Thalia López, Hostos Class of 2019, in Scotland as part of the Hostos Repertory Company's second trip to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Thanks to her experience at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the summer of 2018, recent Hostos graduate Thalia López is heading back to Scotland in August to work more behind the scenes.
López earned a three-week technical internship beginning in late July at the American High School Theatre Festival—a similar program to the International College Theater Festival that Hostos students have performed at in 2013 and last year run by WorldStrides. While she enjoyed some hands-on experience working as the stage manager for Hostos’ performances of “Gender of Attraction” at last summer’s Fringe, she will have much more this time around as she helps with sound, lighting and sets for multiple performances during her three-week learning experience behind the stage.
“It was great last year. I did a lot with our show, but I could not really touch a lot of stuff that wasn’t related to Hostos’ performances. This summer, I am hoping to get to do it all,” López said.
López became interested in stage managing while studying vocal styles with a specific focus on operatic singing while at Talent Unlimited High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She took her passion to Hostos, where she learned from Ángel Morales, a lecturer in the Visual & Performing Arts Department and the Director of the Hostos Repertory Company, Hostos Stage Manager and professional actor Bill Sorice, and others.
It was López’s talent and drive that got her noticed by the production company that hired her to work the Fringe this year. Based out of North Carolina, the determined 19-year-old is already working with the team by phone and email on what will happen in August.
“It was literally the last day of the Fringe in 2018 at a closing ceremony, and I started networking really hard to get an opportunity like this,” López said. “After filling out a few different applications, I was finally accepted.:
Morales has been the catalyst in getting Hostos students to Edinburgh for both trips. He said López truly earned this opportunity.
“This is an example of the abundance of opportunities that Hostos provides to our students,” Morales said. “Thalia's intellectual curiosity, talent and ability to network with the crew of the Edinburgh Fringe last year resulted in an invitation to be an intern this summer. It is a magnificent graduation gift for her as she prepares to continue her studies in technical theatre. We are proud and happy for her.”
López also credits Sorice for showing her the ropes offstage. After earning her associate degree in liberal arts this spring, she will eventually pursue a bachelor’s degree in theater management from Brooklyn College.
But the world stage is calling again, and López wants to make every performance she helps produce be the best it can be.
“For me, being a stage manager is about pulling out the best from the performers, the set, the entire show to create the perfect experience. I am sure I am going to learn a lot the second time around.”