Shannon Rourke '16 enrolled in theatre at St. Ambrose with dreams of pursuing an acting career, and the newly graduated student from Skokie, Ill., most certainly had a taste of the stage and the spotlight.
She played the lead in the main stage production of Hedda Gabler in February, was Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest in March of 2015 and also performed in the powerful The Laramie Project as a sophomore in 2014.
Rourke graduated, however, with her sights set on a career that is less likely to garner audience applause. Working and learning in the do-it-all SAU Theatre Department, the daughter of two backstage veterans of the Chicago theatre scene fell hard for the multi-tasking role of stage manager.
"We're not on stage, taking the bows by any means," she said of the critical off-stage assignment. "But we are the ones who make everything happen, who make sure everyone stays on task and knows what is going on."
Rourke did take a bow-and a significant one-as she wrapped up her academic career at St. Ambrose. In January, she was named the winner of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region V stage management competition. She advanced to the National Festival at the famed Kennedy Center in Washington DC, in April, an experience she called "unbelievable."
In the nation's capital, she toured five theatres and saw two shows. She received career advice and made networking connections with nine theatre professionals and seven fellow regional winners. She also was pleased to share two days of the experience with SAU Theatre Professors Corinne Johnson, PhD, and Kristofer Eitrheim.
"This will lead to career opportunities," said Rourke, whose parents work as freelance lighting designers in Chicago theatre and also teach the craft. She said stage management now is "absolutely a career focus."
Rourke applied to St. Ambrose at the urging of friends. "They told me about this wonderful little theatre department at St. Ambrose and said, ‘The department is very small, but they win awards sometimes,''' Rourke recalled. "And now they've won an award that I am involved in, which is kind of cool."
It's the kind of cool that might not have happened had she gone somewhere larger.
"We do everything here," she noted. "And for stage managing, that's huge. I don't think I could have won the award if I hadn't come here because I was able to start a leadership role my freshman year."
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