by Courtney Durst ‘19
Central graduates are known to venture far and wide after tossing their caps on commencement day. For theater graduate Cat Rebelskey ‘16, it only took a little charisma on a Central theater trip to land the internship of her dreams with Cirque du Soleil.
Q: How did you get to Cirque dr Soleil?
A: It all started when I went to USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) in Salt Lake City in spring 2016 with a small group of theater students and technical director Tom Thatcher. On our last night, the convention hosted a party to celebrate the end of the event, so I went to the dance floor. I met a women who had FABULOUS shoes on. Of course I told her that, and we got to chatting like we were best friends and then she began to ask me about my theater interest. I explained my interest (I was preparing for graduation in less than two months), then she tells me, “I am the company manager for Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE, and I would love to be your mentor — here is my email.” I emailed her the following week. After interviewing with LOVE, I was recommended to interview for the SPARK internship which I am currently in!
Q: What is your internship like?
A: As SPARK’s Logistics Guru (that’s code for “intern”), I manage many details of our client experiences from ticketing and meals to invitations and gift bags. I have worked with top-performing companies, including Kmart Australia, OpsGenie, MGM Resorts International and Expedia.
The best part of my experience so far is all the people, corporations and clients I have met and worked with. I enjoy learning the office and corporate side to theater while still being able to use my theater background. The most challenging part of this experience is accepting that I am young, and that is okay. I remind myself that it is a journey. It won’t happen overnight, but one day I will be seen as an equal and not just as a young person.
Q: What are your future goals?
A: My dream, and I mean BIG DREAM is to be like Oprah, but the Latin version, and have my own talk show! But I can also see myself being a company manager or production admin for (maybe one day) a Cirque du Soleil show, or just running my own theater. The future is so unknown, but I am just ready to experience it all and see where life takes me.
Every experience in the theater department at Central grew me into the professional I am today and I will forever be grateful to Mary Jo Sodd, Tom Thatcher, Ann Wilkinson and Greg Gillette for getting me to this level.
