B Street Theatre

Acting Internship:
The B Street Theatre Acting Internship is a full ten-month immersion program, which allows interns to experience all aspects involved in producing professional theater.  This intensive program will train young actors in the following ways:

Classwork
Acting classes focus on monologues, scene work as well as instruction in Improv for the actor.  Up to three classes per week are schedule with B Street Acting Company members and Associate Artists.

The Monologue
Each intern will receive instruction in the art of the monologue with the aim of getting work.  Interns will learn a minimum of twenty-five monologues, performing each of them before a live audience on a weekly basis.

Performance
Acting interns will have the opportunity to audition for approximately 15 professional productions.  Interns appear regularly in all three series offered at the Theatre, which includes B Street Mainstage, B3 Series and Family Series productions.  Interns have played prominent roles recent productions of Doubt, Rabbit Hole, Make Someone Happy and Escanaba in Da Moonlight.  Acting interns have also been featured in numerous Family Series productions. Interns also act in one of three School Tour productions throughout the year.

Directing Internship
This internship allows for up to two directing interns to work as assistant directors as well as the opportunity to direct one or two professional productions.

Technical Theatre Internship
The Technical Theatre Internship program gives young designers and stage managers an opportunity to work and design at the professional level.  Working under the tutelage of B Street Theatre’s Artistic Director, Associate Producer and Technical Director, interns will design sets, lights, costumes and sound for B Street productions, and receive full professional credit for each design. During their flexible, paid internships, they will design and build sets specifically tailored to each intern.

Housing
The B Street Theatre provides subsidized housing.  All intern housing units are within walking distance to the theatre.  Theatre patrons have also donated several bicycles for the use of the intern company.

Showcase
The entire intern company will participate in one or two showcases a year.  These performances have played to full capacity houses for the past few years.  Past performances have included The Laramie Project, Dearly Departed and several new works.

Career Guidance
Interns will be given guidance on such topics as headshots and resumes; approaching and dealing with agents, managers, and producers, and how to survive the business.

Equity Card
Equity memberships will be offered upon completion of the ten month acting internship.

About the theatre:

The B Street Theatre is a professional, not-for-profit theatre company based in Sacramento, California.  Founded by Emmy Award winning actor Timothy Busfield and his brother Buck, the B Street Theatre is dedicated to the development and presentation of new plays.

Since its inception in 1986, B Street theatre has produced over 90 new plays including world premieres by such distinguished playwrights as Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing); Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Over the River and Through the Woods); and James McLure (Lone Star, Pvt. Wars).  Awarded “Best Live Theatre” for nine consecutive years by the Sacramento News and Review, the B Street theatre has been recognized as one of “the top theatres to watch” on the West Coast by Backstage West Magazine.

Staff
Buck Busfield
(Co-founder/Producing Artistic Director)
Buck Busfield joined the B Street Theatre at its inception, over 20 years ago.  During his tenure Buck has produced more than 160 plays, 90 of which he has directed.  An award winning playwright, Buck's plays have received productions throughout the country.  Buck is currently working on the third phase of the theatre's master plan: The creation of a two-theatre, state-of-the-art complex in midtown Sacramento.

Bill Blake
(Managing Director)
Bill has been with B Street since 2005 and brings broad experience in the areas of facility and company operations, marketing, arts education and organizational planning. Before coming to B Street, Bill was an arts management consultant with the firm AMS Planning & Research. With AMS Bill managed over 50 consulting and planning projects, including feasibility studies for performing arts centers, museums and the restoration of historic theaters. 

B Street Theatre maintains six programs:

School Tour—For more than 20 years the mission of the B Street School Tour has been to provide entertainment to children while encouraging in them a love for the theatre and a specific appreciation for the art of playwriting. In addition to a professional touring theatre, B Street School Tour also offers playwriting workshops and a playwriting contest for children in public and private schools, hospitals, and other locations throughout Northern California. The Tour reaches approximately 200,000 children each year.

Mainstage— The B Street Theatre offers a seven show season that features contemporary plays in an intimate 220 seat theatre in the round.  One of Northern California’s top professional theatres, with over 7,000 subscribers, the B Street Theatre season includes world premieres and several award-winning new works.

Family Series Stage—The Family Series is Northern California’s only full time, professional resident theatre for children.  Offering four shows per year in the intimate 112 seat “B2” space, the Family Series has produced hit productions of A Year with Frog and Toad, Junie B. Jones, Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse as well as offering several original works for children of all ages.

B3 Series—Produced in Repertory with the Family Series, the B3 series focuses on contemporary drama and alternative works.  The newest series at B Street featured John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt and David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole during the inaugural season.  

Conservatory—The B Street Conservatory provides classes in technique and scene study to adult actors discovering their unique talents. Instructors are B Street Acting Company members who hold MFA’s from American Conservatory Theatre of San Francisco or other top training programs in the U.S. and have regional and national acting credits. The Conservatory offers a Summer Acting Camp that focuses on young actors ages 8-17 with one and two week sessions.

Intern Company—The B Street Theatre Acting Internship is an intensive 10-month program that immerses young actor, directors, designers and stage managers in every aspect of professional theatre. Interns are recent graduates seeking their first post-college, professional theatre experience.  The Intern Company participate in class, receive professional performance experience and produce their own showcases.  Interns support front of house operations, provide production labor as well as working in several administration areas.