apprentice spotlight | rick colhoun

Rick may be familiar to you from his previous work with PT as a sound designer or as CHRISTMAS PRESENCE musical grandmaster. This year he's been digging into directing, script adaptation, and more design!

What drew you to the apprenticeship in the first place?

Just wanting to make more art, wanting to do theatre more seriously. I wanted to take the opportunity to direct. Would I have done it without the apprenticeship? Maybe, but doing the program guaranteed that I would.

Have you tried anything new this year you’d like to keep exploring?

I did my first scene study as an actor and that was fun! I don’t think I’m going to be an actor but it was very useful. As a director, it was very helpful to learn the process of an actor, and more of the language to talk to actors with.

The apprenticeship typically culminates in a final, fully produced show. What are you taking on for your final project?

I’m directing a show called MEMORY HOUSE by Kathleen Tolan. I read a lot of scripts this year and was very concerned that I pick something that would be a good acting challenge, and tell a good story, without being too ambitious or not ambitious enough.

Any words of advice for an incoming apprentice?

Just do it! And take every opportunity to do everything. It goes by so fast. We got to do a “Vocation of the Artist” class with Ron, the scene study, adapting a script, sitting in on rehearsals . . . really there aren’t any limits. It’s just up to you to take every opportunity you get and just say yes a lot.

What are you working on after the apprenticeship?

Applying to all the other apprenticeships in the world! No, I plan to continue making art and creating. I’ll probably go back to the studio and get back to making some records. I want to figure out how to make directing happen, push my sound design and composing even further. I’ve been composing sound cues instead of dropping in ready-made things for the past few shows I’ve worked on. The time to work on things like that was also helped by doing this apprenticeship.

Keep an eye on the Stone's Throw Facebook and Instagram accounts for more updates about MEMORY HOUSE and the other final apprentice projects! And don't forget, there's still time to apply to the apprenticeship for next season.