Experiential Learning with Northern Stage

The 2025 Fall/Winter Application is avilable here.

We are delighted to announce that an Experiential Learning "E-Term" program opportunity will be offered once again in the Fall/Winter of 2025. 
 

The Dartmouth Department of Theater and Northern Stage (a LORT professional regional theater) are partnering to provide students from Dartmouth an immersive educational experience that is unparalleled in undergraduate theater education. They will encounter multiple aspects of  theater production, from the logistics of running a not-for-profit business to the creation of the art itself, in a carefully mentored environment in which they work alongside professional artists and administrators. The concept of the E-term originally grew from the department's awareness that students in the arts rarely have the opportunity to work alongside professionals. The E-Term was so named because it exemplifies the promise and potential of experiential education. 

E-TERM PROJECT SCHEDULE

The collaborative relationship between Dartmouth College and Northern Stage, a professional regional theater in White River Junction, Vermont provides Dartmouth theater students with extraordinary access to a nationally renowned theater company. Located just minutes from the Dartmouth campus, Northern Stage's Artistic Director Carol Dunne is a Senior Lecturer with the Theater Department. The close relationship between Northern Stage and Dartmouth College affords students the opportunity to work and learn in a professional theater environment, providing them with invaluable real-world artistic and non-profit administrative experiences that will help determine their professional creative paths into the future.

Off-term experiential learning internships, called e-terms, have been available to Dartmouth students since 2016. E-termers are exposed to all aspects of the professional theater, but they may choose to focus in acting, directing, production and/or arts administration. The e-term is an immersive experience; students live with the Northern Stage company and are fully integrated into the daily life of the organization, working alongside creative professionals and appearing onstage with nationally renowned artists.

In addition to the e-term, a post-graduate one-year internship is available to help recent graduates navigate the transition into real-life theatrical careers and launch them into the industry. Dartmouth theater students also benefit from discounted theatre tickets and  course-related events and master classes with the creative artists of Northern Stage.

"The journey to a career in the theater is made much smoother for students who are given the firm foundation of real world professional experience," said Northern Stage Artistic Director and Dartmouth Senior Lecturer Carol Dunne in 2016. "Dartmouth has one of the most expansive theater departments in the Ivy League, and our relationship with Northern Stage deepens our students' understanding of and ability to create theater for the future."   

For more information about internship opportunities at Northern Stage, please contact Northern Stage BOLD Artistic Fellow Kerrigan Quenemoen '19.