VSA arts/Williamstown Theatre Festival Apprenticeship

Announcing the 2008 VSA arts Apprentices at the Williamstown Theatre Festival

VSA arts is happy to announce the 2008 VSA arts Apprentices at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, John-Paul Damante and Stephanie Jordan! JP and Stephanie will be working and taking classes with over 60 other apprentices this summer, learning about the different aspects of running a professional theater company.

John-Paul Damante, 20, first caught the acting bug when he took drama classes in middle school. He has since been involved in productions of Dracula and Cyrano de Bergerac. “JP” is completing his sophomore year at the University of San Diego, with a major in human communications and a minor in theater arts. When asked about his love of theater, he says, “Whenever I act or am in front of an audience, I am never happier. Acting is something that I know must be a part of my future.” JP was fitted with his first pair of hearing aids when he was 2 ½ years old. In 2002, he realized living with hearing aids could only help him so much and he decided to undergo surgery and receive a Cochlear implant.

Stephanie Jordan of Chevy Chase, Maryland, is a theater student at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. Jordan’s credits include appearances with the Kirov Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival, and as a Nibelung in the Washington National Opera’s production of Das Rheingold (dir. Francesca Zambello). In addition to her work onstage, Jordan, who has Asperger’s syndrome, has worked backstage as assistant stage manager for Bard Summerscape’s production of Genoveva and Solas Nua’s Scenes from the Big Picture. She also served as a costume technician for several productions at Montgomery College, where her coursework has included ballet, stage direction, vocal performance, and movement. Jordan has high aspirations, “not only to act, but to be able to start my own theater company one day.”