Amanda Berry
Staff Writer
Alison Wieder, a 22-year-old ESU alumnus, was named National Stage Management Fellow at the Region II Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
This award is a very prestigious award in the theater world, and it is such an honor that one of ESU’s hard-working students has been recognized for all she has done.
“I never really had theater experience prior to college,” said Alison when asked about what made her go into the theater program at ESU. “In high school, I was more focused on video production and Odyssey of the Mind,” she said.
OM is a program that allows students to build props and sets and perform skits but is vastly different from traditional theater.
“I started looking into a career in concert production, so eventually my best friend suggested I look into studying technical theater,” Alison said.
The technical theater is everything that goes into making a staged production from scenes to costumes and everything in between. Wieder said, “It combined a lot of things I was passionate about.”
Seeing and working with her before for other ESU productions, for the Stroud Courier, Alison Wieder has always been very helpful with information and supplying knowledge about the school productions.
Through speaking with her more, her passion for theater as well as working with others shines through when talking about stage management.
“Once I came to ESU and I got involved in a lot of different aspects of the theater department. I worked in the scene shop for 3 years, and started getting experience in other areas,” said Wieder.
When asked about what this prestigious award meant to her, here is what she said: “Winning the state management fellowship at KCACTF is super rewarding. Usually, stage managers do a ton of work for virtually no recognition, so it’s rewarding to have your work as a state manager recognized by people who have been working in theater their whole lives.”
The faculty and staff here at ESU are very supportive when it comes to recognizing students for all the hard work they put in, with Alison being a prime example.
Students build connections with the professors here as well as with other students that build lasting friendships, memories, and lessons learned.
Wieder followed what she loved and found a major here at ESU that really allowed her to explore and learn in this creative field.
Wieder said, “All of my professors I had have been incredibly supportive. They always encouraged me to try something new.”
When she graduated she had accumulated many different skills that made her an asset to her field of work.
ESU gives students that opportunity to take something they love and use it to find a career.
This spring, Alison Wieder will be going to Washington DC to meet with other stage managers to learn more about this field.
If you want to know more about ESU’s theater department, theater-related majors, or any of the upcoming productions, such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” you can head over to ESU’s theater page at https://www.esu.edu/academics/departments/theatre/index.cfm or contact the chair of the department Dr. Margaret Ball at mball@esu.edu.
Email Amanda at:
aberry1@live.esu.edu
