It has been two weeks since I was in Winona, MN, and in that time I have had the opportunity to reflect on my experiences. I was truly blessed to get the chance to do what I did for six weeks. I began in mid-May in the scene shop at Winona State University working as a carpenter and juggling in my duties as assistant lighting designer at the same time. During this period of my internship I was probably the most miserable, but now having stepped away for some time I realize it was valuable time spent in a worthwhile manner. I was able to practice the skills I already had, re-fine some of those skills and add some new skills to the old resume. I feel now that those first 3 
weeks of construction have allowed me to make myself more marketable to more professional companies, and I hope that I will now be able to secure some of those posts that were slightly out of my reach before.
In terms of working with the lighting designer, I could not have been luckier. He was a wonderful man who was very open to my suggestions and who allowed me to have a real voice in the look of these two productions. I learned many valuable skills from him in the realm of the technical aspects of design, but I also learned life lessons as well. I learned that everything will be easier if you just remain calm. Don’t let the stress eat at you. These are things I have been told on numerous occasions that one would figure I should have learned by now, but seeing these little nuggets of wisdom actually being lived out by this man were what cemented it for me. I could not be luckier. Not many people in my field can say that they have had such an experience so early in their design careers. I just now cross my fingers that there are others out there that will be willing to continue teaching me in such an open and encouraging fashion.
The experience of Winona: not so exciting, but the people that make up the company of the Great River Shakespeare Festival and their supporters are truly amazing people. I feel that every person I came into contact with in Winona enriched my life in some way, and I can only hope that I made a similar contribution to them. I was welcomed with such warmth to these peoples’ lives, it was incredible. The passion these people had for doing this work or helping this festival survive was awe inspiring. I have never seen a community of people stand behind an arts organization in quite this way. The townspeople welcomed me into their homes as if I was an old friend. The company members welcomed me as a colleague and peer, an equal. I felt truly honored to be with these people. I have never really had a strong sense of community at any point in my life, but now I know what a being a part of a thriving community is like, and I like that feeling.
