.

So... without further ado, "let's start at the very beginning."

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STEP #1: Define "Summer Stock"

Wait, "Summer" what?

Maybe you're an underclassmen and were hearing some of the upperclassmen talk about their callbacks for this thing they called "Summer Stock" during the spring semester. Or maybe you're an incoming freshman and have seen your MT program's IG post pretty graphics of current students and where they're performing this summer but have no clue how they booked. Maybe you have never even heard this phrase. Or maybe the first thing you think of when someone says the words, "Summer" and "Stock" in the same sentence is the 1950 Gene Kelly and Judy Garland movie musical of the same name. If that's the case...can we be best friends? lol

If any of these sound like you... fear not because you're in the right place.

So... what is Summer Stock?

From Wikipedia:

In American theatre, Summer Stock theatre is a theatre that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Often viewed as a starting point for professional actors, stock casts are typically young, just out of high school or still in college.

While this is a good starting point, the above definition is a bit too limiting. Here's a working definition I devised to encapsulate the Summer Stock tradition as it exists today.

Working Definition:

An amorphous term that has come to describe any Professional (paid) theatre (musicals, plays, Shakespeare, musical variety) that occurs during the summer season (approx. May-September). Often featuring young professionals, Summer Stock work can be found at a variety of both year-round and summer-only venues and can often occur in non-traditional spaces, such as outdoors or under tents. While treated as an entry-level/intern gig in the professional world with entry-level pay, Summer Stock work provides real world performance experience in addition to exposing early career theatremakers to a variety of other responsibilities (building sets, costuming, teaching, etc.).

So...there you have it. "Summer Stock," for our purposes and how it's used in the industry, is just any type of theatre that occurs during the summer season (May-September). Now, the incredible range of venues that offer Summer Stock work is what makes each experience unique! Take a look:

Summer Stock Venue Types

1. Amphitheater

2. Camp

3. Dinner Theatre

4. Opera Company/Festival

5. Shakespeare Festival

6. Theatre-in-a-Barn

7. Theme Park

8. Traditional Summer Stock (only summer shows)

9. University-Affiliated

10. Year-Round Theatre

Most of these types of venues will conduct EPAs (Equity Principal Auditions) to cast some of the older roles and larger principal roles, but mainly they will utilize us (the college students, young professionals, etc.) to comprise the remaining lead, featured and ensemble roles. You know you're probably looking at the right place on a Summer Stock venue website if you see the following verbiage:

· Performing Intern

· Apprentice Company

· ResCo (Resident Company)

· Non-Equity Company

· Young Artists Program

By no means is this a comprehensive list, but most established Summer Stock venues will include some type, or combination, of the above phrases in their casting calls and on their websites.

Phew, that was a lot, hahaha. If you got all the way to the end of this post, thank you. Thank you for investing the time, I hope it was worth it. If you want to geek out about this stuff more or want to talk about your personalized goals and aspirations with regard to your Summer Stock journey and/or career writ large, hmu on IG @mattguernier. Get ready to dive into Step #2 | Research, research, research on my next post, but until then, stay safe and Happy Summer! :)