Intern Spotlight: Aly Trombitas

Here is our final intern spotlight!  Aly shares how BST aligns with her aspirations to make art and help people:

From when you can talk onward, there’s always that one question you’re consistently asked: What do you want to be when you grow up? As a highly optimistic college student with too many interests to count, I’ve always hesitated before responding to that question, because “Make art and help people” isn’t a satisfactory answer for most.

I discovered Bond Street Theatre’s website while doing research for a class, and am pretty sure I applied for an internship within the hour. Here was a group of trained physical theater artists who were using their craft not only to create compelling performance but also to promote human rights internationally—it sounded like a win/win situation to me!  I had been looking to spend my summer somewhere where I could get a sense of many aspects of a small theatre organization, instead of being guided into only one particular skill. Bond Street spends time with each intern to allow you to explore and grow, and that’s exactly what I needed. Not only is the office open and airy (and no shoes allowed—a valuable perk in my opinion) but it carries 37 years of not-for-profit arts and humanitarian knowledge. Even after 2 ½ months of taking everything in I am still in awe of the travels and impact that Bond Street has had in the world (75,000 refugees reached in Kosovo? Wow!)  

My summer at Bond Street has been incredibly fulfilling and inspiring. I’ve gotten to know an amusing company of theatre professionals who are so wonderful at looking beyond themselves to a broader world. I’ve become much more aware of myself as a part of that world—in one day I could be scouring news sites to provide updates and information to the Haiti team, researching grants for women’s public speaking programs in Afghanistan, talking with the Syrian-American Council about working with refugees, and editing the study guide for our new Young Audience Program. I’ve always been a team player, but I’ve never been a part of such a big team before! Many incredible people in many walks of life come together to make Bond Street’s vision a reality, and I’ve really been impressed at the interdisciplinary communication that makes programs as effective as they are.

Bond Street also values their interns as performers as well as administrators—I got to try my hand at solo and partner acrobatics and, of course, stilt walking. Stilts were certainly scary at first! But I was very proud of myself when I was able to let go of Katherine and Anna’s hands and walk around on my own. I can’t imagine how incredibly empowering that feeling must be to people around the world living in oppressive conditions, tall and strong and balanced on stilts—to me it epitomizes what Bond Street is trying to do.

This has been a wonderful place to spend my time. There’s been a lot of learning, big laughs, and some high quality iced coffee. Being here has further prompted my determination to make an impact in the world and I feel more confident than ever that “make art and help people” is a worthy pursuit.