Design Intern Update: Kemi
Kemi King Provides an Update on her Internship with Outside the March and The Itinerary: Playtest with Sébastien Heins.
Working with Outside the March has been such a fun and enlightening experience. I started with the show about a week before tech so it has been go-go-go which has honestly been riveting, it has brought a bit of excitement to my summer.
The first week of my internship involved so much learning of not just the content but also the form. I had so many questions about how the show would run, it’s relation to video games and liveness. I wondered where I would be fitting into the process. Much of my work in that first week was done in conversations with Sébastian and Melissa, to check in with the work they were doing and figure out how best I could assist in the process. Melissa’s work was more and hands on, though I was able to learn about and assist with a few of the digital design components. I learned about shaders, which is really just a cool video filter, along with programs like Isadora.
My second week happened to be tech week I mostly did work on the games, along with attending rehearsals. With the games it was doing play testing and exploring different aesthetics for each of them. It has been really interesting working remotely and having to speak through online servers as means of communicating. During the work hours I sort of feel as if I am always on, but the form almost replicates an office work environment where I am able to do my own thing but have the ability to easily have conversation with co-workers.
I am now in my final week! As I am writing now we’ve just had our first show, and as with any show there are notes and different aspects that need to be revised or reconsidered. The notes happen differently than I am used to because so much of it is about coding errors, or like things that need to be tweaked a little because of something, say new, an audience member had done. It’s different in what exactly we’re addressing, but similar to what we’re used to in that the audience always brings new things to light about a production.
Ultimately this has been a great experience to be a part of and I am very happy to be working with the team! There are only a few tickets left so if you have the ability, I hope you come and play with us!!
Kemi is a writer, director, performance artist and divisor. Some of her work has been produced by Obsidian and Canadian Stage. She has created and performed works with Soulpepper Theatre and as a part of the Paprika Festival. She continues studying and exploring performance at Queen’s University with a major in theatre and a minor in gender studies. During her undergrad she has participated in Volcano’s INforming content three years in a row, along with working as an assistant director/director for a few drama clubs on campus. She is one of the co-founders and artistic director of YIKES a Theatre Company. Kemi is passionate about the arts and the way it can be used to help shape social consciousness.