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Kate Kern ’21 graduated from Russell Sage College with a dual degree in Business Administration and Theatre and was almost immediately hired at Albany’s Capital Repertory Theatre in a dual role that draws on both of her degrees.
As an Actors’ Equity Association resident stage manager, she runs rehearsals, then cues lighting, sound effects, and scene changes during shows for five to six productions a year.
She’s also the assistant company manager, handling contracts and other budgeting and operational responsibilities for the professional, resident producing theatre.
It’s a unique arrangement that grew from relationships Kern built at Russell Sage.
In the following Q&A, Kern discusses how those connections helped her get started on her career path; her enthusiasm for new arts and business initiatives at Russell Sage; and why New York’s Capital Region is a great place for creative professionals.
Did you enter Russell Sage knowing that you wanted to combine business and theatre, or was it something that you decided to do while you were a student?
I started as a high school intern at the Theatre Institute at Sage. Theatre Professor David Baecker and former Education Programs Coordinator Heather Hamlin helped shape that internship for me — for stage management.
I wanted to do theatre, but theatre is one of those really interesting careers where it’s not just the productions that are being put on. It’s also everything that helps a production to function. And David Baecker suggested I could pick up a dual major in Theatre and Business.
I knew that I wanted to have additional hard skills from other areas. My work in theatre is all of these skills. It’s managerial stuff, it’s event planning, event coordination, and a lot of those skills I learned in my marketing classes. These skills are so transferable.
The college was encouraging of my ideas to combine these majors. We had weekday matinees at the theatre, and sometimes I’d have to go to my business professors to change an exam, because I had a matinee at the same time. They were always ready to be flexible for me, to ensure that I was able to do both things. It was really great.
Given how much you gained from combining Business Administration and Theatre, what do you think about Russell Sage launching a new degree in Arts and Entertainment Management?
I heard about that! I’m very, very excited about that. I’m so thrilled to hear about all the fun, big things coming to the theatre program.
You had an internship at Capital Rep your senior year at Russell Sage, which led to your full-time position. What led to your internship? Did somebody at Russell Sage help connect you to that opportunity?
Eileen Schuyler was the director of the Theatre Institute at Sage’s production of The Diary of Anne Frank, which I had stage managed for. Eileen knew Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill, then the artistic director at Capital Rep, and set us up.
Maggie talked to me about my goals, and it was a match made in heaven. I was their assistant company manager and stage manager intern for my last semester at Russell Sage, and I ran their summer program in 2021, coming out of the pandemic and for some of the first shows in their brand new building.
Are you still involved in the theatre program at Russell Sage?
I was back to speak to David Baecker’s Careers in Theatre class a couple of weeks ago!
I mentioned that we were looking for backstage crew members, and a couple of people reached out, and we hired one of them to be our A2 [Assistant Audio engineer?] this summer.
We’re doing Mystic Pizza. It’s based on the movie, it’s a musical version of it, so it’s got all the ’80s songs like, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” It’ll be a great time. It’s got 16 people on it, moving platforms, all sorts of fun stuff, a full band.
What would you say to a prospective performing arts student about why the Capital Region is an incredible place to study theatre?
We’re just a hop, skip, and a jump away from New York City. We’re able to get actors for The Rep via a train ride from NYC — they can still go down on Mondays to do auditions.The Capital Region is just such a centralized location.
There’s this whole thing going on right now called the Capital Region Festival of Theatre. We have almost 100 theatre groups within this area. They’re not all Equity theatres, but there’s so many opportunities to work with theatres, to audition, to make your own homegrown theatre. Like, Troy Foundry Theatre! Many are Russell Sage alumni and they decided to create their own theatre from the bottom up, and they do things all the time.
You can really do anything here! This is a great location to continue to develop your creative energy while also exploring the professional theatres, whether that’s Capital Rep or New York City. There’s so many opportunities around here.
Are you working on other professional goals right now?
Russell Sage’s School of Management was offering a free class to grads, so I’m taking the change management class right now. Learning never stops, so why let go of an opportunity like that? It’s really fascinating, because the one thing that’s consistent is change.
I’m hoping to do maybe more of that in the future, a master’s or an MBA, we’ll see.
I love what the School of Management is doing right now, with flex courses.
Is there anything you would like to add?
The way that stage managers typically work is that you work on one show, and then you go on to a different show or a different place, so the work isn’t very consistent. But working on one show with Eileen got me the job that I’m working now.
I am an official Equity union member and a resident production stage manager, which is very unique.
I can afford to live locally where I started. My family’s here, and I just bought a house!
So, the more people you know, the better! The more people I knew, the more opportunities I took on, the more opportunities I had, and I’m really grateful for Russell Sage for giving me that.